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Citrix Unifying App, Server, And Desktop Virtualization
Posted in: Application Delivery, Deskside, Virtualization by thirdoctet on February 17, 2008 | No Comments
Care of Joseph F. Kovar, CMP Channel (source) – Citrix Systems (NSDQ:CTXS) is taking the next step towards unifying its application, server, and desktop virtualization technologies with new enhancements to several of its products.
Citrix, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. next week is expected to rename its flagship Presentation Server application virtualization software as XenApp. The move follows a similar move to rename its server virtualization application as XenServer and its desktop virtualization application as XenDesktop.
Citrix acquired server virtualization software vendor XenSource in a $500 million deal last year.
The name changes brings consistency with Citrix’s other virtualization products, said Bill Hartwick, senior director of product marketing for Citrix’s Virtualization Systems group. “It also drives home the value of the technology,” Hartwick said. “It’s now expanded to become part of an overall virtualization solution.”
In order to start making its various virtualization applications work better together, Citrix also expects to introduce Citrix Workflow Studio, a software package that composes the workflows of XenApp, XenServer, XenDesktop, and NetScaler, the latter of which accelerates the delivery of Web-based applications, Hartwick said.
Citrix Workflow Studio also makes it easier to integrate Citrix products with third-party technologies, he said.
As an example of how it is used, Hartwick said to imagine hiring a new employee. The company could use Citrix Workflow Studio to design a workflow to automatically provision the employee’s desktop and applications. Scripts could be set up so that a manager could handle the provisioning without intervention from the IT department, he said.
Pricing for Citrix Workflow Studio has yet to be determined. It is expected to be ready for technical preview in the second quarter of this year, with shipment expected by year-end, Hartwick said.
XenApp, XenServer, XenDesktop, NetScaler, and Citrix Workflow Studio are being brought under a single new umbrella brand next week, Hartwick said. That brand, Citrix Delivery Center, emphasizes Citrix’s plans to help customers transform their data centers into delivery centers which use virtual infrastructures to deliver customer applications and data, he said.
Sumit Dhawan, director of product marketing for Citrix’s Desktop Delivery group, said that XenDesktop is currently under technical preview, with over 5,000 copies having been downloaded since December 1. A full-feature beta version is expected to be released this quarter, with the final release expected next quarter, Dhawan said.
In the 90 days since Citrix closed on the acquisition of XenSource, customers and partners have downloaded over 30,000 copies of XenServer, Dhawan said. Over 1,600 of Citrix’s 5,000-plus legacy channel partners have already been trained to take XenServer to customers.
A new version of XenServer, XenServer 4.1, is expected to be available in the near future, Dhawan said. New to XenServer 4.1 will be increased support for storage on arrays and appliances from Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Network Appliance (NSDQ:NTAP), and performance enhancements when working with XenApp, he said.
Citrix is also planning to unveil XenServer Platinum Edition, which features automatic provisioning of application workloads, Dhawan said. It is expected to be available shortly after the release of XenServer 4.1, and have a list price of about $5,000, which allows application workloads to be provisioned on an unlimited number of virtual servers on one physical server, as well as on three other physical servers, he said.
Microsoft and Citrix Expand Alliance to Deliver Virtualization Solutions
Posted in: Application Delivery, C-Level, Deskside, Industry News, Virtualization by thirdoctet on January 26, 2008 | No Comments
REDMOND, Wash., and FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. » 1/22/2008 » Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq “MSFT”) and Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTXS) today announced an expanded alliance to deliver a comprehensive set of virtualization solutions to address the desktop and server virtualization needs of customers. The two companies will work together to deliver and market joint virtualization solutions with Windows Server 2008 to help customers achieve a flexible and dynamic client computing infrastructure.
For more than 18 years, Microsoft and Citrix have offered customers solutions to deliver Windows-based applications using Citrix Presentation Server™ running on Terminal Services. Now the companies plan to co-market new client computing offerings with the next generation of Citrix Presentation Server and the Citrix XenDesktop™ products, both based on Windows Server 2008 and Windows Optimized Desktop solutions, and managed by Microsoft System Center. With these solutions, customers can build an array of flexible, low-cost and manageable client computing options for different types of enterprise users.
Citrix Presentation Server along with Windows Server 2008 enables customers to deliver remote Windows-based applications at a low cost and with high performance for users. The next generation of Citrix Presentation Server will support and extend Windows Server 2008 and will help enable customers to use Windows Server 2008 for the remote Windows application execution workload.
Citrix XenDesktop is a complete desktop virtualization system and, when combined with Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop and System Center, will help enable customers to deliver Windows-based desktops to virtually all task-based and knowledge-based workers at a low cost, and with high performance and enhanced security features. Citrix XenDesktop, planned for release in second quarter 2008, will support and extend Windows Server 2008 shortly after the availability of Hyper-V, a hypervisor-based virtualization feature available as part of Windows Server 2008. The two companies will work together to co-market both of those solutions — Citrix Presentation Server and Citrix XenDesktop along with Windows Server 2008 and System Center — to help customers meet the full spectrum of their Windows client computing needs. This expanded alliance also marks an initial step toward a longer-term plan to collaborate on future desktop virtualization solutions.
“Citrix’s end-to-end virtualization strategy includes a strong shared alliance with Microsoft and a commitment to continued innovation on the Windows platform,” said Mark Templeton, chief executive officer of Citrix Systems. “By leveraging our strength in desktop virtualization in support of the Windows Server 2008 platform and System Center, our development efforts enable businesses to deliver the right desktop experience to the right user at the right time for the increasingly diverse set of user needs. Customers should find that our virtualization products together provide one of the best ways to virtualize Windows apps, desktops and servers.”
Microsoft and Citrix also have extended their alliance for server virtualization to enable IT departments to run heterogeneous hypervisor software. Citrix is developing a capability to enable the portability of virtual machines between the Xen hypervisor in Citrix XenServer™ and Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. This capability will offer the companies’ joint customers a unified portfolio of virtual infrastructures that utilizes both Hyper-V and the Xen hypervisor under a common System Center management platform. This capability is scheduled to be available for beta evaluation in the second quarter of 2008.
Microsoft and Citrix will offer server virtualization solutions with the combination of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, System Center family of products and Citrix XenServer. Citrix will extend support for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and Microsoft System Center in all its virtualization products: XenDesktop, Presentation Server and XenServer. As part of this collaboration, a future version of System Center Virtual Machine Manager will support managing Citrix XenServer, and Citrix plans to integrate Hyper-V with Citrix XenServer. This collaboration will enable customers to easily deploy and manage heterogeneous virtualization environments built on both Citrix XenServer and Hyper-V.
“For nearly two decades, Microsoft and Citrix have delivered significant value to customers, and we’re excited to expand our work around desktop and server virtualization technologies,” said Bob Muglia, senior vice president of the Server and Tools Business at Microsoft. “Virtualization enables our customers to deliver the right computing resources to their employees virtually anytime, anywhere, regardless of the situation, and helps create IT systems that are more efficient, more flexible and more cost-effective. Microsoft and Citrix are working together on product integration so that customers have access to comprehensive and flexible virtualization solutions, all controlled by an integrated management platform.”
Today’s announcement is another milestone in the alliance between Citrix and Microsoft. Also recently, the two companies have collaborated on solutions designed to simplify branch office computing using Citrix WANScaler™ running on the Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server platforms. In the area of virtualization software, the companies agreed in September 2007 to standardize the companies’ desktop and application virtualization solutions on the Microsoft Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) format as a common runtime environment. And in July 2006, before Citrix’s acquisition of XenSource, Microsoft and XenSource announced plans to provide interoperability between Xen-enabled Linux and Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008.
About Citrix
Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CTXS) is the global leader and the most trusted name in application delivery infrastructure. More than 200,000 organizations worldwide rely on Citrix to deliver any application to users anywhere with the best performance, highest security and lowest cost. Citrix customers include 100% of the Fortune 100 companies and 99% of the Fortune Global 500, as well as hundreds of thousands of small businesses and prosumers. Citrix has approximately 6,200 channel and alliance partners in more than 100 countries. Annual revenue in 2006 was $1.1 billion.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Care of Citrix.
VMware to Expand Desktop Virtualization Solution with Acquisition of Thinstall
Posted in: Application Delivery, Deskside, Virtualization by thirdoctet on January 15, 2008 | No Comments
Thinstall’s Best-of-Breed, Agentless Application Virtualization to Join VMware’s Desktop Portfolio; VMware Also Acquires Virtualization Services Assets from Foedus
PALO ALTO, Calif., January 15, 2008 — VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), the virtualization software leader, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Thinstall, a privately-held application virtualization software company headquartered in San Francisco. VMware is acquiring Thinstall to expand its desktop virtualization capabilities which help customers better provision, deploy and update desktop environments. The terms of the acquisition, which is expected to be completed in the current fiscal quarter, subject to customary closing conditions, were not disclosed.
“Delivering software applications to an organization’s workforce is the single largest cost of desktop administration today,” said Jeff Jennings, vice president of desktop products and solutions at VMware. “Thinstall’s third generation solution offers the best technological approach in the market for application virtualization, providing faster, easier and more secure delivery of software applications to desktop-based workforces. The addition of Thinstall to our desktop virtualization portfolio will help us to better deliver cost-effective and more flexible tools for quickly and securely provisioning desktops.”
Thinstall decouples applications from underlying operating systems, improving isolation and portability for applications across desktop environments. Thinstall’s unique, agentless approach to application virtualization enables the rapid, secure and cost effective delivery of software applications to desktops. Agentless application virtualization, pioneered by Thinstall, requires no pre-installed software on physical or virtual PC’s and no new deployment infrastructure or management tools. Thinstall’s architecture integrates into existing application management systems to deliver virtualized applications across a variety of operating system versions (NT, 2000, XP, Vista) and enables applications to move with users as needed. Thinstall significantly decreases the time to value of a software application and reduces the overhead of costly integrations. For example, a large federal agency turned to Thinstall to completely eliminate software installation conflicts that previously ran as high as 20%. The same customer used Thinstall to cut regression testing by 70% as applications no longer had to be tested in every environment or with every other application.
Founded in 1999, Thinstall is used by more than 600 customers in government and commercial industries. Thinstall customers have deployed thousands of virtualized applications to over a million desktops around the world. For more information about Thinstall please visit www.vmware.com/go/Thinstall.
Read the complete press release at VMware.com.
Pano Logic Launches Innovative Desktop Virtualization Solution in Canada with the Opening of a Toronto Office
Posted in: Application Delivery, Deskside, Virtualization by thirdoctet on December 14, 2007 | No Comments
Pano Logic™, developer of a server-based virtualized desktop, today announced the expansion of its North American operations with the opening of a Canadian headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. Industry veteran Rob Lalonde, Pano Logic’s vice president of East coast sales, will oversee the new office, which will focus on accelerating sales of Pano Logic and supporting the growing Canadian market.Founded in February 2006, Pano Logic launched its first desktop virtualization solution in August 2007. The company is led by CEO Nick Gault, an experienced leader of enterprise technology companies who is originally from Montreal, Canada. Gault brings strong virtualization experience to Pano Logic, having served as the founding CEO of XenSource, recently acquired by Citrix Systems.
“As in other regions, virtualization is a very pressing IT need in Canada, and we expect to see rapid adoption of the solution,” said Lalonde. “We recognized the need to have an office dedicated to the Canadian market, and selected Toronto for its central location, the sophistication of its IT community and the availability of talented, highly-trained personnel.”
Lalonde will be responsible for sales, partner and business development for Canada, as well as the Northeast and Central regions of the U.S. Previously, Lalonde has held executive sales positions at Hummingbird Communications, Delano Technology and Fusepoint Managed Services. In addition to sales and support, the new office will include quality assurance and research and development operations headed by Anthony Di Loreto, manager of quality assurance, and George Halpert, director of software development.
Pano Logic leverages standard virtualization technologies to create a new approach to client/desktop computing that dramatically lowers total cost of ownership while increasing security, management and mobility. The Pano desktop computer has no CPU, no memory, no operating system and no drivers. By moving all software off the desktop and consolidating everything onto easier to manage, shared servers, Pano reduces desktop TCO by 70 percent or more–saving $3150 per desktop over three years–and eliminates the desktop as a security risk.
“We have carried VMware products for several years, and Pano Logic is a natural extension of our offerings. Their approach to desktop virtualization leverages our customers’ existing server virtualization technology and seamlessly integrates with their datacenters,” said Alex McGillivray, president at Calgary–based Sure Systems Ltd. “We look forward to working closely with Pano Logic to bring this innovative technology to our customers.”
Read the entire press release at PanoLogic.com.
Sun enters the VDI market announcing its own connection broker
Posted in: Application Delivery, Deskside, Industry News, Virtualization by thirdoctet on September 20, 2007 | No Comments
With a surprising announcement, which most press magazines didn’t cover, Sun enters the VDI market with its own connection broker: Sun VDI 1.0.
Sun is already busy in the OS virtualization space since a while with its Solaris Containers included in Solaris 10 operating system, but it seems the company is now ready to invade hardware virtualization market as well.
An upcoming update for Solaris 10 in fact will introduce xVM, the Sun implementation of open source hypervisor Xen. And this new VDI seems the best complement for the new plaftorm.
Meanwhile the new solution integrates VMware Infrastructure 3 with well-known Sun Secure Global Desktop (the terminal services technology acquired from Tarantella).
Sun VDI Software will be available in October 2007, priced at $149 per user, and will install on both Solaris and Linux operating systems.
Sun is not playing the virtualization game with VMware and Xen only. The company just signed an agreement with Microsoft to improve xVM and codename Viridian upcoming hypervisors.
Microsoft updates Windows without users’ consent
Posted in: Deskside, Industry News by thirdoctet on September 14, 2007 | No Comments
Microsoft has begun patching files on Windows XP and Vista without users’ knowledge, even when the users have turned off auto-updates.
Many companies require testing of patches before they are widely installed, and businesses in this situation are objecting to the stealth patching.
Files changed with no notice to users
In recent days, Windows Update (WU) started altering files on users’ systems without displaying any dialog box to request permission. The only files that have been reportedly altered to date are nine small executables on XP and nine on Vista that are used by WU itself. Microsoft is patching these files silently, even if auto-updates have been disabled on a particular PC.
It’s surprising that these files can be changed without the user’s knowledge. The Automatic Updates dialog box in the Control Panel can be set to prevent updates from being installed automatically. However, with Microsoft’s latest stealth move, updates to the WU executables seem to be installed regardless of the settings — without notifying users.
When users launch Windows Update, Microsoft’s online service can check the version of its executables on the PC and update them if necessary. What’s unusual is that people are reporting changes in these files although WU wasn’t authorized to install anything.
This isn’t the first time Microsoft has pushed updates out to users who prefer to test and install their updates manually. Not long ago, another Windows component, svchost.exe, was causing problems with Windows Update, as last reported on June 21 in the Windows Secrets Newsletter. In that case, however, the Windows Update site notified users that updated software had to be installed before the patching process could proceed. This time, such a notice never appears.
For users who elect not to have updates installed automatically, the issue of consent is crucial. Microsoft has apparently decided, however, that it doesn’t need permission to patch Windows Updates files, even if you’ve set your preferences to require it.
Microsoft provides no tech information — yet
To make matters even stranger, a search on Microsoft’s Web site reveals no information at all on the stealth updates. Let’s say you wished to voluntarily download and install the new WU executable files when you were, for example, reinstalling a system. You’d be hard-pressed to find the updated files in order to download them. At this writing, you either get a stealth install or nothing.
A few Web forums have already started to discuss the updated files, which bear the version number 7.0.6000.381. The only explanation found at Microsoft’s site comes from a user identified as Dean-Dean on a Microsoft Communities forum. In reply to a question, he states:
- “Windows Update Software 7.0.6000.381 is an update to Windows Update itself. It is an update for both Windows XP and Windows Vista. Unless the update is installed, Windows Update won’t work, at least in terms of searching for further updates. Normal use of Windows Update, in other words, is blocked until this update is installed.”
Windows Secrets contributing editor Susan Bradley contacted Microsoft Partner Support about the update and received this short reply:
- “7.0.6000.381 is a consumer only release that addresses some specific issues found after .374 was released. It will not be available via WSUS [Windows Server Update Services]. A standalone installer and the redist will be available soon, I will keep an eye on it and notify you when it is available.”
Unfortunately, this reply does not explain why the stealth patching began with so little information provided to customers. Nor does it provide any details on the “specific issues” that the update supposedly addresses.
Thin-client Laptops Offer Glimpse of a Diskless Future
Posted in: Application Delivery, Deskside by thirdoctet on September 13, 2007 | No Comments
Wyse Technology Inc. Monday released a laptop thin client that has no disk drive or fan, a relatively long battery life and a full-size keyboard. The device also supports multimedia and runs silently. It’s intended for business use, but analysts said it’s the type of device that may be a forerunner of future notebook computers.
The Wyse x90e looks like an ultralight notebook. But it has been designed to work with 3G (third-generation) high-speed cellular networks and Wi-Fi and to deliver applications via the browser available in the embedded version of Microsoft Windows XPe.
The Wyse notebook can also be plugged into Ethernet networks. It weighs less than four pounds and includes 512MB of flash memory, which holds the operating system and any applications that may be added, and an equal amount of RAM. This seems like a small amount of memory, but Wyse officials insist that it’s more than enough to do the job. The RAM is expandable to 2GB. With no spinning parts, fan or disk, battery life can range from five to seven hours.
The notebook thin-client market is new, and vendors are focusing on selling to organizations that already deliver applications from servers to terminals, such as health care, public safety, schools, retail and financial services — environments where many workers are using similar applications. But acceptance by consumers and knowledge workers of thin-client notebooks may expand as wireless networks improve and as Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and others develop online application services.
“All the things that were really necessary are only now reaching a level of adoption that can justify devices depending on them, but it’s still a hard sell,” said Bob O’Donnell, an analyst at IDC.
The thin-client notebooks have a lot of advantages in terms of security and durability. It may be no more difficult to replace a damaged thin-client notebook than it is to replace a TV set. Thin-client notebooks “may make all the sense in the world from a logical perspective,” O’Donnell said, but IT decisions aren’t always based on logic. He also noted that there may be resistance from a PC-focused IT staff, as well as from corporate knowledge workers.
Jeff McNaught, chief marketing officer at San Jose-based Wyse, said these devices are becoming alternatives for the most demanding group of employees, the knowledge workers. And the company’s interest in supplying a product for the consumer market may grow “as we find ways to make these devices even smaller and easier to use,” he said.
Notebook thin clients make up a small amount of the overall thin-client market, and these products are just emerging.
Fight viruses with your USB flash drive
Posted in: Deskside, Hands on, Security by thirdoctet on September 7, 2007 | No Comments
I’ve heard that lawyers and doctors were once skittish about telling people their professions at a cocktail party. When other partygoers would hear, they’d seek medical or legal advice, creating a Vortex of Free Consulting (VoFC). At today’s parties, if you mention that you work in the computer security field, a similar VoFC will very likely materialize around you. In the presence of a security guru like you, who can blame your hosts for seeking some help with slow-working PCs or incessant pop-ups?
There are often times when information security professionals need to perform some quick remediation but don’t have the luxury of their full toolsets. To that end, in this month’s tip we’ll discuss how to build a portable software kit for use on malware-infected machines. A huge number of very useful system analysis and malware-fighting tools are available for free on the Internet. I urge you to download them and burn them to a CD or, better yet, write them to a cheap 1 GB USB memory token. Then, carry that USB token with you wherever you go (even to fancy cocktail parties), so you are ready to swoop in like an information security superhero to save people in distress.
Startup Takes Thin Client Computing One Step Further
Posted in: Application Delivery, Deskside, Virtualization by thirdoctet on August 29, 2007 | No Comments
Startup Pano Logic on August 27 added a new wrinkle to desktop virtualization when it launched a new technology that exploits server virtualization to run multiple instances of Windows on servers.
Pano Logic, with its small desktop device and server-based software, bridges the gap between thin client technology and application virtualization for desktop software, making PC administration much easier and as a result less costly.
A small box connects the user’s keyboard, monitor, mouse, audio and USB peripherals to an IP-based connection, which links those peripherals to the user’s operating system image running on a VMware virtual machine.
“We’re using the IP network as an extension of the PC’s bus, (which uses) PCI to connect to these peripherals,” explained Mike Fodor, vice president of product management for the Menlo Park, Calif. startup.
The Pano Management Server and Connection Broker component on the VMware virtual machine tells the palm-sized device on the user’s desktop to display a log-on screen. The user then enters their Windows XP or Windows Vista credentials and they are authorized using permissions set up in Microsoft’s Active Directory.
ThinPrint .print Technology Integrated into VMware ACE 2
Posted in: Deskside, Industry News, Virtualization by thirdoctet on August 22, 2007 | No Comments
ThinPrint, a specialist in printing for distributed networks, today announced that its .print technology is now integrated into VMware ACE 2 to provide a secure driver-free printing experience.
VMware ACE is a breakthrough product that enables IT desktop managers to create a standard PC environment including operating system, data and applications, wrap it with IT policies to protect the contents, package it into a virtual machine and deploy it to any managed or unmanaged licensed PC client. VMware ACE enables administrators to create virtual machines that are isolated from the underlying PC on which they are deployed, providing a rich desktop experience for end users while maintaining the control required by the governing IT organization.
ThinPrint’s driver-free .print technology is a patent pending, market-leading print management tool that enables VMware ACE users to easily and securely print to the host PC’s local and network printers with no additional setup. ThinPrint .print technology bridges the gap between the VMware ACE environment and the host PC, automatically mapping all available printers and enabling users to connect and print immediately following VMware ACE deployment.
“ThinPrint is pleased about the cooperation with VMware, the world’s leading provider of software for industry-standard virtualized desktops and servers”, says Charlotte Künzell, General Manager ThinPrint GmbH. “And we are also proud because the integration of the ThinPrint .print technology in VMware ACE 2 emphasizes the significance of our print management solution in the area of virtualization.”