VMS Software: Frequently Asked Questions

VMS Software, Inc. (VSI) develops, supports, and modernizes the OpenVMS operating system and related products. Since 2014, VSI has continued development of OpenVMS, including releases for Alpha and Integrity systems and the port of OpenVMS to the x86-64 architecture.

Today, VSI provides OpenVMS operating system releases, layered products, open-source software, support, training, and services to help customers maintain and modernize their mission-critical OpenVMS environments.

VMS Software became responsible for the ongoing development and support of OpenVMS after entering into an agreement with Hewlett Packard Enterprise in 2014. HPE remains an important part of OpenVMS history, but VSI is the company actively developing, supporting, and delivering current OpenVMS releases and related products today.

Customers looking for current OpenVMS releases, licenses, support, updates, or migration guidance should work directly with VSI.

Yes. Moving to a VSI license gives customers access to current VSI OpenVMS releases, regular updates, bug fixes, newer features, modernized networking and security components, VSI support, and current layered products.

It can also be an important step when planning the future of an OpenVMS environment. Many Alpha and Integrity systems continue to run mission-critical applications, but the underlying hardware is aging, and Itanium i6 platforms are no longer manufactured. VSI can help customers evaluate their options, including continuing support for existing environments, upgrading to VSI OpenVMS, or planning a migration to OpenVMS on x86-64.

More information about OpenVMS is available throughout the VSI website. Visit the OpenVMS product pages, Supported Platforms, OpenVMS Versions, and Product List.

For future development plans, see the current Roadmap. For technical resources, manuals, OpenVMS concepts, commands, and community discussions, visit the OpenVMS Wiki, the VSI Documentation website, and the VSI forum.

VSI supports OpenVMS on Alpha, Integrity, and x86-64 systems, depending on the OpenVMS version, product, and configuration.

OpenVMS on x86-64 is designed to run in virtualized environments. Supported hypervisors, compatible configurations, CPU requirements, storage options, and related platform details are maintained on the Supported Platforms page. Customers planning a new deployment, upgrade, or migration should review the latest platform information or contact VSI for guidance.

For more information on the products currently being ported or developed, see the current roadmap.

A list of VMS Software developed layered products for Alpha, Integrity, and x86 systems can be found in the Product List. Product availability may vary by architecture, OpenVMS version, and product type, so the Product List is the best place to check current product information.

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 to download updates directly onto your system.

Yes. The latest roadmap is available on the Current Roadmap page.

See the list of OpenVMS Freeware products known to VMS Software here. The list of products developed by VMS Software can be found in the Product List, and links to known community-supported repositories are published on our wiki.

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 support options for customers running legacy HPE versions of OpenVMS on Alpha and Integrity platforms. See Support and Maintenance for more information.

In addition to supporting legacy architectures, VMS Software continues to release new versions of OpenVMS on x86-64 and to develop related layered products. The current roadmap can be found on the corresponding page.

Generally speaking, the OpenVMS operating system and layered products are offered via Support Only or Subscription agreements. Subscription agreements include 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.

Alpha products are offered as bundles, based on the size and type of machine. 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, a.k.a. 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.

Contact Sales at sales@vmssoftware.com or through the Contact page.

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 vary by product and are 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. An OpenVMS license and support are not provided or available with the Community package.

Yes, we can. We can cover evenings and weekends to complement your existing team, train the new people you hire, offer staff augmentation, or take on the management of your entire system. See Managed Services for more information.

Yes, we can. See Alpha and Integrity Upgrade Page for more information.

Yes, we can. See Migration Services for more information.

VSI provides migration services for customers moving from OpenVMS on Alpha or Integrity to OpenVMS on x86-64, as well as projects involving custom applications, storage, databases, virtualization, cloud options, and emulator-based environments.

Yes, VMS Software, Inc. offers both self-paced and instructor-led training for OpenVMS developers and system managers. See the training portal for information.

Please visit our Contact page for all contact details.

All media interested in establishing interviews should contact:

VMS Software, Inc.
6 Liberty Sq
PMB # 294
Boston, MA 02109
T: (978) 451-0110
E: info@vmssoftware.com

Yes! We are hiring through our parent company Teracloud. Please see the job board for open positions.

Send your suggestions on our Contact page.

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.
• You are not using fibre-channel passthrough to directly access fibre channel storage.

For current requirements, see Supported Platforms.

If you do require direct access to Fibre Channel storage, only servers with certain HPE Fibre Channel HBAs are supported. We cannot qualify other hardware for this purpose.

Currently, this is not supported. We aim to add this support in V9.2-4.

No, OpenVMS only gets to see the virtual network card provided by the hypervisor; we don't care about the underlying hardware network adapter.

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.

Look in the product catalog.

Many OpenVMS environments continue to run mission-critical applications on older Alpha or Integrity hardware. Moving to OpenVMS on x86-64 can help reduce dependency on aging-out legacy hardware, take advantage of virtualization, and create a longer-term path for support and modernization.

In many cases, existing OpenVMS Alpha and Integrity applications can be migrated to OpenVMS on x86-64 without the need for extensive modification. However, the complexity and effort required varies considerably according to factors such as the application's design, programming languages used, layered products, database and other third-party product dependencies, hardware dependencies, and testing needs.

Successful migration to OpenVMS x86-64 is readily achievable with proper planning and expertise. VMS Software can assess your current environment, identify specific porting considerations, and develop a tailored migration plan that minimizes risk and disruption. See Migration Services for more information.

Yes, OpenVMS can run in the cloud. OpenVMS on x86-64 is designed for virtualized environments and can be deployed using cloud and cloud-adjacent models. The right configuration depends on the hypervisor, host environment, storage, networking, and VSI platform requirements.

Customers considering cloud deployment should review Supported Platforms and contact VSI to discuss the appropriate configuration.

The Community License Program is intended for non-commercial use, including learning, open-source development, and knowledge sharing. Commercial use requires an appropriate VSI license or subscription, and includes any use where the OpenVMS system is involved in generating profit, such as by customers and ISVs.

For commercial evaluations, contact VSI or complete the relevant evaluation form when available. For non-commercial use, see the Community package for x86.

Yes. The OpenVMS Bootcamp is VSI's event for the OpenVMS community, bringing together users, engineers, customers, partners, and VSI experts. It features technical and peer-led sessions, training, product and roadmap discussions, practical insights, and opportunities to connect with others working in OpenVMS environments.

Visit the OpenVMS Bootcamp website for upcoming event dates, locations, registration, agendas, speakers, venue details, fees, and resources from past events.

The Product List is the best place to find current information about OpenVMS layered products, open-source tools, platform availability, documentation, downloads, and licensing. This includes products and utilities such as OpenSSH, SFTP, ABS, Samba, Python, and cURL/libcURL.

Yes. VMS/XDE is a modern development environment for OpenVMS x86 applications. It runs on Linux and can also be used on Windows through WSL, providing a Linux-based environment for OpenVMS development. VMS/XDE helps developers use OpenVMS development tools together with modern IDEs, source control systems, and CI/CD workflows.

For development on Integrity, we have VMS IDE, which is an extension to Visual Studio Code that connects to a VMS environment. Find more information on the product catalog.