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NComputing vSpace Now Plays Nice With Windows Multipoint Server 2011

May 18, 2011 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Desktop virtualization company NComputing has announced technology integration between its vSpace virtualization software and desktop devices, and Microsoft’s Windows Multipoint Server (WMS) 2011 multiuser operating system.

As a Microsoft Gold Partner, NComputing collaborated on early product testing, tuning and validation to ensure the best user experience possible.

Microsoft WMS 2011 brings Windows 7 to every student and productivity worker and powerful tools for administrators to simplify user setup and management, while NComputing reduces the cost of computing by allowing multiple people to simultaneously share a single computer.

NComputing offers support of Microsoft WMS 2011 in desktop virtualization environments including USB, PCI and Ethernet. As well as its L-Series (Ethernet), X-Series (PCI) and U-Series (USB) desktop virtualization devices, NComputing vertical market ‘In A Box’ solutions including Classroom In a Box for education markets and Office In A Box for SMB markets will support Microsoft WMS 2011.

NComputing says it has deployed 2.6 million virtual desktops in 140 countries.

Research and Markets’ Latest Report: “Vendor Landscape: Virtualization Competition Heats Up”

January 19, 2009 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Via VMBlog comes word of a new report from Research and Markets titled: “Vendor Landscape: Virtualization Competition Heats Up”:

“VMware retains its leadership position in this updated vendor landscape of virtualization software. However, the virtualization market has seen greatly increased competition in 2008. Microsoft has emerged as a legitimate competitor through its release of the Hyper-V hypervisor and Citrix has stormed onto the scene with its acquisition of XenSource.

This research note provides an overview of the x86 server virtualization landscape and addresses how the vendors meet the following key selection criteria:

-Vendor and product maturity.
-Advanced features and suitability for a utility infrastructure.
-Cost of licensing.

VMware remains in the leadership zone due to its market share and continued innovation toward comprehensive data center virtualization. However, where VMware was the only game in town a few short years ago, now the competition has become serious. Going into 2009, expect continued feature innovation and pressure on pricing. ”

VMware Europe 2009: Call For Papers

January 6, 2009 by Robin Wauters 1 Comment

VMworld Europe is coming up soon (February 24-26, 2009) and is once again being held in Cannes, France. The team has just issued a call for papers, deadline January 16th, so if you’re interested in participating don’t hesitate too long to submit.

VMworld Europe is looking for content on the following subjects:

Networking
Security
Storage
Real World Stories from Customers
Programming and Scripting
Business Continuity
Green Computing and Cost
Automation

Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) or Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V)?

January 2, 2009 by Robin Wauters 1 Comment

WindowsITPro answers this question: when should one use Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) as opposed to Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V)?

APP-V and MED-V address two very different scenarios. APP-V virtualizes at the application level, placing applications in a sandbox-type environment. Applications can’t see one another through the user of virtual file systems, virtual registries, or virtual services but the applications are still running on the local client OS. APP-V is great for resolving conflicts between applications and expediting application testing deployment, as APP-V applications aren’t locally installed on a computer.

MED-V, set to be available in the first half of 2009, virtualizes at the OS level and is used to resolve incompatibility problems between applications and an OS. MED-V is also a solution for the delivery and maintenance for virtual machine (VM) images on a client desktop. For more information about MED-V, see this previous FAQ.

If your problem is that applications are incompatible with one another or you need to deploy apps quickly with minimal testing, you want APP-V. If you have applications that won’t run on a new client OS or you want to manage VM images then you want MED-V. Either way, you need the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack to get access to the technologies. It’s highly likely you may need to use both technologies for different applications within your organization.

KACE Study: Virtualization Gains Momentum With SMBs

November 18, 2008 by Robin Wauters 1 Comment

KACE today announced the results of a new study that revealed more than three quarters of medium enterprises have adopted some form of virtualization. In addition the research showed the fastest growing area for virtualization is application virtualization, with 64 percent of medium organizations reporting they have either deployed or plan to do so in the next year. Also uncovered is the need for an integrated solution for systems management and virtualization. Seventy-one percent prefer to combine their systems management tools for both virtual and physical systems in a single, integrated product and many prefer their systems management tools offer integrated application virtualization management capabilities.

The research, consisting of an online survey of more than 500 respondents, the majority from medium-sized enterprises, was conducted by King Research and commissioned by KACE to gather data about the current state of virtualization adoption among medium enterprises. Focusing on hot-button issues such as growth of adoption, barriers to deployment, the importance of managing mixed physical and virtual IT environments, and specific areas of virtualization growth, the research revealed adoption of virtualization among the medium enterprise proved to be as rapid as enterprise adoption.

A summary of the key findings from the study include:

— 64 percent reported they have adopted or plan to adopt application virtualization in the near future, making application virtualization the fastest growing virtualization segment among medium enterprises surveyed;

— 85 percent of respondents revealed they have deployed virtualization technologies or plan to do so within the next twelve months;

— A reduction in hardware requirements was cited by 82 percent as the primary benefit they have achieved with virtualization;

— Over half reported cost savings as the most important consideration when justifying the cost of virtualization;

— 71 percent of respondents who have deployed application virtualization technologies cited they prefer systems management tools for virtual and physical systems offered in a single, integrated product;

— 86 percent felt that virtualization has had a positive impact on them personally — almost half cited they could do more with their budgets due directly to virtualization.

Survey metholodogy

A database of IT professionals was emailed and invited to participate in a Web survey on the topic of virtualization. A total of 519 respondents completed the survey representing hands-on IT professionals (36 percent), IT managers (32 percent), IT executives (2 percent) and others. This survey focused primarily on the responses of the 291 participants (56 percent) from mid-sized companies, those with 100-5000 employees.

The survey was conducted using Zoomerang, an online survey tool. Respondents were not compensated for participating in this survey except to be offered a copy of the final report. This survey was sponsored by KACE, a provider of IT automation appliances.