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May 10, 2008 | Comments: (0)

ClearCube spins off software business to VDIworks

In January of this year, ClearCube introduced version 5.6 of its Sentral VDI Management System software. With this release, the company promoted the notion of "No Vendor Lock-Down", meaning that it would provide cross-platform support for hardware from all leading vendors and also provide vendor agnostic support for multiple virtualization technologies. This may be a growing trend. Back in October of 2007, Egenera also decided to start allowing its own management software, PAN Manager, to work with hardware platforms outside of its own Egenera BladeFrame product line.

But now, ClearCube is taking things one step further. Rather than simply stating that its software is vendor agnostic, the company has decided to spin-off its software business into an independent new company called VDIworks.

VDIworks will continue to deliver the software management platforms for creating, deploying and managing the virtual desktop infrastructure, while ClearCube will continue to provide its centralized, high performance desktop computing solutions, which include the company's PC blade technology.

The two companies have an OEM agreement in place whereby ClearCube will continue to market the VDIworks software under the Sentral VDI Management Software name. Sentral will continue to be an integral component of ClearCube's solution and current ClearCube customers should see no change in their product support.

The two companies still share the same investors and owners. And ClearCube's current Chief Operating Officer Randy Printz was promoted to president and CEO, while Rick Hoffman, the former president of ClearCube, became the president of VDIworks.

Hoffman said the spin-off enables both companies the ability to focus on delivering the right products and solutions to their respective target markets as well as the flexibility to develop the right partnerships to take those solutions to market.

Splitting the two companies should give ClearCube the opportunity to strengthen its relationship with other desktop virtualization software providers such as Citrix, Microsoft and VMware; allowing those companies to promote their own desktop virtualization management tools on ClearCube's PC blade hardware.

Likewise, VDIworks will be afforded the chance to work with other hardware vendors such as Dell, HP, IBM and Wyse. By separating the hardware from the software, hardware vendors are more inclined to look at VDIworks' software solution as a partnership opportunity rather than more competition.

"Spinning off the software makes it easier for VDIworks to engage in non-competitive OEM relationships," Hoffman said.

When asked more specifics about the OEM agreement between ClearCube and VDIworks and whether or not VDIworks would provide a special version of the software solution for ClearCube technology, Hoffman painted a much clearer picture for me by describing it like so.

"The Sentral management software is optimized for ClearCube's complete centralized desktop computing solutions, which include, for example, proprietary thin client protocol support such as their dual and quad-monitor PCoIP-based I9400 thin client deices. As ClearCube develop additional PC Blade solutions and thin client devices, ClearCube will continue to provide their Sentral requirements to VDIworks as per their OEM agreement. There are a number of unique features that are enabled only on the ClearCube platform. The first is the out of band management technology which uses proprietary infrastructure on both the blade as well as the chassis hardware. The second unique feature is the enabling of the KVM switch in the chassis that allows instant switching and sparing to another blade. VDIworks, on the other hand, will focus their software development on VDI specifically, so product packaging and pricing will be different as VDIworks focuses on developing the breadth of capabilities required for comprehensive deployment and management of VDI in order to provide maximum flexibility for customers in heterogeneous environments, which include:
Deep integration with hypervisor management APIs, including: power management, inventory of non running virtual machines, remote control of VM sessions as well as value added functionality such as Virtual Machine Pooling; a patent pending innovation that throttles free VM pools on any physical host to deliver rapid user connection times while using the least possible resources on the physical host. Upcoming features include VM templating, duplication, rollback and more.
Support for Windows mobile 5 & 6 devices (the future virtual desktop)
Third party application integration and plug-ins that support existing systems management tools, ie., Microsoft System Center, so IT managers can leverage existing solutions and technologies to manage their virtual desktop infrastructure.
Extensive thin client protocol support that extends the monitoring, software distribution, help desk and remote control capabilities of the VDIworks solution to the client device.
Portable virtual machine functionality that extends the reach of your virtual desktop environment to scenarios where users may not have always-on network connectivity. This modular feature will allow users to choose whether to run their Virtual Desktop session in an 'online' or 'checked out' state, and intelligently 'check back in' when no longer mobile."

Both companies, ClearCube and VDIworks, find themselves in a highly contested desktop virtualization market. However, the split could prove to be the key for both companies to advance their individual product lines. And it could prove to be an even bigger help down the road when it comes to acquisition time.

Posted by David Marshall on May 10, 2008 05:37 AM

May 06, 2008 | Comments: (0)

VMware announces new Mac desktop virtualization - Fusion 2.0 Beta 1

Mac virtualization users have been watching a very interesting tennis match between VMware and Parallels. And this time, it looks like it's VMware's turn to serve with the announcement around VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1.

If there was a theme with this release it might be "More. More. More."

Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 is a public beta, available for download. More good news? VMware also announced that Fusion 2.0 would be a free downloadable upgrade for all VMware Fusion 1.x users.

With the latest release, VMware is adding more displays, more 3-D graphics, and more of what people have been asking for in the product.

So what are those features?

More Displays: VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 offers true multi-display support, giving virtual machines the ability to see additional displays. You can also drag Unity windows between displays and expand your virtual machine full screen across one or all your available displays. And you can run Windows-only applications that require more than one logical display, while application windows correctly maximize only to their current display.
More 3-D Graphics: VMware has added experimental support for DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 2. Fusion 1.0 launched with DirectX 8.1 support, followed by VMware Fusion 1.1 raising the bar to DirectX 9.0 without pixel shaders. VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 now ups the ante again with support for DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 2, letting users play select PC-only 3D games in Windows XP virtual machines. DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 2 support in Beta 1 is considered experimental, and performance will vary based on hardware and applications in question. VMware warns that some games that work in VMware Fusion 1.x may fail in this beta.
More Conversions: VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 integrates the ability to convert Parallels Desktop and Virtual PC for Mac virtual machines. By making this feature easy to use with click and drag capabilities, VMware hopes to have more people adopting Fusion. And if you aren't using a competitor product, VMware is also hoping for more conversions with adding the ability to convert Boot Camp partitions to a "full" virtual machine.
More Improvements: Fusion 2.0 is making improvements to shared folders, virtual printing, networking enhancements, USB robustness, Mouse and Keyboard support, as well as additional updates for Unity.

To read about more of the features added into this product or to check out some of VMware's videos showcasing these additions, check out the VMware Fusion 2 Beta Landing Page.

Visit the Fusion 2.0 Portal where you can find out more information and download the product.

Posted by David Marshall on May 6, 2008 05:08 AM

May 05, 2008 | Comments: (0)

VirtualBox 1.6 - Desktop virtualization comes out of the Sun

VirtualBox 1.6 is a major update to the open source desktop virtualization platform from Sun Microsystems. This is Sun's first release of the product since acquiring it from the German company Innotek back in February.

This latest version of VirtualBox 1.6 now offers full support for Mac OS X and Solaris as host operating systems. For some time now, support for these platforms was available from Innotek, however, it was only experimental. With full support available, Sun is now entering into a competitive marketplace with VMware and Parallels.

New features in the 1.6 version also includes a Web service API, a SATA hard disk controller, experimental support for Physical Address Extensions (PAE) and a new guest addition set for the Solaris operating system.

Another feature that is now commonly asked for in a desktop virtualization platform is a seamless windowing mode. Like Parallels Coherence or VMware Unity, VirtualBox now provides just such a feature - seamless windows for Linux and Solaris guest systems.

Find out more about VirtualBox or download the product and try it for yourself.

Posted by David Marshall on May 5, 2008 06:38 PM

April 30, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Qumranet tackles virtualizing the desktop

The commercial sponsor of KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine), Qumranet, launched its anticipated desktop virtualization solution - Solid ICE (Independent Computing Environment).

The Solid ICE product is used on x86 hosts and leverages the KVM hypervisor technology. On top of that, Qumranet created its own management suite to wrap everything together. And the company's secret sauce is, well, not a sauce, but a spice. SPICE is the company's integrated remote rendering technology which connects the virtualization product to a thin client or desktop PC. The remote technology is said to be much more powerful than Microsoft's RDP, and provides instant access to Windows and Linux desktops. Windows 2000 users who have trouble remoting in will be pleased to hear that SPICE supports the operating system.

The company said in statement, "Unlike Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), other retrofitted server virtualization solutions, and Terminal Services models, Solid ICE provides a complete desktop experience for end users running a thin client or repurposed PC. Entire Windows and Linux desktop environments are hosted centrally and administered from a single control point. Leveraging the open-source KVM hypervisor, SPICE remote rendering technology, and a robust, purposefully built management system, Solid ICE delivers a superior desktop experience."

Solid ICE benefits for IT departments:

Fully-integrated, "out-of-the-box" desktop virtualization solution
Centralized management, storage and policy enforcement
Instant provisioning of new desktops
Significant reduction of desk-side visits
Near-zero downtime in the event of server failures
Significant reduction in the cost of new application deployment
Robust desktop image management capabilities
Normal 2-3 year PC refresh cycle extended to 5-6 years or more
Energy consumption costs reduced dramatically

Solid ICE benefits for the end user:

Existing desktop-like performance including multiple monitors, bi-directional audio/video, streaming video, USB support etc.
Ability to access the users' enterprise desktop environment from any PC, (including the employee's home PC)
Desktop computing power on demand
Multiple desktops on demand
Self provisioning of desktops (controlled by policies)
Zero downtime in the event of client failure

The concept of desktop virtualization is gaining traction in the IT world. With an estimated 500 million business PCs installed globally, and less than five million running virtualization software in 2007, the market opportunity for desktop virtualization is immense. Meanwhile, Citrix is getting ready to launch its own desktop virtualization solution called XenDesktop. In May, Citrix plans to launch XenDesktop during its Synergy conference being held in Houston, TX.

Solid ICE is available for production or other deployments priced per concurrent virtual desktop. Visit the company's Web site to find out about volume discounts, 30-day free evaluation versions and how to purchase Solid ICE.

Posted by David Marshall on April 30, 2008 07:55 PM

April 29, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Virtualization and Apple Mac sound like a winning combination

Remember the old days when Mac users and PC users used to argue about who had the better computer?

Hmmm... Never mind. So maybe things haven't changed that much. But perhaps those Apple fans who swore off Windows might be coming around a bit? Or, maybe PC users are now crossing over to the other side, but don't want to give up their Windows applications just yet? Either way, it looks like virtualization software could be stepping in to try and mediate this ancient argument. Why not have the best of both worlds?

Products like Parallels Desktop for Mac and VMware Fusion have entered the scene once dominated and now abandoned by Connectix and Microsoft to help address this issue. Both companies, along with their virtualization products, give Intel-based Mac owners the ability to run Microsoft Windows operating systems and Windows applications on their Mac OS. Yes, blasphemy for some... but evidently an opportunity for others.

Sales for the Apple Mac are doing quite well. Apple recently announced their financial results for its fiscal 2008 second quarter and said they posted revenue of $7.51 billion up from $5.26 billion a year earlier. And Apple shipped 2,289,000 Macintosh computers during the quarter, representing 51 percent unit growth and 54 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. Earlier in the month, IDC reported that Apple's share of the US PC market during the first quarter of 2008 had reached 7.1%, up from 4.9% a year earlier, which represented a 45% growth. So is virtualization helping Mac sales soar? I think so.

VMware said that Fusion has made a significant impact on the market since its launch in August 2007. And the company is excited about how well the Mac community has embraced the virtualization product.

Pat Lee, Group Manager, Consumer Products at VMware, said, "Our market share has been growing month over month and VMware Fusion is now the leading Mac virtualization product at Amazon.com, the US Apple Online Store, Apple Online Store Australia, and the Apple Online Store Japan. In fact, VMware Fusion is the number 6 overall Mac-related (hardware or software) top seller at the Apple Store Japan and the number 5 overall software (PC or Mac) title at Amazon.com."

Lee added, "In addition to strong consumer adoption, VMware Fusion is helping to validate Mac use in the enterprise. For example, IBM recently finished a pilot program to test migrating users from existing Windows PCs to the Mac and IBM provided VMware Fusion to their pilot users, allowing them to run Windows-only applications. At the end of the test, 86% of the pilot users kept their Macs using VMware Fusion to run Windows-only applications."

In addition to impressive product sales, VMware Fusion has also achieved a number of awards during its first nine months in the market. Lee noted that VMware received a "coveted MacWorld Editor's Choice Award" which he said was an amazing accomplishment for any new product and added "we couldn't be more proud."

Parallels is also helping to bridge the gap and mend fences between the PC and Mac community. Parallels recently announced that its Parallels Desktop for Mac product has sold more than one million copies and added that it has made Parallels the number one company in desktop virtualization. The software is now sold in 10 different languages - Chinese, Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, and Spanish.

"Parallels Desktop not only broke down the barrier between the Mac and PC worlds, it also broke down the barrier that kept desktop virtualization from becoming a mainstream technology for consumers and professional users," said Serguei Beloussov, CEO of Parallels.

"We will continue innovating to extend our position as the desktop virtualization leader and provide our users with the fastest, easiest and most seamless solution available."

Parallels Desktop for Mac also won the MacWorld Editor's Choice Award along with more than 30 other industry awards.

So while Mac users and PC users might still be having "loud discussions" with one another over who has the better platform, someone in the Mac community is using virtualization software to run Windows on Macs. It sounds like progress is being made, although now we've added a new debate into the mix - Parallels or VMware?

Posted by David Marshall on April 29, 2008 07:13 PM

April 27, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Desktone's virtualization desktop-as-a-service

Massachusetts based Desktone is claiming that it is the very first provider of a system that enables delivery of virtualized desktops, calling it the Desktone Virtual-D Platform.

The newly unveiled Desktone Virtual-D Platform is designed to enable service providers the ability to offer hosted, subscription based virtual desktops, dubbed as "desktops-as-a-service" or DaaS.

Desktone streams the graphical interface of an entire operating system and all of the applications from a service provider's data center down to a PC or a thin client. As of right now, the service works with Microsoft Windows XP, but the company hopes to add Vista support soon enough. The product is also architected to support other operating systems like Linux or MAC OS, and will provide that service sometime in the future as well - a time frame I assume will be dictated by consumer demand.

"There's a tremendous amount of industry interest in virtual desktop computing. It can reduce desktop costs, improve manageability and enhance security. However, because it is very difficult for enterprises to implement, wide-spread adoption has been slow," said Harry Ruda, CEO, Desktone.

"Desktone eliminates the complexity and speeds the on-ramp to virtual desktop computing by transforming desktops into a cost-effective, highly scalable subscription service. We're extremely excited about the opportunities this affords enterprises and service providers."

Desktone's approach separates the virtual desktop infrastructure into two tiers which are tied together with the Desktone Access Fabric – a set of distributed services that provides the association between authorized users and their virtual desktops.

Enterprise Tier:

Desktone Virtual-D Enterprise Center: Web-based management interface for the enterprise desktop administrator, which enables IT staff to leverage the same administration tasks they use in a physical desktop environment. Designed to support large user populations, it provides virtual resource management, virtual desktop administration and template lifecycle management.
Desktone Virtual-D Portal: A self-service, policy-based portal that enterprise users can access from any browser. With the Virtual-D Portal, users can access their existing virtual desktops as well as manage those virtual desktops or even create new ones, without relying on a system or desktop administrator.

Service Provider Tier:

Desktone Virtual-D Element: The building block of a virtual desktop utility grid, Virtual-D Elements are racks that include all the hardware, virtualization resources and software required to support virtual desktops. Built by Desktone partners or service providers, as self-contained, independent modular units of desktop service delivery, Virtual-D Elements make it easy for service providers to scale DaaS environments.
Desktone Service Grid: A framework that ties individual Virtual-D Elements into a virtual desktop utility grid. The Service Manager creates a loosely coupled "federation" of Elements, manages pools across Elements, and collects data on Element status.

The company has a strong management team who knows what it takes to deliver a product to market. The company has already signed up several hosting companies to pilot the DaaS offering. The question that remains in my mind is how much will this service cost? I understand the premise completely having been involved in my own ASP business back in 1999.

Desktone claims that this solution will help SMB's realize the benefits of centralized virtual desktops without having to build and deploy the infrastructure internally. Thereby reducing desktop TCO and transforming computing costs from a fixed CAPEX to a variable OPEX.

As organizations continue to adopt the cost savings of server virtualization, solution providers and organizations are still looking at the possibilities around the desktop, where desktops greatly outnumber servers and in many cases have a greater cost of managing.

What about you? Are you looking for a way to ease desktop management in your environment? Would you consider a service provider delivering your desktop environment?

Posted by David Marshall on April 27, 2008 11:54 AM

April 02, 2008 | Comments: (0)

The VMware Workstation and ACE Beta upgrades

The latest version of the incredibly popular desktop virtualization solution from VMware, Workstation 6.5, is now in Beta and available for download. At the same time, the company also announced a new version of ACE, VMware ACE 2.5 Beta.

What's interesting about VMware Workstation is that it can be used as a benchmark to see what's coming down the road for VMware Server and VMware ESX Server. The Workstation product is almost like a new feature proving ground for VMware. So if you keep your eyes and ears open for announcements around Workstation, chances are, you can get a glimpse into the future feature set that might make its way to the company's server class products.

In addition to launching these two Beta products, VMware added a new Web site to its growing list of company blogs and they also created a new Beta community to support Workstation and ACE.

So, what's new with Workstation these days? Some of the new interesting features found in Workstation 6.5 Beta are:

Unity mode — Fresh from the VMware Fusion for Mac product, Unity Mode integrates your favorite guest applications with your host machine. The guest application windows look just like host application windows.
Enhanced VMware ACE authoring — Use ACE (Assured Computing Environment) features to package and deploy Pocket ACE and desktop virtual machines with encryption, restricted network access, and device control. VMware ACE authoring features are now fully integrated with Workstation, and no special ACE Edition is required.
More powerful record/replay of VM execution behavior — Easily enable this powerful debugging tool, which records full system behavior, including all CPU and device activity. You can now insert markers while creating or playing back a recording and quickly navigate to these markers during replay. You can also browse a recording to replay from any spot.
Link state propagation for mobile users — If you use virtual machines on a laptop or other mobile device, enable the new link state propagation feature for bridged networks. As you move from one wired or wireless network to another, the IP address is automatically renewed.
Support for smart cards in virtual machines — You can plug a smart card reader into a Windows host and insert your smart card to authenticate yourself on your host or on a guest.
VProbes tool for investigating guest behavior — You can write VProbes scripts that inspect and record activities in the guest, VMM, VMX, and virtual device state, without modifying that state. For example, VProbes can track which applications are running or indicate which processes are causing page faults.
Accelerated 3-D graphics on Windows XP guests — Workstation 6.5 virtual machine now support applications that use DirectX 9 accelerated graphics with shaders up through Shader Model 2.0 on Windows XP guests. Hosts can be running Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Linux.
Additional host and guest operating systems - such as CentOS, Oracle Enterprise Linux, Asianux, and newer editions of operating systems already supported. Windows Server 2008 is experimentally supported as a guest.

VMware ACE 2.5 Beta adds the following new features:

Usability improvements — The process of creating virtual machines for end users is now simpler and more intuitive. The required tasks are clearly ordered and made available on the summary view for an ACE-enabled virtual machine. The concept of an ACE master has been removed in favor of simply enabling ACE features for a virtual machine.
New Pocket ACE cache and exit behavior settings — You can now configure runtime settings so that Pocket ACE files are always kept on the USB device and never cached on the host computer. This feature is convenient if disk space on the host is very limited or if the files must remain only on the USB device for security reasons. You can also configure exit behavior so that when users power off a virtual machine, changes are automatically synchronized with the host.
Improved Pocket ACE performance — The time it takes to synchronize a Pocket ACE with the host during power off has been greatly reduced.

You can now download both Beta versions, Workstation 6.5 and ACE 2.5.

Posted by David Marshall on April 2, 2008 04:44 PM

March 14, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Microsoft expands its virtualization vision with Kidaro acquisition

With another bold move and strategic acquisition under way, Microsoft is continuing the aggressive advancement of its virtualization vision.

It wasn't long ago when the company was being accused of moving at a rather slow pace after it had consumed the desktop and server virtualization intellectual property from Connectix Corporation in 2003; and then more of the same seemed to happen after they acquired Softricity's application virtualization in 2006.

But since then, Microsoft has been moving rather aggressively to grab more of the virtualization market share. The latest move has Microsoft buying enterprise desktop virtualization solutions provider Kidaro for an undisclosed amount. Although some market sources are reporting that the acquisition could be somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million. Kidaro entered the virtualization scene about 17 months ago when they gave me an exclusive on their launch right here on the InfoWorld Virtualization Report. At the same time, I was also given the opportunity to speak to the company's founder, Ran Kohavi. And I've been following the company's journey since that time.

Kidaro's Managed Workspace product allows enterprise data and applications to operate wrapped within a transparent virtual machine layer that provides enterprise class management and deployment. Doing so will also breathe new life into Microsoft's Virtual PC product. In April of last year, InfoWorld reviewed the product as Randall Kennedy put it through the InfoWorld Test Center process.

The new technology will give Microsoft an enormous boost on the security side of the equation and will give the company its own offering to compete with VMware's ACE product. When asked about this comparison to ACE, Kidaro CEO Kevin Brown told me that while Kidaro certainly provides an answer to the features of VMware's ACE product, the impact of Kidaro's technology as part of Microsoft has an opportunity to be much broader. And I completely agree.

Andi Mann, Research Director at Enterprise Management Associates told me that he believed this was a great acquisition for Microsoft. Mann said, "Kidaro has a very strong solution for local desktop virtualization, with real benefits in security, manageability, DR, continuity, and migration - strong enough that EMA rated Kidaro as a Rising Star for Desktop Virtualization in our latest EMA All-Stars report."

Talking about what Kidaro offers the end user, Mann went on to say, "They also have some substantial customers. I spoke to a Fortune 500 Wall-St firm that avoided an annual cost of $4 million on laptop refreshes alone, and solved a difficult requirement to provide a highly secure mobile banking platform, by using Kidaro."

Microsoft said that Kidaro's technology would be rolled up into a suite of desktop management tools known as the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance which currently includes five key technologies that help enterprises manage their desktops: Microsoft Application Virtualization, Microsoft Asset Inventory Service, Microsoft Advanced Group Policy Management, Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset and Microsoft System Center Desktop Error Monitoring. In order to access the Kidaro capabilities, Microsoft Software Assurance customers will need to subscribe to an add-on service.

Mann described how this acquisition helps further fill out Microsoft's virtualization portfolio. "They now have virtualization solutions for server, OS, local desktop, remote desktop, application/streaming, and even grid/cluster." Mann continued, "With a management solution, and partnerships (like Citrix and Novell) that extend the portfolio even more, even VMware looks a little sparse next to that sort of lineup."

When asked if he would be joining Microsoft, CEO Kevin Brown said "We're still in the planning process, but it's safe to say that people and technology are a very important part of this deal."

Brown also said that in his opinion, "virtualization will be a powerful vehicle for delivery of many desktop computing features; we're looking forward to working with our major customers to maximize the value to them."

More information about the acquisition of Kidaro and its role in Microsoft's virtualization strategy is available at the Windows Virtualization team blog.

Posted by David Marshall on March 14, 2008 06:36 PM

March 04, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Citrix XenDesktop reaches open beta

Citrix XenDesktop, announced in October of 2007, is the company's VDI solution or their virtual desktop delivery system. XenDesktop integrates several distributed components such as Desktop Delivery Controller, Provisioning Server and XenServer.

The product has now reached open beta, and with it, Citrix has revealed a number of features across key components of the product:

Desktop Delivery Controller - Connects office workers to their personalized desktops with the best performance, ease of use and rich desktop experience.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure - Enterprise-class virtualization infrastructure that creates the foundation for delivering virtual desktops and offers advanced management features.
Virtual Desktop Provisioning - Stream a single desktop image to create many virtual desktops in the data center on demand, enabling simplified management and lower network storage costs.
XenDesktop Setup Tool - A simple wizard to enable IT to quickly create and deliver hundreds of virtual desktop.

Posted by David Marshall on March 4, 2008 06:45 PM

February 19, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Pano Logic fine-tunes LAN deployments with new software

Last month, Pano Logic closed a second round of funding of $12 million which the company said it would use to keep up with the growing demand within the enterprise for desktop virtualization solutions. Pano said the money would be used to accelerate product development, expand sales and marketing efforts, and secure additional channel/SI partners to address the midmarket.

And the company is already making good on accelerating product development. Pano Logic has a new software release, Pano Virtual Desktop Solution 1.5, which is optimized for LAN deployments, supports VMware ESX Server 3.5 and VMware VirtualCenter 2.5, enables new usage models and provides more efficient resource management capabilities.

According to Michael Fodor, VP of Product Management at Pano Logic, "The new release's emphasis on LAN optimization and usage models is important, and will prove incredibly useful as more enterprises begin to identify and differentiate the needs for desktop virtualization in their LAN environments from their WAN environments."

The company has been getting a lot of interest with its shiny, silver box. And some of the new features it hopes will add to that interest include:

Support for the latest VMware releases – Adds support for the latest versions of VMware Infrastructure 3 including ESX Server 3.5 and VirtualCenter 2.5.
Kiosk mode usage model – Enables Pano devices to be deployed in public or shared locations for any user. Kiosk mode allows users to have easy access to limited-purpose, highly secure virtual desktops, whether deployed in conference rooms, lobbies or shared work areas.
Device and location-based usage model – Provides access to designated desktop virtual machines based on the particular Pano device being used. Device restricted mapping allows users to be connected to desktop virtual machines based on the Pano device and its location within the network. For industries such as healthcare that must comply with data privacy policies based on physical and logical rules, this usage model provides the advantages of desktop virtualization while still enabling location based policies.
Resource optimization – Conserves CPU and memory resources by shutting down idle desktop virtual machines (DVMs) when not needed.
Expanded USB peripheral support – Adds certified support for more USB peripherals, including printers, scanners and authentication devices such as fingerprint readers and proximity cards.

The new 1.5 software release will be available on February 25, 2008 with a starting price of $300.

Posted by David Marshall on February 19, 2008 04:55 AM

February 13, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Sun expands to the desktop with Innotek virtualization acquisition

Sun Microsystems announced that it will acquire German desktop virtualization vendor Innotek GmbH, the maker of VirtualBox, an open source x86 virtualization product that has been growing in popularity. The announcement comes on the heels of Sun's $1 billion acquisition announcement of open source database developer MySQL. Terms of the Innotek deal haven't been disclosed.

Innotek has been growing in popularity with end users and developers because of its open source nature. The product was first made available in January of last year, and it already has more than 4 million downloads to its name. VirtualBox runs on top of Windows and Linux today, and the company already has a Mac OS X version in Beta. And only two days ago, the company announced its first Beta version for Open Solaris, the open source version of Sun's Unix operating system.

According to Sun, acquiring Innotek will help strengthen Sun's leadership in the virtualization market by extending the company's xVM platform with a desktop virtualization solution. Steve Wilson, who heads Sun's xVM team, posted on his blog that he believes that the VirtualBox technology will help broaden interest among developers in Sun's xVM product line.

Wilson explains on his blog that the two products, VirtualBox and Sun's xVM, may sound familiar at first, however they are targeted at radically different markets. Wilson writes:

"Sun xVM Server is a bare-metal hypervisor. This means it installs directly on the hardware, not on top of an existing operating system. It's a purpose-built software appliance with functionality to enable server consolidation and dynamic IT. It includes high-end, data center features like live VM migration and dynamic self-healing. This is datacenter grade virtualization. Along with Sun xVM Ops Center, xVM Server will become the engine that drives a dynamic data center.
VirtualBox is what is technically referred to as a type-2 hypervisor. It's an application that installs on top of an existing operating system. VirtualBox supports Windows, Linux, Mac and Solaris hosts, which means you can use it with your laptop no matter what OS you choose for your 'native' environment. This makes VirtualBox a software developer's dream. You can easily set up multiple virtual machines to develop and test your multi-tier or cross platform applications -- all on a single box! VirtualBox doesn't have xVM Server's data center features, like live migration, but it's incredibly light-weight."

Wilson compares xVM Server to something like VMware's ESX Server platform and VirtualBox as more of a comparable platform to VMware's Workstation or Fusion product or Parallels Desktop for Mac. And because of that, VirtualBox seems to fit in nicely with Sun's plans for a virtualization suite offering.

Right now, VirtualBox is freely available under the GNU General Public License, and can be downloaded on virtualbox.org. Sun plans on continuing to make VirtualBox freely available to users, and it hopes that its open source nature can continue to win over support from the developer community.

Posted by David Marshall on February 13, 2008 04:50 AM

February 07, 2008 | Comments: (0)

VMware looks to the desktop with Virtual Desktop Manager 2

VMware has been the dominant player in the desktop and server virtualization market with products like VMware Workstation, VMware Server and VMware ESX Server. And now, the virtualization giant has enhanced its Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solution with the release of VMware Virtual Desktop Manager 2 -- yet another product from VMware that was created by integrating technology acquired from one of its acquisitions, this time, Propero.

VMware Desktop Manager 2 allows users to securely connect to their virtual desktops in the data center and helps bring back the thin client to IT environments. The new version enhanced the installation and manageability of the solution, making it available to the end user to install and configure it themselves, as opposed to its predecessor version which needed VMware professional services to help configure the product on-site.

According to VMware, VMware VDI integrates VMware Infrastructure 3 and VMware Virtual Desktop Manager 2 and provides an easy-to-manage desktop virtualization solution that takes advantage of virtualization technology used by more than 100,000 organizations. VMware VDI streamlines desktop management, reduces operational costs and provides business continuity capabilities that until now were available only for mission-critical server applications.

"Our customers are deploying VMware desktop virtualization solutions in greater and greater numbers," said Jeff Jennings, vice president of desktop products and solutions at VMware. "Our expanded VDI solution now provides these organizations with a complete and integrated end-to-end desktop virtualization solution. Customers can now manage virtual desktops with greater levels of operational efficiency, flexibility, and security."

The desktop virtualization market could easily pass the server virtualization market in the future. IDC predicts that desktop virtualization will become a $2 billion market by 2011. Although thus far, adoption rates of the technology can probably be safely categorized as being only fair. Expect that to change as the kinks continue to get worked out, and products like this continue to advance.

Pricing for VMware VDI is based on a list price of $150 per concurrent user and is packaged into two bundled offerings: the VMware VDI Starter Edition and the VMware VDI Bundle 100 Pack. Both bundles include VMware Infrastructure Enterprise Edition for VDI (which consists of VMware ESX Server 3.5 and VirtualCenter 2.5) and the VMware Virtual Desktop Manager 2. The VMware VDI Starter Edition, which enables 10 virtual desktops, has a list price of $1,500. The VMware VDI Bundle 100 Pack, which enables 100 virtual desktops, has a list price of $15,000. Customers may add on to either edition by purchasing additional licenses in increments of 10, based on the list price of $150 per concurrent user.

Posted by David Marshall on February 7, 2008 05:52 AM

January 31, 2008 | Comments: (0)

VMware bumps Mac Fusion up a notch

Devoted users of VMware's desktop virtualization application for Mac might be happy to hear that VMware has updated the product with a new dot release (VMware Fusion 1.1.1). And its true, while a minor dot release normally wouldn't make people stand up and take notice, perhaps the dozen or so bug fixes in this "maintenance release" will make your life a little bit easier.

One interesting new capability has been added, VMware Fusion now transparently remaps keyboard shortcuts when the user goes back and forth between applications in the guest and in the host. Keyboard remapping can now take place outside of Unity mode so that all of your keyboard shortcuts can be remapped to be more Windows friendly.

The release notes also mention fixes for wireless network problems, Ubuntu mouse issues and fixes for keyboard, microphone and camera problems. Even some application crashes and stability issues were corrected. You can find out more about these fixes, here, in the release notes.

With this minor update, the debate and battle continues as to which product - VMware Fusion or Parallels Desktop for Mac - is superior, more feature rich, more stable, etc. Remember, this is a minor dot release, a maintenance release, not a feature packed update. Don't expect that a 1.1.1 product is going to cause Earth shattering results or cause a tear in the space time continuum. However, it just might alleviate some of your Fusion problems if you are already in the VMware camp.

You can download the update from VMware, here. And in case you are wondering, if you are already an existing customer of VMware Fusion, the update is free.

Posted by David Marshall on January 31, 2008 07:46 PM

December 18, 2007 | Comments: (0)

VMware is Bringing Unity Feature to Workstation

Christian Hammond, a Senior Software Engineer with VMware, revealed on his personal blog that the next version of VMware Workstation will offer the incredibly successful Unity feature found in VMware's Mac desktop virtualization product, VMware Fusion.

Workstation 6.5 has reached the 'Friends and Family' beta stage, and plans on introducing the Unity feature that has helped make virtualization on the Mac extremely popular. VMware brought this feature to Fusion with Unity, and Parallels introduced its Mac virtualization customers to basically the same technology called coherence.

If you haven't been keeping up with Mac virtualization, the Unity feature can be thought of as a "seamless window" akin to Terminal Services or Citrix Presentation Server. In this way, rather than having to deal with the entire virtual desktop on your screen, the application windows themselves are displayed on the host machine directly. It keeps the clutter to a minimum and still allows you direct access to the applications on the virtual machine from your host environment. Now you get the idea of why this feature has gained so much popularity.

Christian details the following features as working in the latest beta build of VMware Workstation 6.5:

Windows 2000/XP guest support
Shaped windows
Dragging windows
Resizing windows
Minimize/maximize
Window stacking (Z-order)
Custom mouse cursors
Keyboard/mouse support
Windows of the same application in the VM can appear as groups in the taskbar like any other app's windows.

However, not everything is working and ready to go. He lists the following as items that are identified as not yet working:

Virtual desktops do not work. If you move windows to other desktops, you'll have problems.
Multiple monitors may or may not work correctly.
Alt-dragging or otherwise moving a window in a way other than by using the titlebar will cause things to get out of sync.
If you attempt to drag a window off-screen, the window manager may block it, but the events will still be sent to the guest. This could cause the window to get 'stuck'.
Minimizing a window using the taskbar may cause visual oddities.
Partially obscured windows may look wrong when in Compiz's Expose mode or similar modes where all windows are displayed at once.
There's no proper start menu integration. Exit Unity mode to launch new applications or press the Windows key or Control-escape while in a guest application to bring up the guest start menu.

Posted by David Marshall on December 18, 2007 07:53 PM

December 05, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Parallels Announces Official Leopard Update and Premium Edition for Mac

SWsoft, makers of the Parallels Desktop for Mac product, announced today that the Leopard Update that's been in beta testing for the last few weeks is now officially live. This latest build works seamlessly with both Tiger and Leopard operating systems, and it resolves those issues found in Parallels when Leopard first went live. Like other Parallels minor product updates, this one is also 100% free to all 3.0 customers and the updates will also be delivered via Parallels' auto-update feature.

The company also made a second announcement today, announcing a new $99 Premium Edition of the product called, simply enough, Parallels Desktop Premium Edition. It includes the latest Leopard-ready build of Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac (normally $79), plus three utilities from leading third-party software companies that help keep Windows virtual machines safe and secure on your Mac. Bought individually, these three utilities can cost more than $175.

Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0
To protect against the viruses, spyware, spam and malware that can harm any Windows machine, even virtual ones, Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 is included with Parallels Desktop 3.0 Premium Edition. Kaspersky offers "Triple Threat" protection, including automated hourly anti-malware updates, intelligent active heuristics that provide proactive protection to investigate all unknown files and real time behavior analysis for consistent monitoring of a system's activities for any malicious behavior.

Acronis True Image 11 Home
Acronis True Image 11 Home is the latest version of Acronis' award-winning backup and disaster recovery software. With Acronis True Image Home, users can easily back up individual files on their Windows virtual machine or take an entire image of their Windows virtual computer. Backups can be scheduled to run automatically at any interval and can be stored on external drives, DVDs and off-site computers via FTP.

Acronis Disk Director Suite
Acronis Disk Director Suite provides the ability to resize, move, copy, split and merge virtual disk partitions without losing data. It includes a boot manager that allows users to boot other operating systems, such as Linux, inside their Windows virtual machine.

"Maintaining and securing a Windows virtual computer is every bit as important as it is for a physical computer," said Serguei Beloussov, CEO, SWsoft. "We are pleased to work with Acronis and Kaspersky to make it easy and affordable for our Mac customers to protect, backup and customize their Windows virtual machines."

Posted by David Marshall on December 5, 2007 06:38 PM

November 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)

VMware Updates Mac Virtualization with Fusion 1.1 Release

VMware has announced the immediate availability of VMware Fusion 1.1, the company's award-winning desktop virtualization platform for the Intel-based Mac. The latest release is a free upgrade to existing VMware Fusion 1.0 customers; and it can expand its customer base to include French, German and Japanese customers with the latest localization of the product.

The updated version of the desktop virtualization application has added support for the latest Mac operating system, OS X 10.5 - Leopard.

VMware Fusion 1.1 also made improvements to Unity, the feature that makes Microsoft Windows on the Mac appear to be seamless to the end-user. The latest version adds support for Windows Vista, both 32- and 64-bit editions as well as support for Windows XP 64-bit edition. But perhaps the most interesting user requested addition is the option to show or hide the Windows taskbar and Start menu in the VMware Fusion View menu.

The update has improved Fusion integration with Apple's Boot Camp. Users can now use Microsoft Vista Boot Camp partitions in VMware Fusion virtual machines. And it also added automatic remount of Boot Camp partitions after the Boot Camp virtual machine is shut down.

Within any virtualization environment, a feature that I find most appealing is the improved 3D graphics and the experimental support for DirectX 9.0 acceleration. While not perfect, the ability to run many Windows 3D applications and games on the Mac within a virtual machine is a welcomed treat.

According to Pat Lee, Senior Product Manager for the Mac Products at VMware, many of the company's customers have asked VMware to help them migrate virtual machines created with third party software over to the VMware Fusion format. To help offer that ability, VMware has created the VMware Importer tool to allow its customers to easily migrate third-party Mac virtual machines over to VMware Fusion. Although the importer tool is still in beta, it is being offered as a free utility. Obviously, this tool is focused at converting Parallels users, though the company won't come right out and say so.

VMware Fusion is available now at no cost to existing VMware Fusion 1.0 customers. New customers can also buy VMware Fusion starting at $59.99. VMware is trying to make the purchase a lot sweeter by currently offering a limited time $20 mail in rebate when purchased within the United States. You can purchase the product, here.

Posted by David Marshall on November 12, 2007 04:52 AM

October 31, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Mac OS X Virtualization! Is It Trick or Treat?

When we talk about virtualization on the Apple Mac platform, we are usually talking about virtualizing Microsoft Windows or Linux operating systems as guest operating systems on either VMware Fusion or Parallels' Desktop for Mac products. But in this case, we are actually talking about virtualizing the Mac OS itself.

Is this a Halloween trick? Or treat? I suppose it depends on the way you look at it. The good news, however, is that there is definitely change in the air.

If you remember the long, drawn out discussions in the past, the idea of virtualizing Mac OS X was clear. Apple stated that the license only allowed you to install and use one copy of the Mac OS X Server software on a single Apple-labeled computer at a time. So it was a one license, one machine EULA. Which pretty much ruled it out as a guest operating system even though both VMware and Parallels said it was "possible" to virtualize the OS.

Now, it looks as though a subtle change has been made to Apple's End User License Agreement (EULA) in the new Leopard Server operating system. It reads:

2. Permitted License Uses and Restrictions.
A. Mac OS X Server Software.
This License allows you to install and use one copy of the Mac OS X Server software (the "Mac OS X Server Software") on a single Apple-labeled computer. You may also Install and use other copies of Mac OS X Server Software on the same Apple-labeled computer, provided that you acquire an individual and valid license from Apple for each of these other copies of Mac OS X Server Software.

So there it is, the trick and the treat. The treat - it seems evident that Apple is loosening up its licensing to allow their OS to get virtual. The trick - the licensing change only applies to Leopard Server and not to the desktop edition that many of us are using today. The change also requires you to have a license for each virtualized instance and it still has to be running on Apple hardware. So PC users, you're still going to have to shell out extra money for that Intel-based Mac if you want to run OS X Server.

This could be great news as well when SWsoft/Parallels launches its server based virtualization product for the Mac. SWsoft's Ben Rudolph said that for many Mac users, it is the "holy grail" of XServes to run multiple, isolated, near-native instances of OS X Server on the same box, at the same time. And with Parallels Server for Mac, XServes should be able to have the power to run OS X, Windows and Linux server operating systems all on one piece of hardware.

Happy Halloween!

Posted by David Marshall on October 31, 2007 07:22 PM

October 26, 2007 | Comments: (0)

New VMware Fusion Update in Time for Mac Leopard

With the latest version of Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) due out sometime today, the folks over at VMware have announced a new version of its VMware Fusion product, Fusion 1.1 RC1 build 61385.

VMware said that the RC1 version of Fusion has been working well with the pre-release version of Leopard, but that they haven't officially tested it with the final version due out today. The good news for those existing Fusion users is that the new version will be a free upgrade.

Based on user feedback, VMware has introduced a number of new features and bug fixes in the latest release.

Fusion 1.1 includes preliminary support for Leopard and has added localized versions of the software to include French, German and Japanese. It also added support for 32- and 64-bit versions of Microsoft Vista.

A number of improvements to Unity (the feature that allows you to run Windows applications seamlessly) have also been made. My Computer, My Document, My Network Places, Control Panel, Run, and Search are now available in the Applications menu, Dock menus, and the Launch Applications window. It also improved performance in window dragging and resizing in the Unity view.

A number of Boot Camp improvements have been made as well such as allowing the Boot Camp partition to automatically remount itself after the virtual machine has been shut down. Fusion can also now support Microsoft Vista installed on Boot Camp as a virtual machine.

Graphics have also been updated. They have improved the 2-D drawing performance, especially on the Santa Rosa MacBook Pros. And experimental support has been added for DirectX 9.0 for 3-D graphics and gaming. However, it still doesn't have shader support, so if a game requires shaders, the game may not run at all. It also doesn't support 3-D acceleration in Unity view - you must use Single Window or Full Screen view.

You can download the product and find out more information within the Fusion release notes, here.

Posted by David Marshall on October 26, 2007 04:40 AM

October 06, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Parallels Answers the Expiring Mac Boot Camp Issue

While the pending release of Leopard coming from Apple is something that Mac users are highly anticipating and waiting for, it also means that the current license for Boot Camp Beta expires soon. So if you are a Mac OS X Tiger user using Boot Camp, you are going to have to upgrade to Leopard or find an alternate route to continue using your Boot Camp environment. While most users will no doubt be upgrading their environment, for some, this just isn't an option. At least not right away.

Fortunately, Ben Rudolph, Director of Corporate Communications for SWsoft, says that Parallels Desktop for Mac users just so happen to have an alternate route. Rudolph says, "If you're not ready to upgrade to Leopard right away and still want to use your Boot Camp partition, Parallels makes life very, very easy."

Rudolph states that "for months now, Parallels Desktop has been able to use a Boot Camp partition as a virtual hard drive, meaning that you can boot your Windows XP or Windows Vista partition in a virtual machine at any time, and move back and forth between the two. When Boot Camp's license expires, you can still access your hard drive partition without using Boot Camp by booting the partition into a virtual machine."

And more importantly with that option, Rudolph says you won't have to reinstall anything or worry about losing any of your critical Windows files.

The fast paced programmers at Parallels are also supposedly working on another option, although not quite ready yet. Down the road, the company hopes to be able to offer Desktop for Mac users the ability to fully migrate their Boot Camp partition to a fully-functional Parallels virtual machine. The hope is that users will be able to use their free copy of the bundled Parallels Transporter utility to perform that conversion at some future time. Doing so would allow those users to then take advantage of other Parallels features such as undo disks and snapshots.

It's certainly nice to have options, isn't it?

Posted by David Marshall on October 6, 2007 04:21 PM

September 29, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Qumranet Startup Makes Grab for Virtualized Desktops

Qumranet, the creator, maintainer and global sponsor of the KVM Open Source Hypervisor Project, has dropped out of stealth mode to offer its answer into the seamingly very crowded VDI or virtual desktop infrastructure market where desktops are served up to end users from a centrally controlled server infrastructure in the datacenter. Established at the end of 2005, Qumranet has around 45 employees and was co-founded by CTO Moshe Bar, one of the co-founders of both XenSource and Qlusters.

After a two year quiet period, Qumranet dropped into the scene at DEMOfall '07, where it premiered its technology strategy and unveiled its first commerical product called Solid ICE (Independent Computing Environments).

Solid ICE is the first virtualization product offered that runs on top of the KVM virtualization platform that was added into Linux kernel 2.6.20 back in October of 2006. The product allows an organization to host what the company believes is thousands of Windows or Linux desktops running as KVM virtual machines on servers in the datacenter.

To complete its VDI solution, the company has also created its own proprietary remote protocol that it calls SPICE (Simple Protocol for Independent Compting Environments) that provides a way to manage connections between the server and the virtualized desktops. SPICE has been optimized for virtual desktop environments and provides users with a superior interactive experience, especially with respect to graphics and multimedia. In addition to SPICE, the company has stated that it will also support Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

Like other VDI solutions, Solid ICE provides usefulness within a number of scenarios such as: providing a secure desktop to outsourced groups or contract workers; enabling developers to self-provision machines as required; running legacy applications without having to maintain older equipment; providing clean machines to training classes without long provisioning times; and avoiding painful desk side PC upgrades.

"Virtualization is changing the way we interact with computing resources. We have only seen the tip of the iceberg in terms of applications for virtualization," said Benny Schnaider, Qumranet's CEO and co-founder. "Qumranet's new desktop virtualization solution, Solid ICE, is taking computing to the next level by separating the user environment from the underlying hardware. This separation creates a wide variety of very attractive use cases and solves many of today's desktop provisioning and management problems."

The product is expected to be generally available later this year.

Posted by David Marshall on September 29, 2007 01:47 PM

September 26, 2007 | Comments: (0)

VMware Battles Back with Fusion 1.1 Beta

Mac users seem to be getting a lot of attention these days what with Parallels and VMware going back and forth updating their Mac virtualization platforms in a relatively quick fashion as they battle for dominance in that market.

If you are just joining the party, VMware and Parallels both offer a desktop virtualization platform to allow Intel-based Macs to run virtual machines that operate Linux or Windows operating systems so that you can easily run your favorite applications that work on those operating systems.

VMware's latest Beta version of its Fusion product, version 1.1, includes a number of new features and bug fixes. Most notable of these new features are:

New experimental support for DirectX 9.0 3-D graphics (without shader support).
Improved USB support for syncing the iPhone in Microsoft Windows virtual machines
Improvements to Unity such as the option to show or hide the Windows taskbar and Start menu in the View menu and the VMware Fusion "Launch Applications" window no longer appears automatically when no Unity windows are open
Eject key now automatically ejects the optical drive, even if the optical drive is attached to a virtual machine
Improved support for running on Mac OS X Leopard hosts
VMware Shared Folders created with Windows Easy Install now default to "Read Only" access of the Mac's home directory for maximum security

Check out the Fusion Beta site for more information, here. And you can register and download the Beta product from VMware, here.

Posted by David Marshall on September 26, 2007 06:11 AM

September 22, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Next Generation Connection Broker from Provision Networks

Provision Networks, provider of enterprise presentation and desktop virtualization solutions, announced the latest version of the company's VDI connection broker - Virtual Access Suite 5.9.

"While many vendors are rushing to market with their first generation technologies, our third-generation Virtual Access Suite sets the standard by which VDI solutions are judged," said Paul Ghostine, co-Founder and CEO of Provision Networks. "We are very pleased with our latest release which incorporates the feedback from many customers and partners, and accounts for hundreds of new use case scenarios we've encountered in production deployments."

The beta release of Virtual Access Suite 5.9 offers tighter integration with VMware VI3, Virtual Iron and Microsoft technologies. It also offers more features, better flexibility, stronger security, higher scalability and resiliency.

The 5.9 version adds a huge laundry list of enhancements that include:

Tighter Integration with Microsoft Active Directory: Provides for the auto-creation and auto-removal of AD computer objects upon creation or deletion of virtual machines.
Support for Multiple Resource Pools and Data Stores: Allows for the mass creation of virtual machines across multiple resource pools and data stores.
Semi-Permanent VM Assignment: Provides for the automated assignment of a new temporary but dedicated virtual machine, until the original permanent VM becomes accessible.
Power State Transition Management: A new VM power state called "Changing" marks the occurrence of an OS reboot or shutdown, thus resulting in a VM power-state transition.
Scheduled VM Power Operations: Enables VMs to be automatically powered on and suspended at the start and conclusion of a business day, respectively. This ensures VMs are always powered on during work hours, and powered off shortly after employees conclude their work day.
Bandwidth Virtualization: Integrated support for Expand Networks WAN optimization and application acceleration.
Virtual Channel Policies: Enables policy-based access to local devices over RDP, including drives, printers, smart cards, clipboard, audio, and serial ports.
Enhanced Printing Support: New font management capabilities deliver superior print quality and reliability, as well as drastic print job size reductions compared to other universal print drivers.
New AppPortal Look and Feel: A modern Web 2.0 new design enhances the look and usability of the most popular Windows client interface for Terminal Server and hosted desktops.

To learn more, you can watch one of Provision Networks' demos, here.

Or, you can download a trial of their product, here.

Posted by David Marshall on September 22, 2007 05:09 PM

September 22, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Solaris VDI Solution to Secure the Desktop

During VMworld 2007, Sun Microsystems, Inc. previewed its new software offering that helps to provide a more secure and manageable virtual desktop environment. Installed on the company's Solaris Operating System, Sun's Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (Sun VDI) Software 1.0 enables organizations to turn PCs into thin client devices by moving operating systems and applications off the desktops and mobile PCs and consolidating them in the datacenter.

Sun VDI is a secure platform for accessing virtualized Microsoft Windows desktop environments from a variety of devices. When combined with VMware Infrastructure software, Sun VDI consolidates desktops onto servers in the datacenter giving each user a dedicated and isolated virtual machine that is customized to their needs.

According to Sun, each virtual desktop functions as though it were running directly on the user's computer, however, critical data would reside in the datacenter. Doing so not only guards against theft or loss but it also provides ease of management by allowing IT managers to more quickly create users and workgroups, and control and manage desktops and updates from a central location.

Marc Hamilton, vice president of Solaris Marketing at Sun had this to say, "The accelerated adoption of server virtualization has heightened awareness of the benefits of consolidating servers and IP in the datacenter, and has paved the way toward the adoption of a hosted and virtualized desktop model."

Sun VDI Software will be available in October 2007, priced at $149 per user, and will install on both Solaris and Linux operating systems.

Posted by David Marshall on September 22, 2007 08:44 AM

September 16, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Parallels Making Advances in Virtualization

Parallels, Inc. is making great strides to bring their vision of virtualization to market. Not afraid of its larger competitors, the company continues to move forward with advancements to its desktop offerings and is adding server class virtualization and management to its virtualization repertoire.

The company recently announced that it had released a "Feature Update" to its Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac, their award-winning desktop virtualization product that allows Mac users to run Windows and Linux at the same time as Mac OS X on a single Mac desktop without the need for reboot.

This new update improves the product's already tight integration of Windows applications into the Mac OS X desktop. Windows applications running in Coherence mode on the OS X desktop behave more like native Mac applications. It also now offers full integration with OS X's "Expose" feature. So when expose is activated, each Parallels Coherence window appears as a separate Window, displayed with its full contents, enabling users to select a Windows application individually. Individual windows can be minimized in the Dock and can also be stacked and tiled.

The update also adds the ability to mirror the Desktop, Documents and Media on either desktop. And Parallels Explorer now recognizes suspended virtual machines, so users can automatically mount a virtual machine's hard disk even if the virtual machine is powered off. Desktop 3.0 also gets improved performance under heavy workloads and more efficient resource management. And users can now allocate up to 2GB of memory to an individual virtual machine.

And although Parallels has achieved a huge land grab within the Mac desktop market, they aren't satisfied with stopping there. Instead, while at VMworld, Ben Rudolph, Director of Communications at Parallels, showed me how the company is preparing to enter the server market with their new Parallels Server software product that is currently in Alpha. Parallels Server is going to act as a standalone hypervisor on bare-metal as well as a virtualization layer that sits on top of a host operating system. Unlike other hosted virtualization platforms, Parallels Server will also be able to install on top of Mac OS X which will bring server class virtualization to Apple's XServe line of servers.

To further separate them from the competition, Rudolph told me that the company ultimately plans to offer a tight integration between their hypervisor virtualization and parent company SWsoft's Virtuozzo container-level virtualization. While not in the company's initial product, the vision is there to allow a customer to move a live system running in Virtuozzo to a Parallels Server virtual machine. As an example, if a customer is using and getting the benefits of Virtuozzo's container virtualization but needs to upgrade only one instance to a newer service pack level, they can live migrate that instance over to a Parallels virtual machine to upgrade it and then continue to operate it as a virtual machine.

To reach this bold vision, Rudolph said that the company plans on bringing their hypervisor into Beta within the next four to six weeks. And the company plans on shipping the final product sometime near the end of this year or the beginning of 2008. They also plan on revisiting and updating their Windows and Linux desktop virtualization product called Workstation within the next few months.

By leveraging their Mac OS X capabilities, their fast and agile development and their parent company's container virtualization product, Parallels has a number of ways of differentiating themselves from the pack and bringing attention to their offerings.

Posted by David Marshall on September 16, 2007 07:26 AM

September 04, 2007 | Comments: (0)

VMware and Parallels are Fine, but what about Free Virtualization Software for the Mac?

Mac users are finding it easier and easier to support Windows applications on their machines. The choices in front of them are numerous and growing.

With Apple's Boot Camp not satisfying everyone, Parallels and VMware have created and offer a virtualization solution to make running Windows and other operating systems on one's Mac an extremely simple process.

But they aren't the only virtualization games in town. Others are picking up the virtual torch in hopes of bringing this benefit to Mac users - only better - offering it free of charge. Unfortunately, you might have to wait a little bit longer for these desktop virtualization platforms to bake.

The German company Innotek recently announced a new version of its desktop virtualization solution for Windows and Linux - VirtualBox 1.5. But with an Alpha version in the works, it should be available for Mac OS X in the near future.

VirtualBox 1.5 adds a number of new features such as seamless windowing mode where the windows of a VM directly integrate with your Linux or Windows desktop - making VirtualBox the first product to offer this support on the Windows and Linux platforms. Support for the 64-bit versions of Windows as host operating system has been added as well as official support for IBM OS/2 Warp as a guest operating system. Version 1.5 also adds support for serial ports and comes with a fully standard compliant Intel PXE network boot agent. A detailed list of improvements can be found in the Changelog.

Another free product making its way into Mac user's living rooms in the not so distant future is "Q". With Q, you can run Windows, Linux and a lot more on your Mac. Q is based on the open-source QEMU project from Fabrice Bellard and has a lot of potential, but right now is still currently in Alpha. It is a completely rewritten cocoa port of QEMU, built directly on OS X, and it makes use of Apple's core-technologies such as Coreimage, Coreaudio and OpenGL for in- and output, saving the overhead of cross-platform APIs like SDL, FMOD or GTK.

You can find out more information about "Q", here.

Posted by David Marshall on September 4, 2007 06:50 PM

August 28, 2007 | Comments: (0)

The Chrome Thin Client - Pano Logic's Virtual Desktop

A silicon valley startup, Pano Logic, has announced their new technology which enables them to offer a virtual desktop PC that doesn't require any software or hardware components like a typical PC.

The company was founded by Nick Gault who was the founding chief executive of XenSource. So it seems as though Nick is following the path of where virtualization is heading. He went from focusing on virtualizing the server and is now going back to the desktop.

The Pano device is a small chrome cube with no processor, memory or operating system. Instead, the small device connects the user's keyboard, mouse, video, audio and other USB peripherals to an IP-based connection which links to a version of the user's operating system running in a virtual machine on a remote server.

The device is similar in its approach to the technologies being offered by Wyse, Neoware and ClearCube. However, the Pano device takes things up a notch. Because the device has no software, it doesn't require any software updates nor is the client affected by malware. And because there is no CPU, the device only consumes 5 watts, 3% of a typical PC, making it as green as they come.

And leveraging functionality provided by server virtualization, the Pano device also ties in what they call the "Pano Button". The Pano Button can be configured by IT or solution providers to orchestrate services provided by the server platform. For example, the user could rollback from a corrupted Windows instance to a known good instance or they could switch between virtual machines set up with software for different job functions.

"The right model for desktop computing is to have zero software - and hence no pain - at the desktop, and to centralize all software and management in the data center. And when there is no software on the desktop, a majority of today's desktop security problems vanish," said Nick Gault, CEO of Pano Logic. "The Pano architecture fully delivers on the promise of virtualization for the desktop."

Pano Logic will sell the Pano devices beginning in September for subscription prices beginning at $20 per month with another $60 per year planned for maintenance and support.

Posted by David Marshall on August 28, 2007 05:14 PM

August 26, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Parallels Quick Hits - 3.0 Beta 2 and New Distributors

Parallels announced that Beta 2 of the Parallels Desktop 3.0 update has been made available on the Website. Beta 2 adds a few new features to the product. You can automatically share movies, picutes, music and documents (and desktops!) between Windows and OSX. They've improved Coherence by enabling any Windows window to be minimized to the dock, just like a normal Mac application window. And they updated Shared Folders so that the "My Documents" folder and its sub-folders display the same contents as your Mac's home folder.

You can download Beta 2, here. And in case you are wondering, it's free.

Parallels also announced two new distribution partners.

First, they announced Eisentech Resources joined Parallels as the official distributor for Malaysia. Eisentech Resources will serve as an electronic and boxed product distributor for all Parallels products and will concentrate their efforts on building both consumer and corporate reseller channels in Malaysia.

The company then announced that they have signed an agreement with Phoenix Software making them the exclusive distributor of Parallels Desktop for Mac in South Africa.

Parallels currently has more than 750 partners in 62 countries.

Posted by David Marshall on August 26, 2007 03:42 PM

August 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Smartronix Uses Kidaro for Enterprise Desktop Virtualization

Kidaro, provider of enterprise desktop virtualization solutions, told me that a leading government contractor, Smartronix, is deploying the Kidaro platform in order to enhance the security and manageability of their desktop and laptop computers.

When asked what initially prompted Smartronix to the Kidaro product, John Parris, Executive Vice President of Smartronix, said his company was looking for a secure, repeatable, enterprise class desktop and application management environment. They looked at several competing technologies such as terminal services based solutions but were intrigued by the possibilities of a completely managed environment that did not require expensive server purchases. "We wanted to be able to use the existing corporate resources, such as laptops and wanted to be able to leverage users home computers while still being able to protect corporate data and our network. Kidaro's ability to centrally manage IT and corporate application resources really stood out."

The Kidaro Managed Workspace leverages industry-standard virtualization engines from Microsoft and VMware, managed within a scalable infrastructure for automatically provisioning, distributing, auditing, and securing desktop applications and data.

To help provide mobility, the company offers Kidaro ToGo which enables deployment of secure, encrypted virtual machine images to USB drives or even iPod devices. This USB function seems to be the preferred delivery mechanism for Smartronix employees that work at home. And because Kidaro Managed Workspace performs all processing on endpoint PCs, the virtual desktop can run disconnected from the network removing the need to build out expensive server farms. Parris said that his company is seriously considering a centrally managed development environment which would enable their software development team to have common configurations and be able to work securely on the road or at home.

Kidaro's TrimTransfer technology incorporates advanced de-duplication and image management capabilities which help to enable the efficient transportation of virtual machine images to thousands of desktops over the network. Using cryptographic fingerprinting to determine what data elements already exist on the target machines, Kidaro only has to send the incremental bytes that are required to complete the virtual machine image. And so far, Smartronix seems to be impressed with the speed in which changes can be centrally deployed.

Security is a major concern for IT departments, and Kidaro believes they can address that concern. The Kidaro platform builds in strong security for corporate applications and data, including: AES-256 data at rest encryption for the entire virtual machine image, including hard drive and USB copies; integrated VM firewall; data leak prevention features; granular centralized auditing; application white-listing; and isolation of corporate data from malware running on the host machine.

When asked about his specific experiences in this matter, Parris said that Kidaro allows them to control outbound data flow via printers or removable devices, and they can even lock down the ability to allow cut and paste. Because of their experience with Kidaro's impressive focus on security, Smartronix is in the process of recommending the product as an enterprise solution to several of their DoD customers.

In a recent InfoWorld TestCenter article, Kidaro was highlighted as one of the leaders in a "virtual two-horse race" for the desktop virtualization market. When asked what benefits have been personally achieved with the product, Parris said that streamlined IT control, centralized corporate application configurations and customized VPN configurations were quick wins for Smartronix. They have several corporate applications for accounting, HR, and payroll that are preconfigured with the correct application settings, and they have managed to get their complex VPN environment under control.

You can find out more information about Kidaro's products, here.

Posted by David Marshall on August 10, 2007 06:13 AM

August 08, 2007 | Comments: (0)

VMware Fusion Virtualizes the Mac

VMware has announced general availability of its VMware Fusion desktop virtualization software for the Intel-based Mac. It lets Mac users simultaneously run Mac OS X, Windows and other Linux distributions on a single Mac system.

The software has been available in Beta since December of 2006, and VMware says that there have already been more than 250,000 downloads of the product.

The product is based on VMware's market-leading desktop virtualization platform, so it has nearly a decade of desktop virtualization leadership and expertise behind it. The software allows Mac users to take advantage of their hardware's full potential by running both 32- and 64-bit operating systems, leveraging two processor cores at the same time and using a wide variety of USB 2.0 devices. VMware Fusion is also the only Mac virtualization software available today to provide full support for more than 60 operating systems and complete power management capabilities to safeguard virtual machines when laptops are running out of battery.

Dan Chu, vice president of emerging products and markets at VMware, said that VMware Fusion was designed for Mac enthusiasts looking for a seamless way to run Windows applications on the Mac. And it appears as though they have succeeded.

During his recent morning address, Steve Jobs remarked that the market share of the Mac is rising three times faster than the rest of the PC industry. And Apple also just announced a new line of iMacs. This could easily translate into a much larger Mac audience in need of desktop virtualization software.

VMware Fusion is now available online at vmware.com/mac, the Apple Store (apple.com), Amazon.com, Buy.com, Fry's (frys.com), Microcenter (microcenter.com) and CompUSA (compusa.com) for a suggested retail price of $79.99. Unfortunately for Parallels, VMware's software is also expected to hit Apple's retail store shelves in addition to other authorized retailers worldwide.

Posted by David Marshall on August 8, 2007 07:32 PM

August 02, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Parallels Launches a New Public Beta for Mac

Parallels has launched a new public beta of their Parallels Desktop for Mac product today. According to the company, the public beta includes several new features.

Coherence windows now work with Expose! This means that each individual Windows application window will appear as a separate, selectable window when you hit F9 to enter Expose. These windows also have OS X effects too, like drop shadows. You'll also be able to "stack" Windows application and Mac application windows in any order you'd like, so the experience is completely seamless.
The Image Tool is back and completely compatible with snapshotted drives. Using the image tool, users can Convert virtual hard drive format (plain to expanding, expanding to plain), Enable/disable the "undo disk" option, which will erase all changes made during a session at shutdown), Easily enlarge a virtual hard drive if you're running out of space.
Explorer, a free utility that lets you browse and work with your VM's hard drive even with the VM is off, now also works with VMs that are suspended.
iPhone support in XP and Vista.

Coherence+w+Expose.png

The public beta is free for all Parallels Desktop 3.0 users that have a trial or permanent key.

You can download the software, here.

Posted by David Marshall on August 2, 2007 08:02 PM

August 01, 2007 | Comments: (0)

VMware Fusion Ready to Launch? Last Chance for Half Price!

Rumor has it that VMware Fusion is going to be released into the wild very soon - some are saying as early as tomorrow!

If that's the case, you better act quickly if you still want to purchase the Mac OS X virtualization product at half price.

Once the product releases, it is expected to sell for $79.99. Until then, you can still take advantage of VMware's Pre-Order purchase price, a 50% savings at $39.99 by going here.

Keep your eyes on this one!

*** UPDATE ***

It is being reported that VMware plans on releasing Fusion next week, August 6th, with Beta pricing of $39.99 possibly good through Sunday, August 5th.

According to the company, there have been more than 250,000 downloads of VMware Fusion since the Beta was made available in December 2006.

And it looks like VMware will be cozying up to Parallels in the Apple Store as well.

Posted by David Marshall on August 1, 2007 09:12 PM

July 04, 2007 | Comments: (0)

VMware Fusion One Step Closer to General Availability

If you're from another planet or just haven't heard the news yet, VMware is one step closer to releasing its Intel-based Mac virtualization product - VMware Fusion.

Yesterday, VMware came out and said that Fusion 1.0 is now feature complete, and then they made the Release Candidate (RC1) available for download. The company is working toward a general availability release date prior to the end of August.

Fusion 1.0 RC1 includes new Unity improvements to help seamlessly run Windows applications on the Mac. Drag and drop is available to easily move files from Finder windows onto Windows applications or Windows Explorer windows. You can also launch Windows applications from the VMware Fusion dock icon by using control-click or by right-clicking and then selecting the virtual machine to get access to the Launch Application window and the complete Programs menu for that virtual machine. VMware has also extended Unity support to Windows 2000, Windows XP 64-bit, Windows Server 2003 (32- and 64-bit) as well as Windows Vista (32- and 64-bit).

Fusion RC1 also offers better Mac integration as VMware has added compatibility with system-wide keyboard shortcuts. You can now use Command Tab, Exposé, and your favorite keyboard shortcuts like Control-Space for Quicksilver and LaunchBar when a virtual machine is grabbed or in full screen view. You can also hide VMware Fusion when grabbed or in Full Screen or Unity view.

Other new features and improvements found in the RC1 build include:

Improved Boot Camp performance - This release improves disk performance in Boot Camp virtual machines, which shortens boot time and makes applications launch more quickly. Note: VMware recommends that you let VMware Fusion create a new Boot Camp virtual machine for your existing partition to obtain the best settings and performance.
Experimental 3D support restored for Intel GMA 950 graphics cards - Back by popular demand: users with Intel GMA 950 graphics can re-enable experimental 3D support. However, you are now warned that Intel GMA 950 does not fully support OpenGL 1.4 and that you may encounter issues.
Improved experimental support for running on Mac OS X Leopard - Addressed in Beta 4.1, but VMware Fusion now installs and runs on the WWDC Mac OS X Leopard release.
Fixed USB problems when running on Mac OS X 10.4.10 and later - Addressed in Beta 4.1, VMware Fusion has been updated to support the latest USB stack introduced with the Santa Rosa MacBook Pros and with Mac OS X 10.4.10.
Improved resume from suspended state - Virtual machines now resume completely in the foreground to get you up and running as quickly as possible with complete speed in your virtual machines.
Optimize memory use for your needs - You can now choose to optimize memory usage for either virtual disk performance or for Mac OS X application use. In most cases for regular use and disk-intensive applications, the default to optimize for virtual disk use is ideal and improves performance. If you are low on memory or have memory-intensive Mac applications, choose to optimize memory for Mac OS X applications.

VMware also warns that after upgrading to VMware Fusion RC1, make sure that you also upgrade the VMware Tools installed in your guest operating systems. The enhancements found in RC1 require that you have the latest version of Tools installed.

You can download VMware Fusion 1.0 RC1 (Build 50460), here