News

Citrix Launches Open Desktop Virtualization Program

• By Rutrell Yasin
• 11/12/2009

Citrix Systems has launched a program aimed at accelerating enterprise virtual desktop deployments using the company's Citrix XenDesktop.

The Citrix Ready Open Desktop Virtualization program includes more than 10,000 products from over 200 vendors that company officials say have been validated to deploy the recently launched XenDesktop 4 in production environments.

The Open Desktop Virtualization program provides users assurance that XenDesktop 4 has been tested to work with the software, hardware and services they most likely already use in their IT facilities, Citrix officials said.

Products that have been verified to work with XenDesktop 4 include thousands of applications, servers, storage systems, backup solutions, client devices, printers, desktop peripherals, security products, desktop management software and systems management solutions.

XenDesktop 4, introduced in October, features the FlexCast delivery technology, which provides an architecture that lets IT staff tailor virtual desktops to fit individual users' performance and security requirements, such as hosted shared desktops, hosted Blade PCs or local streamed desktops.

For enterprises to adopt a desktop virtualization platform effectively, they must be able to leverage the existing technologies and networks they have in place, said Steve White, program director with IDC's Software Alliances Leadership Council.

Desktop virtualization solutions must be able to easily integrate with any server virtualization platform and add-on technologies, he noted.

XenDesktop 4 supports major server virtualization platforms, including Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, Citrix XenServer, VMware ESX and VMware vSphere. The XenDesktop open architecture also incorporates Citrix Ready and HDX Ready thin clients, Windows, Linux and Mac devices, as well as most major mobile device platforms, Citrix officials said.