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Industry Moves: Ron Oglesby Joins Unidesk as Chief Solution Architect

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Unidesk today announced that virtualization industry thought leader Ron Oglesby has joined the company as Chief Solution Architect.

In his new role, Oglesby will educate enterprise IT organizations, service providers, and resellers on how to slash the operational costs of desktop management and the capital costs of deploying and managing virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) using Unidesk solutions.

Oglesby’s passion for helping IT realize bottom-line results from virtualization investments will be an important asset as Unidesk launches and expands its game-changing management platform for VDI-based desktops and virtualized PCs. His years of desktop experience working with Citrix solutions, his extensive knowledge of Microsoft and VMware virtualization technologies, and his strong rapport with IT professionals equip him to shape not only the Unidesk product family, but also implementation strategies for Unidesk customers. A best-selling author of technical design guides on server-based computing and virtualization, Oglesby will continue to share his insights on how to improve IT operations through his frequent writings and speaking appearances at industry events.

Oglesby was most recently Practice Executive for Virtualization Services at Dell, where he developed methodologies that helped Dell’s strategic customers carry out their virtualization and consolidation initiatives.

Prior to Dell, Oglesby was the Director of x86 and Virtualization Services at GlassHouse Technologies, one of the world’s largest independent data center consulting and services companies, where he oversaw North American consulting operations and directed a large team of engineers on numerous enterprise virtualization projects. Oglesby joined GlassHouse through its acquisition of RapidApp, where, as CTO and Senior Architect, he managed the professional services business and developed unique intellectual property for managing virtualization implementations.

Oglesby brings an impressive set of credentials to Unidesk in addition to his work experience:

  • Best-selling author of advanced technical design guides for VMware Infrastructure 3, VMware ESX Server, and Terminal Services for Microsoft Windows Server 2003.
  • Frequent speaker at industry events, including BriForum, Citrix Synergy, iForum, VMworld, and VMware User Groups (VMUGs).
  • Recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award, given to inspiring individuals for representing the voice of thousands in the community through independent feedback, and for helping customers maximize the potential of their software.

Release: Lanamark Suite 2009 R2

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Lanamark has announced the availability of Lanamark Suite 2009 R2.

The new release is based on a scalable architecture that dramatically extends scalability to 50,000 systems and adds support for the latest OS and virtualization platforms, including: Citrix XenServer 5.5, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V, Microsoft Windows 7 and VMware vSphere 4.0. Lanamark also introduces aggressive pricing for virtual machines and enhances the Lanamark Storage Design Module to provide deep insight into current and historical usage of local and networked storage resources.

Lanamark Suite enables value-added resellers, system integrators and consultants to accelerate design and delivery of vendor-neutral virtualization solutions to enterprises looking to virtualize applications, desktops and servers. Solution providers can gather vital hardware, software and performance data from up to 50,000 endpoints without installing intrusive agents, analyze desktops, servers and storage to identify most suitable candidates for virtualization, and then design optimal end-to-end virtualization solutions with hardware, software and service components.

Wyse Technology And Citrix Partner on Desktop Virtualization Program

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Wyse Technology today announced the consistent day one support of Citrix XenDesktop 4 and certification as part of the Citrix Ready Open Desktop Virtualization program.

Wyse’s entire Windows Embedded and Wyse ThinOS thin computing portfolio is certified under the Citrix Ready Open Desktop Virtualization program. Wyse anticipates certification for Linux and Windows CE thin computing devices soon.

Wyse will also soar ahead in Citrix’s virtualization program with future certification in its Management, Provisioning, Performance and Virtualization software solutions, including Wyse Virtual Desktop Accelerator (VDA), Wyse TCX Suite, Wyse Device Manager and Wyse WSM.

Citrix’s new, aggressive program enables businesses to easily identify the best virtualization solutions for use with XenDesktop and their IT environment. The open architecture of XenDesktop 4 gives customers the confidence to make the switch to virtualization and their program includes Data Center, Client Devices and Client and System Management categories. Wyse client virtualization solutions fall under the latter two.

The combination of Citrix XenDesktop 4 and HDX technology, and the extreme performance of Wyse client virtualization hardware and software, provides the ideal virtualization solution.

Wyse Boasts Support of VMware View 4, Launches New Zero Client Supporting PCoIP

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Wyse Technology today announced solutions that will support VMware View 4 and its PC-over-IP (PCoIP) display protocol.

Wyse is announcing support for the PCoIP protocol in existing thin client devices, new devices, and a new zero client. The new Wyse P20 zero client is specifically designed to bring the premiere PCoIP experience to a whole new class of virtualization users whether operating from a datacenter, private or public cloud. These devices are expected to be listed on the VMware Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) and available for VMware View 4 by Nov. 19, 2009 when the solution becomes generally available.

Wyse is launching support for VMware View 4 with integrated support for PCoIP across its line of existing thin clients, including immediate support for Wyse thin clients based on Microsoft Windows XP Embedded and Windows Embedded Standard. Wyse will also support PCoIP on its line of Linux and segment-leading Wyse ThinOS clients in the near future.

Advanced protocols such as PCoIP have the potential to provide a new class of users the benefits of virtual clients, those using applications that have traditionally required powerful PCs or workstations. For this user segment, Wyse introduces the Wyse P20 zero client, its smallest, stateless access device designed specifically for the PCoIP protocol.

In partnership with VMware and with PCoIP support in hardware and software, the Wyse P20 zero client is designed for the most demanding rich media applications, including CAD/CAM, 3D solid modeling, video editing, advanced simulations, and rich media. Customers will receive a true PC experience with a device the size of a book and consuming fewer than 15 watts of power.

The Wyse P20 also resolves the challenges of provisioning, managing, maintaining and securing enterprise desktops without incurring the security risks associated with transmitting data across a network or having data reside in remote PCs. Small firmware located on the client enables users to connect to the VMware View or other PCoIP host. The client does not have a local operating system such as Windows or Linux, so it’s simpler to deploy, requires no local antivirus protection, and seldom needs management. And because the device has no local storage, it is completely secure and virus-proof.

Desktop, mobile, and even handheld support for VMware View 4 will be delivered exclusively from Wyse. In addition to the new Wyse P20 zero client, and the existing Wyse thin client family, Wyse will also deliver day one support for VMware View 4 in Wyse’s breakthrough mobile access software Wyse PocketCloud, making it easy to access a VMware View 4 environment from an Apple iPhone. An updated version of the product will be made available this month. PocketCloud is currently available from the iTunes AppStore.

Release: VMware View 4

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VMware has announced VMware View 4, enabling rapid adoption of virtualized desktops and establishing a desktop as a managed service model.

VMware View 4 is a desktop virtualization solution that it claims sets a new quality, cost and scale standard for desktop virtualization environments. Built on VMware vSphere, the industry’s leading virtualization platform, VMware View 4 is a complete desktop virtualization solution featuring a rich, flexible desktop user experience while delivering dramatic efficiency, security, performance, scalability and management improvements — all while reducing desktop total cost of ownership by as much as 50 percent.

Desktop virtualization has long remained a top IT goal because of the added security, manageability and compliance capabilities delivered. Adoption, however, has been limited due to high acquisition costs, insufficient user experience, scalability issues and limitations on the use cases that could benefit from virtualized desktops. With VMware View 4, VMware and its ecosystem of partners eliminate these barriers, enabling broader, mainstream enterprise adoption of desktop virtualization.

VMware View 4 provides:

  • Simplified desktop provisioning and management with flexible on-demand provisioning of thousands of desktops and applications instantaneously and the ability to manage up to tens of thousands of desktops from a single console
  • User flexibility and rich user experience with always on access to applications and desktops from nearly any device
  • Differentiated desktop SLAs including enterprise-class availability, disaster recovery, failover and scalability supporting tens of thousands of users across the enterprise
  • Improved security and compliance through centralized management of security policies permissions and updates

VMware View 4 establishes a new desktop experience standard, capable of satisfying the broadest range of users — from the basic task worker to the designer, with a rich, high-quality user environment across the widest range of devices and networks. View 4 will deliver a complete desktop environment including:

  • VMware View with PC over IP (PCoIP) — New adaptive display protocol specifically developed for virtual desktop delivery dynamically detects device type, network connections and locations providing the optimal desktop experience for each unique user scenario. Only VMware View with PCoIP analyzes and optimizes for both hardware and software environments. A strong ecosystem of hardware and solution providers have announced support for PCoIP, enabling adoption and support of this key innovation.
  • VMware View Display — Multi-monitor, adaptive display support, resolution optimization for each monitor with an option to pivot and rotate the display output, supporting rich audio and video content with increased performance.
  • VMware View Direct — Seamless mapping from the virtual desktop to the end users device for locally attached peripherals through USB connection for increased productivity.
  • VMware View Printing — Users automatically discover, connect and print to locally attached printer without the need to install print drivers. Delivers a high quality printing experience even over low bandwidth connections.
  • VMware View Unified Access — Continuous desktop availability with a single point of authentication for users to access — VMware View environments, Windows Terminal Servers, Blade PCs or even remote physical PCs.

VMware View 4 will establish new levels of efficiency and cost savings through product advancements and close collaboration with partners, driving down storage, networking and compute resource costs.

  • Platform Optimization — VMware View 4 is built upon VMware vSphere 4, the industry’s leading virtualization platform. VMware vSphere 4 includes unique enhancements for desktop virtualization, delivering better performance and higher virtual machine densities to support demanding desktop environments on a minimum number of servers, reducing overall costs.
  • Centralized Security and Management — VMware View 4 will enable enterprises to significantly reduce the ongoing management and operating expenses associated with desktops. Centralized management, standardized desktop images and flexible provisioning and upgrades enable enterprises to manage thousands of users from a single console while bringing greater enforcement of security, permissions and compliance policies. Customer deployments consistently demonstrate administrative cost reductions of 50 percent or greater.
  • Broad Ecosystem Alignment — Desktops as a managed service requires coordination between multiple software and hardware infrastructure providers to reduce the overall solution cost and to drive support and interoperability. Through close collaboration with key partners ranging from PCoIP hardware endpoints and other thin clients to management, security, storage and network infrastructure providers, and ISVs, VMware has further reduced acquisition costs and TCO for customers. VMware and partners have designed, built, and validated end-to-end solutions of hardware and software to take the guesswork out of designing a virtualized desktop deployment, documented in reference architectures

New Scalability and Performance Standards

VMware View 4 also raises the bar for performance and scalability of desktops with:

  • Industry-Leading Virtualization Platform — VMware vSphere 4 will ensure scalability and consistent performance regardless of desktop loads and across peak usage periods, balancing resources and requirements for optimal performance, without disruption or downtime. Proven in the most demanding enterprise environments, vSphere will deliver unparalleled availability and business continuity for virtualized desktop environments, ensuring the highest level of performance without disruption to desktop users.
  • Scalable Desktop Management — With VMware View 4, customers will be able to deploy and manage up to tens of thousands of desktops as a result of advancements in desktop brokering technology.
  • Partner Ecosystem Optimization — VMware View takes advantage of unique optimization at the CPU, hardware, server and network levels to drive the highest performance, highest quality solutions. Partners also have provided reference architectures (http://www.vmware.com/products/view/resources.html) — blueprints showing best practices for deploying virtualized desktops — for VMware View 4.

Pricing and Availability

VMware View 4 will be generally available on November 19, 2009 through VMware sales and the company’s extensive network of OEM partners and channel partners.

VMware View 4 is a family of products available in two editions:

  • VMware View 4, Enterprise Edition: includes VMware vSphere 4 for desktops, VMware vCenter 4 and VMware View Manager 4, a flexible desktop management server enabling IT administrators to quickly provision and tightly control user access.
  • VMware View 4, Premier Edition: includes VMware vSphere 4 for desktops, VMware vCenter 4, VMware View Manager 4, VMware ThinApp 4 and VMware View Composer requirements.

VMware View 4 Enterprise Edition is priced at $150 per concurrent connection and the VMware View 4 Premier Edition is priced at $250 per concurrent connection.

Citrix Verifies Over 10,000 Third-Party Products for XenDesktop 4

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Citrix Systems today launched the new Citrix Ready Open Desktop Virtualization program to further accelerate large-scale enterprise virtual desktop deployments with Citrix XenDesktop.

The Citrix Ready Open Desktop Virtualization program includes more than 10,000 products from over 200 vendors that have been validated as ready to deploy in production environments with the recently launched XenDesktop 4. The Open Desktop Virtualization program helps make virtual desktops a safe choice for enterprise-wide deployment by eliminating the guess work and ensuring customers that XenDesktop 4 has been tested to work with the software, hardware and services they already uses in their IT environments today.

Products that have been verified to work with XenDesktop 4 include thousands of applications, servers, storage systems, backup solutions, client devices, printers, desktop peripherals, security products, desktop management software and systems management solutions.

Launched on October 6, 2009, (see press release) and now available for download, XenDesktop 4, with its unique FlexCast delivery technology, is the first product in the industry to support every major desktop virtualization model in a single, integrated solution. The FlexCast delivery technology provides the architecture that allows customers to choose from any of the hosted or local virtual desktop delivery models available in one, easy-to-use solution, without locking them into a single, proprietary vendor model.

Built with an open architecture, XenDesktop gives customers the flexibility to run heterogeneous environments, lowering costs and maximizing their return on investment. It also makes it easy for customers to gradually add desktop virtualization capabilities at their own pace, simplifying desktop computing, increasing security and enhancing end-user productivity. With its market-leading HDX™ technology, XenDestkop 4 also helps ensure that every user has a rich, high-definition experience, regardless of where they are, or what type of device they are using.

Mainstream adoption of desktop virtualization requires a solution that is built with an open architecture and leverages an ecosystem of partner products. This combination helps customers implement an end-to-end solution to enhance or replace their traditional desktop computing environments. XenDesktop 4 supports every major server virtualization platform, including Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, Citrix XenServer, VMware ESX and VMware vSphere. The XenDesktop open architecture further incorporates Citrix Ready and HDX Ready thin clients, Windows, Linux and Mac devices, as well as most major mobile device platforms.

The Open Desktop Virtualization program leverages XenDesktop’s open architecture and verifies interoperability with over 10,000 products across the following categories:

Datacenter Systems

  • Virtualization Infrastructure – Hypervisor-based virtualization platforms that host and manage desktops and applications that run in virtual machines. Includes Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware ESX, VMware vSphere and Citrix XenServer
  • Servers and Blade Systems – Hardware platforms that power server-side virtual desktops and applications running in the datacenter. Includes Dell, HP, IBM, Fujitsu, Intel and AMD
  • Storage and Backup Systems – Software and hardware storage products that drive increased performance, cost savings and reduced storage requirements for desktop images, user profiles and end-user data. Includes CA, Compellent, CommVault, DataCore, Dell EqualLogic, EMC, FalconStor, Fujitsu, HP StorageWorks, Hitachi, IBM, LSI, NetApp, NEC, Pillar Data Systems, RELDATA and Xiotech
  • Applications – Enterprise, line-of-business and personal productivity applications that can be delivered more efficiently to end users through desktop and app virtualization. Includes Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and over 1,000 additional software vendors across a wide variety of industries

Client Devices

  • PCs, Laptops, Netbooks, Thin Clients and Mobile Devices – Devices used by employees and other end users to access virtual desktops and applications. Includes Apple, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Fujitsu, Research in Motion (Blackberry), Sprint, 10Zig, Chip PC, Computer Lab, DevonIT, IGEL, ThinLaunch, VXL and Wyse
  • Printers and Desktop Peripherals – Printing solutions and drivers for an extensive range of cameras, scanners, card readers, hard drives, keyboards, speakers and other popular desktop peripherals that have been certified to work in virtual desktop environments. Includes Canon, Dell, HP, Konica, Kyocera, Lexmark, Mita, Minolta, OKI, Samsung, Xerox, ThinPrint, TriCerat, UniPrint and over 7,000 other popular USB desktop devices and driver support software
  • Unified Communications – Real-time voice, meeting and communication systems that enable users to collaborate seamlessly over multiple mediums. Includes Avaya, Microsoft, ShoreTel, Citrix GoToMeeting, Citrix Hi-Def Conferencing and Citrix EasyCall

Management Systems and Services

  • Client Systems Management – Unified management of physical endpoint devices to virtual environments providing a consistent cost-effective experience for the desktop administrator. Includes CA Desktop Management Suite for Windows, CA Unicenter, HP OpenView, Microsoft System Center, Novell and Wyse
  • Profile Management – Software to ensure users’ personal settings are applied to the each user’s virtual desktop and applications. Includes AppSense, RES Software and TriCerat
  • Security – Software and hardware products to ensure secure access, business continuity, data security and regulatory compliance for employees working in any type of virtual desktop environment. Includes Kaspersky Labs, McAfee, Novell, RES Software, RSA, Sophos, TrendMicro and Citrix Access Gateway
  • Solution and Deployment Services – Services to ensure that all users have the best experience when moving to virtual desktops, both for premise based and cloud hosted environments. Includes Accenture, CSC, Dell, HP Services, Fujitsu and IBM Global Services

A white paper providing more specific information about the partner categories can be found at the Citrix Ready Open Desktop program page.