VMware ESX

VMware ESX (formerly named ESXi) and a different historic VMware ESX are enterprise-class, type-1 hypervisors developed by VMware, now a subsidiary of Broadcom, for deploying and serving virtual computers. As type-1 hypervisors, ESX is not a software application that is installed on an operating system (OS); instead, they include and integrate vital OS components, such as a kernel. Prior to ESXi 3.0 (released in 2008) there was only the original hypervisor named ESX, and for a while both hypervisor products existed (until the final 4.1 release of the historic ESX in 2010). ESXi replaces the Service Console (a rudimentary operating system) with a more closely integrated OS. ESX/ESXi is the primary component in the VMware Infrastructure software suite. However from version 9.0, VMware renamed ESXi to ESX despite the name having already been used before for their earlier hypervisor product. The name ESX originated as an abbreviation of Elastic Sky X. In September 2004, the replacement for ESX was internally called VMvisor, but later changed to ESXi (as the "i" in ESXi stood for "integrated").