VMware on Monday served up View 4, a desktop virtualization suite that runs on its vSphere platform and includes a new PC-over-IP protocol that’s supported by a wide range of key vendors including Cisco, Dell, HP and IBM.
VMware officials said the new offering will go a long way toward assuaging a lot of IT administrators’ concerns about virtualized desktop environments—most notably support and integration with key PC and networking vendors—and reduce the complexity and costs associated with running disparate operating systems in a virtual environment.
By virtue of its recently announced landmark alliance with Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) and VMware’s parent, EMC, the company now can provide enterprise customers with a fully integrated, tested, validated and production-ready infrastructure package that includes virtualization applications, networking software and hardware, computing, storage, security and management applications from all three vendors.
Along with the core features already offered in previous releases, View 4 includes PC-over-IP (PCoIP), a new adaptive display protocol specifically developed for virtual desktop delivery that detects device types, network connections and locations remotely.
“We’re extremely proud of the impact we’ve had on the datacenter, transforming decades old computing models and accelerating the emergence of private and public cloud environments,” CEO Paul Maritz said in a statement. “With the introduction of VMware View 4, we see an equally compelling opportunity to leverage our knowledge and expertise in virtualization and forever change how desktop services are both delivered and consumed.”
The PCoIP component will analyze and optimize hardware and software environments on the fly thanks mainly to support from VMware partners including Dell, HP, Cisco, Wyse and Devon IT.
VMware officials said View 4 will ensure simplified desktop provisioning and management with flexible on-demand provisioning of thousands of desktops and applications instantaneously and the ability to manage up to tens of thousands of desktops from a single console.
“In addressing the main barriers to broad desktop virtualization adoption—acquisition costs, user experience and scalability—VMware, along with its broad ecosystem of partners is working to pave the way for enterprises to more easily transform their desktops into a managed service with significantly improved security, management, availability and compliance at a reduced total cost of ownership,” said IDC analyst Mike Rose.
“IDC expects that because of these and other advances, organizations will continue to increase the size of virtual desktop environments both in terms of users and use cases,” he added.
VMware and other virtualization software vendors including Microsoft and Citrix Systems are vying for the hearts and minds of both large enterprise customers and small and midsized companies that are looking to reduce IT costs and simplify their datacenters.
VMware’s View 4 suite will be available Nov. 19.
