Nutanix has confirmed plans to launch a free version of its hyperconverged software that powers its storage and compute appliances.

The beta release for Community Edition is slated for public release on June 8, during the week of its .NEXT user conference, when it will be available globally for download. It is a limited-scale version of the full Nutanix software stack, the company said, adding that it runs on standard x86-based servers.

In an e-mail interview with ZDNet, Nikita Maheshwari, product marketing manager for Nutanix, said offering a free version of its software would allow IT professionals, developers, partners, and any tech enthusiast to evaluate the vendor's technology with no upfront cost.

"It also extends the company's commitment to fostering an open, transparent and community-centric approach for our greatest believers," Maheshwari said.

To run Community Edition, she said servers must be quad-core and above, with minimum 16GB memory, and support Intel VT-x. Storage subsystems should be RAID-0 or AHCI.

There are no upgrade options so anyone looking to scale up after trying out the software will have to purchase Nutanix appliances, she added.

When asked, Maheshwari could not say how many downloads the vendor was targeting for Community Edition, but said it would have a better gauge of the numbers some months after the release of the public beta.

Users can refer to the vendor's NEXT online community for operational guidance and management best practices, according to Nutanix. Co-founder and CEO Dheeraj Pandey, who had discussed plans for the free software in February, said in a statement Tuesday: "Community Edition is the next step in democratizing hyperconverged infrastructure technology... Only by eliminating the requirement for proprietary hardware and embracing off-the-shelf platforms can the next revolution of datacenter technologies be fully realized."

The software had been previously available on early private release. Users interested in the public beta can register online to be put on a waitlist.