VMware 2007 Annual Report Download - page 15

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Table of Contents
Available Information
Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to reports filed
pursuant to Sections 13(a) and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), are made available free of
charge on or through our website at www.vmware.com as soon as reasonably practicable after such reports are filed with, or furnished to, the
Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Copies of the (i) charters for our Audit Committee, Compensation and Corporate
Governance Committee and Mergers and Acquisitions Committee, (ii) our Business Conduct Guidelines (code of business conduct and ethics)
and (iii) our Corporate Governance Guidelines, are available on the Investor Relations page of our website at www.vmware.com. Copies will be
provided to any shareholder upon request. Please send a written request to VMware Investor Relations, 3401 Hillview Avenue, Palo Alto,
California 94304. None of the information posted on or accessible through our website is incorporated by reference into this Annual Report.
The risk factors that appear below could materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. The risks and
uncertainties described below are not the only risks and uncertainties facing us. Our business is also subject to general risks and uncertainties that
affect many other companies.
Risks Related to Our Business
The virtualization products and services we sell are based on an emerging technology and therefore the potential market for our products
remains uncertain.
The virtualization products and services we develop and sell are based on an emerging technology platform and our success depends on
organizations and customers perceiving technological and operational benefits and cost savings associated with adopting virtualization solutions.
Our relatively limited operating history and the relatively limited extent to which virtualization solutions have been currently adopted may make
it difficult to evaluate our business because the potential market for our products remains uncertain. The markets for our virtualization products
are new and have grown rapidly from a small base. This has resulted in significant percentage increases in our product sales in recent periods. As
the markets for our products mature and the scale of our business increases, the rate of growth in our product sales may be lower than those we
have experienced in recent periods. In addition, to the extent that the virtualization market develops more slowly or less comprehensively than
we expect, our revenue growth rates may slow materially or our revenue may decline substantially.
We expect to face increasing competition that could result in a loss of customers, reduced revenues or decreased profit margins.
The market for our products is competitive and we expect competition to significantly intensify in the future. For example, Microsoft
currently provides products that compete with some of our free offerings and has released a beta version of a product that will likely compete
with our entry level enterprise-class products in the future. Microsoft’s offerings are positioned to compete with our hypervisor offerings. We
also face competition from other companies, including several recent market entrants and there have been a number of announcements of new
product initiatives, alliances and consolidation efforts by our competitors. For example, Citrix Systems acquired XenSource, a developer of
virtual infrastructure software, and announced an expansion of its alliance with Microsoft, and XenSource products were made available
preinstalled on servers of certain x86 vendors. Virtual Iron Software released a new version of its infrastructure product, Sun Microsystems
announced a virtualization initiative and Oracle released a Xen-based product. Existing and future competitors may introduce products in the
same markets we serve or intend to serve, and competing products may have better performance, lower prices, better functionality and broader
acceptance than our products. Our competitors may also add
11
ITEM 1A.
RISK FACTORS