On the cusp of its IPO, VMware is spreading into hosting.

Wednesday it announced a Service Provider Program for web hosting services, telecommunications companies and outsourcers to use its Infrastructure Suite to sell virtual servers as a service offering.

VMware has dreamed up a new licensing model to charge hosters on a per-virtual machine/per-month basis that they can pass along as utility computing. End users, in turn, will be able to add or reduce infrastructure at will.

The company said its scheme is superior to shared hosting - which forces customers into a one-size-fits-all world that lacks isolation - if one of its VMs crashes, others are available.

VMware has been working with some hosting providers like EDS and Telefonica for the last couple of years and piloted the program earlier this year with a bunch of companies.

Hosting providers can license either VMware Infrastructure Suite Enterprise or Starter. The widgetry includes ESX and a Distributed Resource Scheduler that reacts to the ebb and flow of demand.