In a very interesting move, VMware has committed to DaaS with the acquisition of Desktone. This will help VMware in its effort to develop a complete end user computing suite. This acquisition will immediately make VMware the leader in the DaaS platform, and starts to address some short comings it had against its primary rival Citrix.
Desktone provides the only virtual desktop platform built for delivering desktops and applications as a cloud service.
“Desktone is a leader in desktop-as-a-service and has a complete and proven blueprint for enabling service providers to deliver DaaS,” said Sanjay Poonen, executive vice president and general manager, End-User Computing, VMware. “By bringing Desktone’s innovative platform in house, VMware can accelerate the delivery of DaaS through its network of over 11,000 VMware service provider partners while helping to shape and lead the future of the industry.”
“The combination of VMware and Desktone’s global partner network will allow customers in all regions to benefit from the economies of scale provided by DaaS,” said Peter McKay, president and chief executive officer, Desktone. “With the Desktone platform already certified with the VMware vCloud® technology, VMware vSphere® and VMware Horizon View™, customers will be able to quickly modernize and move their desktop infrastructure to the cloud and open new possibilities for customers, users and service providers.”
Companies are now facing a different reality. In particular, they have employees that bring their own devices to work. VMware sees an opportunity to bring a broad portfolio of end user computing solutions to its customers.
Desktone provides the flexibility by offering multiple desktop options, including Microsoft RDS, VDI, and Remote Apps, across public, private, and hybrid cloud environments—eliminating the barriers associated with traditional VDI deployments.
Here is a deep dive description from Desktone:
Multi-Tenancy
Multi-tancy
is a must for cloud delivery. In the Desktone model when a service provider
provisions a tenant they are privisioning a secure environment for tenant
entitlements. The tenant is getting their dedicated VLAN, dedicated Vflier, dedicated
compute (this will depend on on the type of Windows desktop being delivered),
dedicated access portal, and dedicated access gateway.
Single
Management: Multi-Desktop Models
Desktone’s
platform provides a single platform for provisioning and managing multiple
workspaces including full VDI desktops (Windows 7, 8, XP or linux), shared
session desktops (RDS), Windows Server desktops, and individual applications.
Tiered
Role Separation
The
Desktone platform supports full role separation across the service provider,
IT, and end user. Desktop management can be done by the end company or by a
managed service provider.
Multi-Data
Center Management
In
addition to scaling within a data center, Desktone’s technology enables
geographic scalability across data centers. This is important for servicing
customers with geographically dispersed users and for maintaining business
continuity. If one data center goes down, employees can access desktops via the
other data center, with no interruption to their work.
Desktone
Platform Software Components
Desktone’s
technical differentiators – including our patents for cloud-hosted desktops,
provisioned virtual computing, multi-tenant data center design, and virtual
computing services network, among others – come to life in the Desktone DaaS
Platform. They can be seen in its four major components: Resource Manager,
which is used by Service Providers to manage the infrastructure; Access Manager
and Desktop Manager, which are used by tenants to manage user connections and virtual
desktops respectively; and the Service Grid Backbone, the essential ingredient
for ensuring conflict-free connections and security between the Service
Provider and tenant components.
It will definately be exciting to see how this is integrated into the Horizon Suite to offer a broad portfolio of tools for corporate environments large and small.