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Source: Provision
Networks Inc.
Contact: Kelly Sullivan
ksullivan@provisionnetworks.com
(571) 748-5030
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Virtual Iron and Provision
Networks Introduce New Bundled
VDI Solution to Streamline the
Management and Support of
Desktop Computing Infrastructure
New
Economic Price Point Brings All
the Benefits of Virtual Desktop
Infrastructure to the
Mainstream; Improves Security
and Compliance and Reduces IT
Management Costs
Lowell, MA and Reston, VA –
April 16, 2007 – Virtual Iron
Software (www.virtualiron.com)
and Provision Networks (www.provisionnetworks.com)
today introduced a new bundled,
server-hosted, virtual desktop
infrastructure (VDI) solution
that targets the challenges of
managing, securing and
maintaining today’s
Windows-based, enterprise
desktop infrastructure. The
joint solution, which is
available immediately,
simplifies desktop management,
shortens refresh cycles, and
reduces hardware and software
costs. It delivers all the
benefits of server
virtualization to desktop
infrastructure and provides the
first economically attractive
alternative for desktop
virtualization.
Desktop computing makes up an
increasingly large part of the
enterprise computing
infrastructure today. As
distributed end points, desktops
are among the most difficult to
secure, manage and maintain.
Refresh cycles, compliance,
ongoing maintenance and user
support are huge undertakings.
These challenges put IT
resources under tremendous
pressure and significantly
increase total cost of
ownership. The Virtual
Iron/Provision Networks Virtual
Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
solution hosts individual
Windows desktop PCs inside
virtual machines running on
servers in the data center. This
thin-client architecture is
significantly easier to secure,
maintain and support and it
enables an organization’s
complete Windows desktop
environment to be securely
accessed and serviced centrally.
"Server-based virtual desktop
infrastructure offers
significant benefits including
better manageability and
security while reducing cost of
acquisition and operations,"
said John Humphreys, Director of
IDC's Enterprise Virtualization
program. "Virtual Iron and
Provision Networks' joint
solution reduces both the cost
and complexity of VDI and is
aligned to bring all the
benefits of server
virtualization to desktop
computing."
“Heartland Financial has adopted
several virtualization
technologies with tremendous
success and we expect
server-based virtual desktop
infrastructure (VDI) to provide
similar ROI as part of our long
term virtualization strategy,”
said Marti Vandemore, CIO at
Heartland Financial. “We have
engaged RapidApp, a leading
service provider in the
virtualization space, to deliver
their QuickStart service
offering and a server-based,
hosted VDI environment utilizing
Virtual Iron and Provision
Networks' technologies.”
The joint solution enables a
fully isolated, customizable and
secure environment where users
are able to work with standard
desktop operating systems and
applications. Virtual desktops
can be user-customized and
provisioned on demand instantly,
providing performance and user
experience that are comparable
to a desktop personal computer.
This allows enterprises to
replace legacy desktops with
virtual desktops for many usage
scenarios such as call centers,
offshore development, and
secure, remote access. The
benefits of VDI are numerous and
include:
- reduced hardware costs
- reduced IT support costs
- streamlined upgrade path for
faster adoption of new software;
i.e. Microsoft Vista
- increased IT staff
productivity and reduced
employee downtime
- reduced power and cooling
requirements
- increased data and IP security
Server-hosted VDI also provides
capabilities not available in
standard PCs, such as the
infrastructure for high
availability and disaster
recovery that can further reduce
downtime and improve end-user
productivity.
The Virtual Iron/Provision
Networks VDI solution provides a
complementary alternative to
both terminal services and
fat-client desktop
virtualization at a
significantly lower total cost
of ownership. The joint solution
provides for a personalized
client experience very similar
to that of a dedicated PC
including fast performance, a
fully isolated and secure
environment and standard desktop
operating systems. Unlike a
distributed desktop approach,
Virtual Iron and Provision
Networks provide centralized
management of the virtualized
desktop infrastructure. Software
can be easily deployed and
upgraded, ongoing patch
management is made simpler,
applications can be load
balanced and corporate IP can be
more securely protected,
especially from contract or
outsourced employees.
"Virtual desktop infrastructure
has the potential to
significantly reduce the
operational costs in IT
organizations facing certain
desktop deployment scenarios,"
said Ron Oglesby, chief
technology officer of
virtualization consultant Rapid
App. "Using this approach, our
clients have the ability to
deploy a centralized desktop at
a much lower cost than some of
the existing alternatives. With
their joint solution and price
point, Virtual Iron and
Provision Networks have changed
the economics of VDI and have
finally made it financially
attractive to a large segment of
the market."
Virtual Iron provides
enterprise-class server
virtualization and virtual
infrastructure management
capabilities for unmodified
Windows and Linux at one-fifth
the cost of comparable
alternatives. Virtual Desktop
Infrastructure (VDI) is one of
several common use cases
addressed by the product. The
Virtual Iron platform combines
an open source hypervisor with
advanced virtualization services
and policy-based management. It
also leverages new
hardware–assist capabilities
available on x86 servers to
deliver near native performance.
Provision Networks’ Virtual
Access Suite (VAS) is a
comprehensive framework that
leverages Virtual Iron’s virtual
infrastructure to transform the
physical desktop computer and
its applications into on-demand
virtual services. More than a
traditional connection broker,
VAS empowers a hosted desktop
infrastructure with extensive
virtual machine provisioning,
management and monitoring
capabilities, as well as a
complete enterprise access and
application delivery solution.
“Intel has long supported server
virtualization, which delivers a
superior way of managing
industry standard data center
assets and has ushered in a new
era of economics, flexibility
and manageability,” said Boyd
Davis, marketing GM of Intel’s
Server Products. “This joint
offering from Virtual Iron and
Provision Networks will fully
utilize the power of Intel Xeon
5300 Quad-Core performance,
energy efficiency and built-in
virtualization to enable a broad
range of enterprise server
solutions.”
“Over the past few years,
Provision Networks has been a
pioneer in enterprise virtual
desktop solutions with leading
companies spanning the globe,”
said Paul Ghostine, CEO and
co-founder of Provision
Networks. “Companies continue to
explore new ways to reduce
expenses and drive efficiencies
in this area. With our joint VDI
solution, Virtual Iron and
Provision Networks are
delivering a powerful solution
set to help IT organizations
achieve these goals more quickly
and efficiently.”
“With our joint VDI solution,
Virtual Iron and Provision
Networks continue to open up new
segments of the market and
change the economics of
virtualization, “said John C.
Thibault, president and CEO of
Virtual Iron Software. “Not only
does our solution drive down the
cost of physical desktop
infrastructure, it also provide
the enterprise with significant
operational and environmental
benefits such as reduced
resource requirements, reduced
power and cooling costs and
increased IP security.”
Pricing for the joint solution
starts at $120 per desktop
license and is available
immediately through both Virtual
Iron’s and Provision Networks’
distribution channels, which
include over 400 resellers and
channel partners worldwide. For
detailed information on the
joint solution, please
click
here.
The companies have made a number
of other supporting resources
available as well:
About Provision Networks
Provision Networks is a global
provider of server-based
application delivery and dynamic
desktop deployment solutions.
Provision Networks solutions
embrace and extend the Microsoft
Terminal Services platform and
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure,
delivering resilient, scalable
and dynamic on-demand access for
enterprises worldwide.
Provision Networks produces and
markets three product suites
through a global network of
value-added resellers:
• Provision Networks Virtual
Access Suite – Enterprise
Edition
• Provision Networks Virtual
Access Suite – Standard Edition
• Provision Networks Virtual
Access Suite – for the Virtual
Desktop Infrastructure
With a world-class client list,
comprised of some of the world’s
largest commercial enterprises,
and government organizations,
Provision Networks is the most
trusted name in application and
access infrastructure
virtualization. To learn more
about Provision Networks and our
enterprise access solutions,
please visit us at
www.ProvisionNetworks.com.
About Virtual Iron Software,
Inc.
Virtual Iron provides
enterprise-class software for
server virtualization and
virtual infrastructure
management at one-fifth the cost
of comparable alternatives. Its
solutions enable companies to
dramatically reduce the
complexity and cost of managing
and operating their data center.
Virtual Iron delivers advanced
virtualization capabilities that
exploit industry standards, open
source economics and built-in
hardware-assisted acceleration.
It is available for free
download at
http://www.virtualiron.com/free.
Organizations use Virtual Iron
for server consolidation, rapid
provisioning, business
continuity, capacity management
and policy-based automation to
deliver significant improvements
in utilization, manageability
and agility. The company is
privately held and based in
Lowell, Massachusetts. For more
information, visit
http://www.virtualiron.com or
email
info@virtualiron.com.
## Provision
Networks, the Provision Networks
product names, and the Provision
Management Framework are
registered trademarks or
trademarks of Provision Networks
in the United States and/or
other jurisdictions. All other
marks and names mentioned herein
may be trademarks of their
respective companies. ##
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