Citrix XenDesktop With Virtual Storage

Citrix Systems, Inc. gave a sneak peek at its highly anticipated Citrix XenDesktop  product line and revealed that it will officially begin shipping to customers worldwide at the upcoming Citrix Synergy 2008 event on May 20.

XenDesktop, which will be co-marketed with Microsoft, is a groundbreaking new desktop delivery solution that allows companies to virtualize Windows desktops in the datacenter and deliver them on-demand to office workers in any location. Unlike first-generation virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) technologies, XenDesktop is a comprehensive end-to-end desktop delivery system that offers an unparalleled end-user experience, dramatically simplifies desktop management and reduces the cost of traditional desktop computing by up to 40 percent.

Deploying and managing traditional desktops across thousands of PCs in a typical distributed enterprise represents one of the most time consuming and expensive operations supported by IT organizations today. According to industry estimates, managing a typical end-user desktop can now cost over $5,000 a year per employee, an investment level that is coming under increasing scrutiny in many companies around the world. Unfortunately, this extraordinarily high level of investment still cannot keep pace with the rapid increase in application conflicts and corruptions that degrade user performance, reduce employee productivity and increase the risk of data loss and security exposure.

Simply Moving the Problem is Not a Solution
Desktop virtualization, as a technology, provides an important first step by centralizing desktops and hosting them on a virtual machine infrastructure in the datacenter, then delivering them to end users over the network using a virtual delivery protocol. This centralization makes it far easier to secure user data and control desktop access for thousands of users across a distributed enterprise.

Simply shifting desktop images from endpoints into the datacenter, however, does nothing to solve fundamental desktop lifecycle management issues like image provisioning, monitoring and update management. First-generation desktop virtualization solutions, in fact, often make the problem worse. Instead of PC sprawl, IT departments suddenly have to contend with virtual desktop “image sprawl” in the datacenter, a problem that can balloon datacenter storage and negatively impact green computing initiatives. Standalone desktop virtualization products can also have a substantially negative impact on end-user experience, often degrading performance to the point where virtual desktops become almost unusable.

“Desktop virtualization has shown some promise in addressing key challenges with traditional desktop deployment. However, the limitations of existing technologies do not yet sufficiently address the myriad amount of challenges associated with a server-based desktop infrastructure,” said Michael Rose, associate research analyst, IDC. “As this market continues to emerge, new technology must more adequately address user experience, and provide the ability to scale beyond a few hundred users. An effective desktop delivery solution must merge scalability, lifecycle management and superior user experience in order to be broadly applicable in the enterprise.”

Like Getting a Fresh New PC Every Day
With the release of XenDesktop, Citrix is redefining the desktop virtualization market with a groundbreaking new solution that dynamically assembles each user’s unique personal desktop from new, pristine components each time they log on. By separating applications from the desktop OS and provisioning them independently at runtime from new master images, end users get a fresh new desktop at each login that is fast, secure, personalized and free from the corruption and conflicts that plague traditional desktop solutions. XenDesktop further enhances end-user experience by using a high-speed delivery protocol that provides instant access to Windows desktops and applications over any network, regardless of how far away users are from the corporate datacenter. In essence, XenDesktop gives users the experience of having a brand new ‘fresh-out-of-the-box’ PC every day.

By managing desktops and applications separately and combining them only at runtime, XenDesktop also allows IT to maintain a single master Windows desktop OS image for all users rather than trying to maintain separate fully-loaded desktop VMs in the datacenter for each employee with applications hard coded into each one. This approach reduces storage costs and dramatically simplifies desktop lifecycle management for IT administrators.

Through the XenDesktop beta program, Citrix customers and partners have already begun to deploy XenDesktop in their environments with positive results. “Virtualization was recommended as a key enabler for business growth, a factor of the utmost importance to BT Media and Broadcast Service,” said Richard May, BT Media senior IT infrastructure manager.  “Citrix’s virtual desktop delivery solution has given us a flexible architecture and allowed us to future proof our network – facilitating global reach to our widening customer base.  The solution, implemented by BT Basilica, not only has unsurpassed scalability but has realized reduced energy usability by 50 percent in a single year.”

“With over 200,000 organizations and 99 percent of the Fortune 500 using our delivery infrastructure today, Citrix has a proven track record of solving strategic business problems in new and innovative ways,” said Gordon Payne, senior vice president and general manager, Delivery Systems Division, Citrix Systems. “Citrix XenDesktop addresses the critical requirements for effective desktop delivery: lower TCO, better security, proven reliability and a stellar user experience. This set of capabilities will enable enterprises around the world to more broadly adopt desktop virtualization as a strategic alternative to traditional desktop deployment.”

Pricing and Availability
It will be generally available at Citrix Synergy 2008 beginning May 20. Suggested retail pricing will begin at $75 per concurrent user.

Citrix Systems, Inc.