Oracle released the latest build of its server virtualization software for x86 machines. The company says it has enhanced the user interface in VM Server Release 3.1, improved storage availability, backup support and hardware compatibility.

The market for virtualization platforms is dominated by VMware, whose ESX was the number-one platform at the end of 2010, according to IDC, which expects the market for enterprise server virtualization to reach US$19.3m. It was followed by Microsoft Hyper-V and then Citrix XenServer.

Another addition to VM Server are three pre-configured virtual-machine templates that make deploying Oracle’s business applications easier to deploy.

Wim Coekaerts, senior VP of Oracle Linux and Virtualization, said making deployment and management of enterprise applications in the data center and in the cloud was the driver behind the company’s approach to virtualization.

“Oracle VM 3.1 introduces a number of user interface enhancements designed to improve ease of use for administrators, and storage related features that can increase flexibility when migrating Virtual Machine storage repositories,” Coekaerts said.

Oracle has added new storage-configuration capabilities to the platform, which now allows external NFS access to virtual-machine storage for easy backup. Customers can also now quickly copy or move iSCSI and Fibrechannel-based storage repositories between clusters, including across a wide-area network, which makes for easier disaster recovery.