VMware president and chief executive Paul Maritz announced a new suite of products at the VMworld Europe 2009 conference that he said would enable firms to run all their applications using virtual machines.

In a briefing to press and analysts, VMware vice president of emerging products and markets, Dan Chu, said VMware’s vCloud API  will enable interoperability across an organisation’s internal cloud facility and cloud offerings from various service providers.

The news helps answer the question about why people would choose VMware products instead of using alternative virtualisation tools from competitors such as Microsoft and Citrix.

This morning, VMware chief technology officer Stephen Herrod demonstrated a working integration between the forthcoming vShpere client, which is based on the current Virtual Infrastructure client software, and resources from external service providers. The vSphere client will be launched this year and will enable IT managers to move virtual machines back and forth between internal virtual servers and those from external providers. The new suite uses the vApp model of defining application characteristics and requirements to ensure applications are migrated to appropriate systems.