VMware Launches Key Piece of VDI Puzzle

• By Keith Ward
• 12/04/08

VMware rolled outthe centerpiece of its virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) strategy this week with the release of VMware View 3.

VDI, also known as desktop virtualization andhosted desktop, involves delivering a user's desktop and applicationsremotely from a server, rather than the traditional method in which all thesoftware resides on the user's computer.

VMware View 3 has a numberof technologies that Palo Alto, CA-based VMware hopes will entice companiesto consider VDI, including:

• Composer. Composer is aprovisioning technology that creates a master image and then clones end userdesktops from that image. VMware claims that Composer uses up to 70 percentless storage space and eases patching and updating of desktops, since onlythe master image needs to be updated or patched; the fix is then applied toall desktops made from the master.
• ThinApp. ThinApp is VMware'sapplication virtualization product, which isolates applications from theunderlying operating system and hardware, allowing multiple applications torun on a single server. ThinApp was the result of VMware's purchase of Thinstall last January.
• Virtual printing. The mainadvantage of virtual printing is that it allows users to print to local ornetwork printers without having to download drivers. This is done throughtechnology incorporated from virtualization printing vendor ThinPrint.
• Offline Desktop. VMware is calling this an "experimental" feature.Offline desktop is meant to overcome one of the major challenges of VDI: theneed for some users to have applications and functionality when notconnected to the network.

View 3 has two editions:Enterprise, at $150 per concurrent connection, includes VMware View Manager3, for controlling the creation and management of View 3; and Premiere, a$250 per concurrent connection. The chief differences are that Premierecontains both Composer and ThinApp.

The VDI space has beenmuch-discussed lately, and was a centerpiece of VMware announcements at last September's VMWorld conference. Despite all thecoverage, however, desktop virtualization still remains largely a nichetechnology. It is still in its infancy, although aspects of it have beenaround for years with Citrix' Presentation Server (now known as XenApp) andMicrosoft's Terminal Services delivering server-based applications to users.VDI is significantly more complex, and VMware's announcement is anindication that organizations see the potential value.

The othermajor competitor in this space comes from Citrix, with XenDesktop. Microsoftis working on a VDI solution, but still steers customers to XenDesktop.Prominent blogger Brian Madden, who specializes in application and desktopvirtualization, writes that both VMware and Citrix are battling for supremacy, and saysthat some features missing from View 3 have given Citrix an opening:

"... today, VMware has announced more than Citrixabout their future VDI plans. But since they [VMware] just rev'ed theirproduct and these features are missing, it's probably going to be awhilebefore we see this stuff from them. That's plenty of time for Citrix toannounce their plans and start shipping game-changing featurestoo."

A free trial of VMwareView 3 is available from the VMware Web site.