Servers to host virtual Windows desktops

Vegas show brings host of announcements

October’s VMworld show in Las Vegas produced a number of new virtualisation products to cut the cost and complexity of IT infrastructure while improving security and easing administration.

IBM announced a partnership with VMware and Citrix to consolidate desktop PCs into virtual machines running on its xSeries or BladeCenter servers. Companies deploying the Virtualised Hosted Client Infrastructure (VHCI) system in place of standalone Windows PCs could see total cost savings of up to 60 percent, according to IBM.

VHCI uses VMware tools to create and manage virtual Windows XP systems that are accessed via Citrix Presentation Server. The vendor will pilot implementations early in 2006. “[VHCI] gives the users full desktop functionality from pretty much any access device,” said IBM director of xSeries and BladeCenter solutions Juhi Jotwani. VMware strategy director Raghu Raghuram said BladeCenter servers could be used to host client desktops during the day and run enterprise apps in the evening, serving users in another time zone.

IBM’s rivals will include Wyse and ClearCube Technology as well as HP’s Consolidated Client Infrastructure. Charles King of Pund-IT Research said, “This is a new way of leveraging an established technology solution based on existing hardware.”

Also at the event, VMware revealed more details of its forthcoming ESX Server 3 product, which will support four-way virtual servers with up to 16GB of RAM each. It also launched VMware Player – free software that enables PC users to run virtual machines under Windows or Linux.

BMC launched a new Virtualizer Suite automated failover product with modules to let firms consolidate datacentre servers through virtualisation while improving service availability by automatically provisioning applications, servers, networks and storage. BMC differs from other vendors in that users can take incremental steps towards virtualisation, said Rich Ptak of analyst firm Ptak, Noel & Associates.