New software finds VMs and performs e-discovery searches to ensure relevant information gets found.This week e-discovery vendor Kazeon announced its software can find and search VMware-based virtual machines running on Windows XP and Vista. The agentless software identifies VMware ESX and ACE instances and can search them for electronic discovery and data management purposes.

CEO Sudhakar Muddu said more organizations are finding users running virtual machines on their desktops and laptops, which can complicate e-discovery searches. "We saw end users actually hiding information from their corporations by using virtual images," he said.

The software can enforce legal holds on information stored in a virtual machine, including making it read-only for the local user, or denying end user access to that information entirely. It can also migrate data and files to a separate repository. Kazeon claims it can move files and data without changing meta data, such as access and copy times.

Kazeon notes this VM discovery feature, which is included in version 3.1 of its Information Access and Management Platform, is not intended as a VM management package. The software also does not integrate with VMware management products.

The company says the software can also find VMs on servers, but it's primary purpose is to identify and search VMs on laptops and desktops.