Windows 7: VMware gives desktop virtualization a new View

November 9, 2009 - 2:26 P.M.

VMware gives desktop virtualization a new View

Thinking about moving to desktop virtualization next year? If so, you have a lot to consider.
Just two weeks after Citrix released its XenDesktop 4 desktop virtualization suite, VMware fired back this morning with VMware View 4, a PC virtualization presentation and delivery system built on top of VMware's vSphere back end hosting platform.

It's faster. It's cheaper. But will IT - and their desktop users - buy in?

Virtual limitations and liabilities

Like Citrix, VMware thinks it has a lot of the problems associated with desktop virtualization licked, and hopes for a major push into the enterprise in 2010 that goes beyond the traditional niches for virtualization: Those always online task workers in places like call centers, where cookie cutter desktop and application sets are good enough - or where tightly controlled desktop environments are required due to security concerns (think financial services, health care).

Objections to moving virtualization to the masses have been numerous. Major implementations require careful assessment - and possible reconfiguation of - local and wide area networks based on anticipated loads (and possible need for optimization appliances in some offices). Then there's the cost of getting started, which requires a major initial outlay for back end servers and virtualization software - as well as learning the nuances of configuring and managing a virtualized desktop population. That's a big nut that adds up to more than the cost to simply refresh all of those desktops - and higher capital expenses are something no CFO wants to see right now.