Virtualization software giant VMware Inc. is announcing a new, perpetual beta program for its main vSphere platform.

The company said the new vSphere Beta Program is different from its previous beta programs because “it’s not tied to a specific version or release only.”

Instead, the company said, it’s moving to a new format that sees the program run continuously as new versions of vSphere are released. “Participants can expect to see new functionalities and capabilities added on an ongoing basis for their feedback,” Himanshu Singh, a product marketing manager for VMware’s cloud platform business, said in a blog post announcing the new program.

VMware is offering interested testers two different options for trying out its new features and functionality. Customers can choose to download the software and run it in their own lab environments on-premises, or alternatively they can opt to play with vSphere in a hosted environment that leverages predefined workflows.

“This will provide us with valuable insight into how you use the new features and capabilities with a variety of test cases, enabling us to better align our product with your business needs,” Singh said.

For testers, the benefit is that they’ll be able to communicate more closely with VMware’s product engineers, providing direct feedback on things such as the functionality, configurability, usability and performance of vSphere. Testers will also be in a much better position to influence VMware as it works on future features and products, training, documentation and services, Singh said.

As to why VMware is doing this now, the company had earlier promised to roll out more frequent updates for its vSphere on Amazon Web Services service. The FAQ for that service states that “ESXi running on VMware Cloud on AWS may have a more frequent update cadence so that customers can take advantage of regular service enhancements.”

In other words, customers expect more frequent or even continuous updates from their cloud services in today’s day and age, and that seems to be what VMware now intends to deliver. VMware said customers can apply here to sign up for the new beta program.

Image: Glenn Harper/Flickr