Microsoft tries to entice VMware virtual desktop customers

Dave Bailey, Computing, Thursday 18 March 2010 at 17:21:00

War with VMware hots up, as Microsoft tempts customers with cheaper VDI

In its continuing battle with leading virtualisation vendor VMware, Microsoft
has announced new initiatives to try to take market share in the desktop
virtualisation space, concentrating heavily on making virtualised desktops ?
virtualised desktop infrastructure (VDI) ? cheaper.

Accordingly, the software giant has announced an expanded partnership with
enterprise software vendor Citrix, and introduced simpler and cheaper licensing
models along with new features.

Microsoft marketing communications director for server and tools Patrick
O'Rourke said that the key offer for firms deploying desktop virtualisation and
looking for cost savings was its "Rescue for VMware VDI,? offer.

"This allows customers to trade in up to 500 VMware View [VMware's VDI
system] licences for Microsoft's corresponding VDI Suite Standard package, and
also the Citrix XenDesktop VDI edition, at no additional cost," said O'Rourke.

As well as the financial incentives for customers to ditch VMware's solution,
Microsoft is touting new features, including one called Roaming Rights. This
allows users access to their VDI-based desktop operating systems accessible
through laptops, PCs, or thin client devices, remotely.

Other new features include a Windows XP mode, which is no longer dependent on
specific Intel or AMD processors, so that Windows 7 can run a Windows XP virtual
machine.

Microsoft has also announced two new features enabled when Windows Server
2008 R2 service pack one is released. One allows server administrators to
adjust the memory utilisation of a virtualised desktop on demand, which would
mean being able to configure which person gets priority access to server memory.

The second feature is that RemoteFX will allow virtualised desktop users to
view content in 3D when accessing their desktops outside the corporate firewall.

The final announcement is a new technology agreement with Citrix to work tog
ether to enable high-definition user experience technology in Citrix's
XenDesktop system.

Full story at http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2259785/microsoft-targets-vmware