Who is VMS Software, Inc.?
VMS Software, Inc. (VSI) is the sole provider of the OpenVMS operating system and layered products from 2014, when we licensed exclusive rights from Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE) to develop new versions of the operating system. Since this time VMS Software, Inc. has enhanced the operating system to run on the latest HPE Integrity servers, ported the operating system to the x86-64 processor architecture, and is currently working on extending the environment by porting layered products from Alpha and Integrity to x86 and updating the products that are already available on OpenVMS to more recent versions. VMS Software, Inc. additionally provides a growing portfolio of open-source software for OpenVMS, along with a wide range of services to help customers to get the most from their OpenVMS environments. With VMS Software, Inc. continually improving and modernizing the operating system, OpenVMS customers can be confident that their investment in OpenVMS will continue to meet their business needs.
Why is VMS Software, Inc. in charge of OpenVMS?
In 2013, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company realized that it needed a partner to meet OpenVMS customer demands for future enhancements, modernization, and maintenance and support of the operating system. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company chose VMS Software, Inc. to take on this task. VMS Software, Inc. is a unique mixture of highly experienced OpenVMS engineers complemented by a group of young and enthusiastic engineering talent. This diverse team is proud to work with OpenVMS and to provide our customers with a highly robust, reliable, and secure operating system platform to address their business-critical computing needs.
Can Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company license OpenVMS to other parties?
No, this is a co-exclusive agreement between Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company and VMS Software, Inc.
Since 2014, VMS Software, Inc. has been the only OpenVMS developer and provider.
Is there any advantage in changing the license of my existing system from one by HPE to one by VSI?
Yes, you will have access to newer versions and regular updates of the operating system and layered products, with both bugfixes and newer features, including more modern, secure network protocols. You will also get access to our support team and knowledge base.
Where can I get more information about OpenVMS?
Visit our OpenVMS page, view features of OpenVMS, supported platforms, and versions of OpenVMS currently available. To learn more about products that run on OpenVMS, visit our Product List. To learn more about our future plans for OpenVMS and layered products, have a look at our roadmap You can also get information on OpenVMS concepts and commands in the OpenVMS wiki and via the links available here.
What architectures are you supporting or planning to support? Is virtualization supported?
VMS Software, Inc. supports OpenVMS V8.4-x on HPE Alpha and Integrity servers. OpenVMS V9.0 and later supports the x86-64 architecture with virtual machines hypervisors: KVM-QEMU and VMware ESXi. For more information about the currently supported platforms, refer to Supported Platforms. For more information on the products currently being ported or developed, see the current roadmap.
What layered products for OpenVMS are there?
A list of VMS Software developed layered products for Alpha, Integrity, and x86 systems can be found here.
How are ECO kits and updates for layered products distributed?
ECO kits and updates are available to customers with a valid support contract from the Service Platform. There is also a package management application, VSP, that can be installed on your OpenVMS system and that connects to the Service Portal and downloads updates directly onto your system.
Is there a VSI OpenVMS and layered products roadmap available?
Yes. The latest roadmap is available on the Current Roadmap page.
Where do I get freeware and open source software for OpenVMS?
What are your support and development plans?
We provide support to customers who have an active Support or Subscription agreement with VMS Software. .In addition to providing support for VSI versions of OpenVMS, we also offer a range of support options for customers running legacy HPE versions of OpenVMS on Alpha and Integrity platforms. We offer a range of support options up to and including staff augmentation and more robust Managed Services. See Support and Maintenance for more information. In addition to providing support for legacy architectures, we continue to release new versions of OpenVMS on x86-64. The current roadmap can be found on the corresponding page.
How will VMS Software, Inc. license OpenVMS?
Generally speaking, the OpenVMS operating system and layered products are offered via Support Only or Subscription agreements (subscription includes software and support for the term of the subscription). Given the wide range of systems and products offered, there are nuances based on platform and product type. Our Alpha products are offered as bundles, based on the size and type of the machine(s), Integrity environments are licensed based on the number of servers, active sockets and cores, and x86 environments are licensed based on the number of virtual guests (“instances”) and the size of those guests (measured in vCPUs). Layered products are licensed in various ways that align with how those layered products are typically deployed (i.e. per instance, per server, per concurrent user, etc). See our complete list of products.
How do I purchase or renew an OpenVMS license?
Contact Sales at sales@vmssoftware.com.
How can I try OpenVMS? Do you provide a trial version or hobbyist licenses?
We occasionally offer Commercial evaluation licenses for established or new products. Commercial evaluation licenses are intended for and only provided to Commercial parties with a Commercial need or interest in OpenVMS. Availability and duration of Commercial evaluation licenses varies by product, and is determined on an individual case basis. For the list of currently available Commercial evaluations, please visit this site, and complete the application form provided.
For non-commercial users, the Community package for x86 is available for free. The Community package is a VMDK with an OpenVMS system disk that can be mounted on and booted from a virtual machine . The OpenVMS system provided = includes compilers and an OpenVMS license Support is not provided or available with the Community package.
My system manager is retiring. Do you offer professional services?
Yes we do. See Operation Management for more information.
Do you provide a service helping customers upgrade their old versions?
Yes we do. See Operation Management for more information.
Do you provide a service helping customers migrate to different architectures, even when custom applications also need to be ported?
Yes we do. See Migration Services for more information.
Does VMS Software, Inc. provide OpenVMS training courses?
Yes, VMS Software, Inc. offers both self-paced and instructor-led training. See the training portal for information.
How do I contact VMS Software, Inc.?
Please visit our Contact page for all contact details.
Who can members of the media contact about interviewing members of the VMS Software, Inc. executive team?
All media interested in establishing interviews should contact:
VMS Software, Inc.
6 Liberty Sq
PMB # 294
Boston, MA 02109
T: (978) 451-0110
E: content@vmssoftware.com
Are you hiring?
Yes! We are hiring through our partner Teracloud; please see their job board for open positions.
I have a suggestion of a feature idea for VMS Software, Inc. Who should I contact?
Send your suggestions to info@vmssoftware.com.
Will VSI be able to qualify OpenVMS on specific x86 hardware?
As long as the following conditions are met, no qualification of the x86 hardware is required: - You run OpenVMS on a supported hypervisor - The hypervisor vendor supports the x86 hardware - The x86 hardware meets the minimum processor requirements (see this page. - You are not using fibre-channel passthrough to directly access fibre channel storage. If you do require direct access to fibre channel storage, only servers with certain HPE fibrechannel HBA’s are supported. We cannot qualify other hardware for this purpose.
Is booting from a SAN disk supported on x86?
Currently, this is not supported. We aim to add this support in a future version.
Are there any limitations on network adapters similar to the limitations for storage adapters?
No, OpenVMS only gets to see the virtual network card provided by the hypervisor; we don’t care about the underlying hardware network adapter.
Will shared storage over iSCSI be supported in a mixed architecture cluster (Alpha, Integrity and x86)?
We are focusing our efforts on delivering iSCSI on x86 in 2026. We will consider adding support for iSCSI on Alpha and Integrity after releasing it on x86.
Performance Coverage Analyzer (part of DECset). Will it be available on x86?
Yes, the release is planned for April 2025.
Is Performance Management being ported to x86?
Performance Management is being ported to X86. We plan to release it by the end of 2025.