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RingCube Introdes vDesk Version 2.0

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RingCube recently announced vDesk version 2.0, an enterprise desktop virtualization solution that simplifies the creation, access and management of Windows desktops. With the release of vDesk 2.0, RingCube advances its virtualization architecture through its new Workspace Virtualization Engine (WVE) expanding the manageability, security, and supportability of its enterprise-class virtual desktop solution. With version 2.0, vDesk also extends its advantage in the areas of application support and ease of management as compared to application virtualization offerings while continuing to maintain a significant cost and performance advantage over client hypervisor-based solutions.

RingCube vDesk 2.0 delivers a Workspace Virtualization Engine (WVE) which provides a lightweight and complete virtual desktop that can join an enterprise domain, has an isolated network stack and supports applications such as endpoint security, databases, and PC management software that require drivers and security services. Below is a listing of key components of the Workspace Virtualization Engine (WVE):

  • Virtual Networking, called vDeskNet, allows the virtual workspace to separate and isolate network traffic from the host PC including VPN clients running within the virtual workspace.
  • Virtual User Management allows the virtual workspace to have a unique set of user accounts separate from the host PC. Also, vDesk users within the virtual workspace can add/join an Active Directory domain independent of the user authentication and authorization rights of the host PC.
  • Virtual Security Store provides a separate protected storage area within the virtual workspace where items like certificates are kept isolated from the host PC.
  • Virtual Windows Services allows greater process and application isolation from the host PC. Virtualized services within the virtual workspace include LSA (local security authority), Microsoft TCP/IP networking, and NTFS volumes. These virtualized services help to increase the number of kernel-mode applications that can be supported within the virtual workspace.
  • Generic Driver Support provides a virtualized framework for the installation of drivers within the virtual workspace which includes a virtualized Plug-n-Play service. The generic driver framework increases application support particularly when new drivers are required.

vDesk 2.0 delivers full workspace encryption through its integration of 3rd party encryption software which protects the information stored within the virtual workspace. Also, vDeskNet provides a virtual networking stack so all network traffic within the virtual workspace can be isolated from the host, protecting confidential information from spyware on the host PC. VPN clients and end-point security software can also be installed inside the virtual workspace for additional security protection of the virtual workspace.

vDesk 2.0 improves the manageability of the virtual workspace by allowing users within the vDesk virtual workspace to add or join an Active Directory domain. Further, vDesk 2.0 has the ability to consume and apply Group Policy Objects (GPO) within the virtual workspace itself independent of the host PC. Enterprise customers can leverage existing management tools with vDesk by running them outside or inside the virtual workspace. By co-existing with traditional PC life cycle management tools and processes, vDesk provides a seamless transition path from traditional desktop management to virtual workspace management.

The vDesk 2.0 client has a more streamlined interface making it easier for vDesk users to get access to their virtual workspace with less interaction required. Also, vDesk support of Windows Vista has gone from technology preview in the previous release to general availability.

vDesk 2.0 is available immediately through RingCube. Pricing starts at $200 per user.

Economy And Failure To Sell Likely To Murder Cassatt, Says CEO Bill Coleman (See Our Earlier Video Interview With The Man)

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Data center management software firm Cassatt is “close to the end,” stated founder and CEO Bill Coleman in a Forbes article. Coleman is well-known in Silicon Valley, having served as a senior exec in the early days of Sun Microsystems and as one of the co-founders of middleware company BEA systems. The ambitions with Cassatt were huge, but now (after raising $100 million in capital) the company is apparently having trouble even selling itself to one of the majors it aimed to compete with.

From the article:

“The big guys copied my story,” says Coleman. Cassatt, he adds, was upended by a slowing economy and by customers skittish about closing big orders or changing existing ways.

“What frustrates me is my own naivete,” he says. “I thought I could give companies something radical that had a proven return on investment, and they would be willing to change all their companies’ computer policies and procedures to get that. Right now it’s hard to get people to get beyond proof of concept tests or a data center energy analysis.”

And it concludes:

For his own part, though, Coleman says, “I have to think about my people. Then I’m going to a beach for a month to think about what to do next.”

We wish Coleman all the best.

Here’s a video interview we conducted with the man in the Summer of 2008:

PART 1

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PART 2

Eucalyptus Set To Launch With $5.5 Million In Series A Funding

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Eucalyptus Systems, creators of an open source private cloud platform, today announced that it has closed a $5.5 million Series A round of venture financing led by Benchmark Capital with BV Capital also participating.

The funding marks the launch of Eucalyptus Systems as a private company that will build and service enterprise-grade products based on the Eucalyptus open source privatecloud software. Eucalyptus Systems’ mission is to support the open source Eucalyptus cloud platform and to deliver on-premise private and hybrid cloud computing solutions for large-scale enterprise deployments.

Eucalyptus is an open source software infrastructure for implementing on-premise cloud computing using an organization’s own information technology (IT) infrastructure, without modification, special-purpose hardware or reconfiguration. Eucalyptus turns data center resources such as machines, networks, and storage systems into a “cloud” that is controlled and customized by local IT. Moreover, a local cloud based on Eucalyptus adds capabilities such as end-user customization, self-service provisioning, and legacy application support to data center virtualization features, making IT customer service easier, more fully featured, and less expensive.

Eucalyptus is the only cloud architecture to support the same application programming interfaces (APIs) as public clouds, and today Eucalyptus is fully compatible with the Amazon AWS public cloud infrastructure. The Eucalyptus design gives users the flexibility to seamlessly move applications from on-premise Eucalyptus clouds to public clouds, and vice versa. Eucalyptus also makes it easy to deploy “hybrid” clouds, which use public and private cloud resources together to get the unique benefits of each. To assist customers with setup, deployment, training, and support, Eucalyptus Systems has created the QuickStart program, the ideal first step for organizations looking to partner with Eucalyptus experts on critical cloud infrastructure initiatives.

The Eucalyptus management team includes Co-founder and CEO Woody Rollins, Co-founder and CTO Dr. Rich Wolski, Vice President of Sales and Marketing Matt Reid, and the team of Ph.D. computer science engineers from the Eucalyptus project at UCSB. In addition, Andreas Von Blottnitz, former CEO of AOL Europe and Citrix Online, is chairman of the board, and Dr. Klaus Schauser, founder of AppFolio and founder and CTO of Citrix Online, is serving as an advisor.

To date, Eucalyptus has been downloaded over 14,000 times in 72 countries. In addition, Eucalyptus software is the cloud computing engine behind the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (powered by Eucalyptus), which was recently announced as part of the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution. Eucalyptus will ship with every copy of Ubuntu, starting with the Ubuntu 9.04 Server Edition, made available on April 23.

Apologies For The Radio Silence

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We would like to apologize to our readers, and particularly those who subscribe to our RSS feed and/or e-mail newsletter, for not posting any news for the past couple of days. We moved offices and it took us a while to get our internet access back. But we’re back now, and here’s an overview of what happened while we were sitting on a tropical island in no-internet-hell.

Veeam has a new CFO (William H. Largent)

BlueStripe Software raised Series B funding to the tune of $8 million from Valhalla Partners and Trinity Ventures.

CohesiveFT added both Fedora Core 10 and Internal Eucalyptus Cloud Deployment Option to its Elastic Server platform

Tranxition has announced general availability of LiveManage for Virtual Migrations 7.0

VMware has announced vSphere, its infamous cloud operating system (and then some)

rPath has announced rBuilder 5

Pano Logic has appointed Parmeet S. Chaddha as executive vice president of engineering

VMware put out their financial numbers for the first quarter of 2009

Leostream released Connection Broker 6.0

Citrix today announced that the beta release of XenServer 5.5 (code-named “Project George”) is available

Hitachi Data Systems Introduces New Replication Support for VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager

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Hitachi Data Systems Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, today announced the immediate availability of the second generation of Hitachi Storage Replication Adapter for VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager. Today’s announcement adds support for the midrange Hitachi Adaptable Modular Storage family, providing customers continuous, real time local and remote replication and automatic failover capabilities to ensure resilient data protection, high availability and disaster recovery for VMware environments.

As more businesses implement VMware virtualization, they need to ensure that the data generated in this virtual environment is properly protected. At the same time, businesses are discovering that traditional approaches to disaster recovery and business continuity are not as cost-effective in virtual environments. To address these pressing customer challenges to ensure greater uptime at lower operational costs, the Hitachi Storage Replication Adapter facilitates the linkage between Hitachi market leading system-based replication technologies, including Hitachi Universal Replicator, Hitachi TrueCopy Synchronous, Hitachi TrueCopy Extended Distance and Hitachi ShadowImage in-system replication software, and VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager. Coupled together, these software solutions provide operational resilience, robust data protection, recovery management and replication capabilities optimized for VMware Infrastructure.

The Hitachi Storage Replication Adapter links Hitachi replication software and VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager to provide tremendous operational resilience, robust data protection, and recovery management and replication capabilities that complement VMware Infrastructure.