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How Citrix Aims To Drag SMBs Into The ‘Cloud Era’

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Citrix today announced a new set of products, solutions and programs designed to help small and medium businesses move from the PC Era to the Cloud Era by capitalizing on the benefits of desktop virtualization.

Central to the company’s new SMB initiative is the release of an all-new version of Citrix VDI-in-a-Box, the all-in-one virtual desktop solution designed specifically for SMBs.

VDI-in-a-Box 5 is the first Citrix release of this desktop virtualization product following the acquisition of Kaviza in May 2011. In addition, Citrix announced a new solution combining Citrix VDI-in-a-Box and the Citrix GoToManage cloud-based support offering, making it easy for managed service providers and IT staff to remotely monitor and support virtual desktop deployments at multiple sites or customer locations.

Citrix also announced a new channel partner specialization for the Citrix Solution Advisor Program, called SMB Specialist. They will have access to an extensive set of sales tools, free online training and pre-sales support focused specifically on helping them successfully engage and service SMB customers.

Citrix VDI-in-a-Box 5 will be released this quarter. A free technology preview trial is available here.

ChangeBASE Now Covers Microsoft Windows Desktop Virtualization Technologies

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ChangeBASE, which provides automated application compatibility testing and remediation solutions, has created a new application compatibility tool for companies considering moving to a session virtualization or virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) environment with Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services (RDS).

The AOK Tool helps to determine which applications will work optimally in a server-hosted desktop virtualization environment on Windows Server 2008 R2.

Using the AOK Tool together with the recently launched ChangeBASE reporting rules and plug-ins for RDS which have been developed together with Microsoft makes it easier to find out which applications will work out of the box and which ones may experience issues.

RDS is one of the core virtualisation technologies available in Windows Server 2008 R2.

In addition to the traditional session virtualisation scenario (formerly known as Terminal Services), RDS has expanded its role to provide an extensible platform for VDI.

RDS, which separates where the desktop or application is used from where it is run, accelerates desktop & application deployments and improves remote worker efficiency, while helping to keep critical intellectual property secure and to simplify regulatory compliance.

Rackspace To Offer Hosted Virtual Desktop Platform

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Rackspace Hosting announced at Citrix Summit 2011 today the availability of the Rackspace hosted virtual desktop platform.

It utilizes Rackspace’s hosting services and may be paired with industry leading desktop virtualization solutions from Citrix and other joint channel partners. The offering enables customers to host their virtual desktops on their choice of dedicated and/or cloud solutions.

The Rackspace hosted virtual desktop platform combines RackConnect and partner solutions to deliver an unmatched solution in the marketplace.

With RackConnect, customers can deploy a virtual desktop solution that utilizes Private Cloud to help address security and compliance concerns and to manage and control servers while benefiting from the scale and cost effectiveness of the CloudServers for XenApp environments.

The Rackspace hosted virtual desktop platform can also allow customers to reduce deployment times of upgrades and new infrastructure deployments while reducing CAPEX.

By working with Rackspace, channel partners and VARs can add the Rackspace hosted virtual desktop platform to their portfolio of offerings, without the additional expenses associated with purchasing the hardware and hiring resources to manage the environment.

The Rackspace offering will also be available directly to resellers through the Rackspace Partner Program.

Desktone To Leverage Platform Equinix For Cloud-Hosted Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

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Equinix, a provider of data center services, today announced that Desktone, which markets Cloud-hosted Desktops-as-a-Service, will leverage Platform Equinix to launch the next generation of its cloud-hosted virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI).

Desktone selected Equinix for its proximity to existing customers and target markets, flexible global infrastructure, and ability to scale to support rapid growth in end-user utilization and adoption.

Desktone will initially deploy in North America, and has plans to expand globally across Platform Equinix.

Cloud-hosted VDI requires unique infrastructure to support end-user performance requirements and lower service delivery costs. When latency targets aren’t met, end-user applications are significantly impacted and compromise the customer experience.

As such, proximity of the VDI cloud deployment to the end-user communities is one of the crucial requirements when choosing a data center provider. Desktone says it is committed to delivering sub-20 millisecond latency for all of the markets it serves to ensure a differentiating, high-quality customer experience.

NComputing Launches Vertical Market Solutions To Further Desktop Virtualization Adoption

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Desktop virtualization company NComputing today announced a series of vertical market solutions designed to simplify and accelerate adoption of desktop virtualization in Europe.

NComputing Office In a Box and Classroom In a Box are pre-tested and validated virtual desktop solutions including all necessary hardware, software, peripherals, OS and services.

NComputing In A Box solutions support both Windows and Linux platforms and come with all peripherals, virtual desktops and software pre-tested for compatibility and integration. They include NComputing virtual desktop devices and vSpace virtualization software which transform the typical virtual desktop structure from one user per virtual machine to thirty users per virtual machine.

NComputing In A Box solutions are available from IT distributors and resellers throughout EMEA.

Teradici Introduces Multi-Protocol Hardware Zero Client Solution for Virtual Desktops

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Teradici today announced the first multi-protocol hardware zero client solution for virtual desktops. This flexible zero client solution enables IT managers to deploy PCoIP clients across their organizations and connect to a complete range of hosted compute resources including:

  • VMware View virtual desktops via VMware View 3 client mode
  • Blade, tower or rack 3D graphics workstations via PCoIP protocol mode.
  • Microsoft Terminal Server sessions via RDP client mode.

Desktop clients based on the Teradici TERA1100 portal processor are a true zero client solution that can support any user type from task workers, to mainstream office workers, to extreme workstation/visualization application users. These innovative clients have no x86 processors, no application O/S, and no drivers, which dramatically simplifies deployment and management. With additional features such as no local data storage and unique USB device authorization, PCoIP hardware zero client solutions are highly secure and resistant to viruses that can impact traditional remote desktop installations.

With the growing interest and deployment of virtual desktops and VMware View in enterprise computing environments, secure, multi-protocol hardware zero clients are an ideal solution for universal employee access. For example in the healthcare industry, facility wide access must be available to any hospital compute resource. In addition to enabling strict security for compliance, the PCoIP client can be used to access highly virtualized electronic medical records, or performance workstations for high-resolution diagnostic images, video or 3D models.