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VMware Rolls Out Virtual Desktop Alliance
Virtualization software developer VMware is moving to popularize and standardize its virtual desktop technologies in enterprise IT through a new trade alliance.
Virtualization software developer VMware is moving to popularize and standardize its virtual desktop technologies in enterprise IT through a new trade alliance.
“The Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Alliance is a technology alliance of hardware, software and service providers for building joint virtual desktop offerings,” the Palo Alto, Calif. company said in a statement this week.
Joining VMware in the VDI Alliance are Altiris, Citrix, Fujitsu-Siemens, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Softricity, Sun and Wyse.
The alliance’s central theme is the growing need, given issues surrounding privacy and security compliance, to provide customers with the ability to better centralize hosting and management of virtual desktops.
Using VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, IT administrators host and centrally
manage desktop virtual machines in their data center while offering end users
a full desktop experience that can be accessed anytime and anywhere, the statement said.
“It’s a real PC experience and you run applications that you install,” says Jerry Chen, director of enterprise desktops at VMware. “But it’s got centralized management and it’s still giving users a fully sandboxed environment,” he adds.
One company was notably not on the list – Microsoft. Chen said Microsoft would be welcome to join the alliance but conceded that VMware had not invited the company’s participation.
About the Author
Stuart J. Johnston has covered technology, especially Microsoft, since February 1988 for InfoWorld, Computerworld, Information Week, and PC World, as well as for Enterprise Developer, XML & Web Services, and .NET magazines.