Wednesday | 3 December, 2008

Virtualisation

13 desktop-virtualization tools
Virtualization stalwarts and start-ups alike are aiming for the desktop. A baker's dozen.
Joanne Cummings (Network World) 25/08/2008 10:01:00
Like server virtualization before it, desktop virtualization holds great appeal for all kinds of users. The technology can bring enterprise IT significant cost savings and ease of management, and give business users unprecedented flexibility in their interactions with the desktop. Ceedo Enterprise optimizes virtual desktop images to run directly from a USB or portable hard drive - meaning users can access their desktop images online or offline. Because the USB stick or hard drive uses full AES encryption, its data stays safe if the device is lost or stolen. Users must be online to use their virtual desktops; Citrix has added application virtualization to the higher-end editions - Enterprise and Platinum. This will be a Windows-centric offering - no surprises there - that will flow out of Microsoft's acquisition of application virtualization company Kidaro. MEDV reportedly will support online and offline use. Users can access their virtual desktop images - which the company calls LivePCs - online, offline or from USB keys. MokaFive supports Mac and Windows hosts. The Pano package has a unique, palm-sized, hardware-only endpoint device; a management server and a desktop service. After connecting the device to the network, users get access to their server-resident virtual-desktop images. The Pano, an online-only offering, works with virtual desktop-infrastructure products from VMware and others. This online-only offering has a unique remote-rendering technology, called Simple Protocol for Independent Computing Environment (SPICE). The rendering technology supports multimedia applications, multiple monitors, HD-quality video, VoIP and videoconferencing. SanDisk has partnered with Check Point Software Technologies to ensure security of the workspace. Secure Virtual Workspace will be available to users online, offline or from a USB device. Based on Web 2.0 and AJAX, webOS provides virtual-desktop access via a Web browser. Stoneware focuses on Web and Windows applications with this online-only offering. VDI 2.0 supports a wide variety of client devices, from traditional PCs to Sun Ray thin clients, and works with any operating system. The 2.0 software includes Sun Virtual Desktop Connector, which integrates with the virtualization layer for life-cycle management of virtual machines. Users must work online. With this open source software, users can run multiple virtual machines on the same PC while offline. It supports Linux, Mac OS X, OpenSolaris, Solaris and Windows hosts. VirtualBox came to Sun with its Innotek acquisition. This product, for online access only, works with any hypervisor. VDIworks focuses on manageability; users can manage physical and virtual PCs from a single console. VDIworks is an independent company spun out of ClearCube, a centralized-computing vendor, earlier this year. VDI, for online access, allows desktops to be managed centrally and accessed from any endpoint device. It is based on VMware's ESX technology. Read more about VMware's desktop virtualization plans. VMware's offering for offline access, ACE lets users run multiple virtual machines on a single client PC. Plus, it supports USBs, thumb drives and portable hard drives. Are you already using or thinking about deploying desktop-virtualization? Jump into the discussion and tell us what you like or don't like so far.
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Like server virtualization before it, desktop virtualization holds great appeal for all kinds of users. The technology can bring enterprise IT significant cost savings and ease of management, and give business users unprecedented flexibility in their interactions with the desktop.
Like server virtualization before it, desktop virtualization holds great appeal for all kinds of users. The technology can bring enterprise IT significant cost savings and ease of management, and give business users unprecedented flexibility in their interactions with the desktop.
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Virtualisation Knowledge Centre
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Unisys Real Time Infrastructure solutions embody Unisys “less is more” approach to IT infrastructure, freeing IT organisations to deploy a simplified, more easily managed IT infrastructure that allows them to spend less time on routine management activities and more time on strategic initiatives that advance the business.

Virtualisation Knowledge Centre
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Virtualisation Knowledge Centre supported by Unisys and Intel

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Click on the link below to see Real Time Infrastructure defined and an explanation of its key benefits. You can also hear how Unisys has embraced RTI in its own IT infrastructure.
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Click on the link below to hear Unisys RTI expert Al Bender discuss virtualisation trends and issues.
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Whitepapers


The Virtualisation Landscape to 2010
This white paper provides insights on the further evolution of virtualisation now and through to 2010, what it will do to IT infrastructure, its role within business for those who embrace it and the detrimental impact on those who don’t.
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Good for Business - Virtualisation in Perspective
Data centres are a critical component of modern business strategies, and their importance is continually growing. But so is the cost of running and supporting them. This paper looks at the urgent challenges facing organisations and their data centres, and explores some of the ways in which technology can help to address them.
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Unisys Infrastructure Management Suite
The Unisys Infrastructure Management Suite helps your organisation overcome the challenges of creating an optimised IT infrastructure with cutting-edge technology and services. As such, it is an integral component of the Unisys Real-Time Infrastructure – a long-term vision of what business and IT can achieve together.
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Comparing Multi-Core Server Virtualisation
Intel IT tested servers based on select Intel multi-core processors to analyse the potential role of each in data center server virtualisation strategies. Each server provided significant potential benefits in performance, power consumption per workload, and operating costs over older servers running non-virtualised workloads.
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Comparing Two & Four Socket Platforms for Server Virtualisation
Intel IT tested servers based on select Intel multi-core processors to analyse the potential role of each in data center server virtualisation strategies. Each server provided significant potential benefits in performance, power consumption per workload, and operating costs over older servers running non-virtualised workloads.
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Implementing Virtualisation in a Global Business-Computing Environment
Intel IT planned, engineered, and has begun deploying a virtualised business-computing production environment at several data centers, a rollout that will continue through 2008. The initiative has already confirmed anticipated virtualisation benefits such as faster, more automated deployment. Intel are initially consolidating older servers running applications that are not mission-critical; with opportunities to achieve 16:1 consolidation ratios using two-socket virtualisation hosts based on Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® processors.
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