Migrating to Windows 7 is something many companies will face the next couple of years. Using desktop virtualization or VDI in the process is something a lot of those companies consider (read Ruben Spruijt’s article about the different types of dekstop virtualization and the role of Windows 7). In this article I would like to point out a couple of challenges a company might face when migrating from XP to Windows 7 using VDI. Don’t expect to learn about the advantages of VDI or about best practices for migrating to Windows 7 in general.

Here is my top 7 challenges migrating to Windows 7 using VDI. Feel free to comment. Read the rest of this entry »

Citrix last week released their Virtual Desktop product named Citrix XenDesktop 4. For Citrix it is the 3rd (have you ever seen 1.0 ?) generation of their VDI product. As part of the VDI Blog Battle. I’ll be using this post to update you on the architecture and basic info concerning Citrix XenDesktop 4.

What is Citrix XenDesktop ?

In my previous post, and in Svens previous post we already explained what VDI is so I’ll skip that part.

Citrix announced XenDesktop 4 like this:

“A groundbreaking new product that makes virtual desktops a mainstream reality for hundreds of millions of corporate users for the first time ever.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, finally we can all find out ourselves if PCoIP is really as good as they say: View 4 is available for download!

Here is all the information you need to get you started:

First, you need to upgrade your Virtual environment to one of the following:

• VMware vSphere 4 Update 1. Update 1 is required (this update was released this week and includes VMware View 4.0, Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 support. Windows 7 is still a “technical preview” feature in View 4).
• VMware Infrastructure 3.5. Update 3 or Update 4 is recommended. Update 5 is not supported.

Read the release notes of VMware View 4 and the View 4 Admin guide.

Install the View connection server, install a guest OS in a virtual machine (Windows 7 for example ), install the View Agent into the guest OS, add the guest OS to the View Manager and you are ready to experience the new software PCoIP display protocol. Just install the View client and connect to the View manager server. Well, at least that’s what I’m doing now.

This week VMware will release VMware View 4, “the industry’s first purpose built solution for delivering desktops as a managed service” as VMware calls it. I don’t know about that, but at least this release is a step in the right direction. The 2 big improvements View 4 brings are the new display protocol PCoIP and support for VMware vSphere. In this blogpost, I will describe the features, the components and what’s missing. Read the rest of this entry »

VMware announces VMware View 4 on the new VMware website:

“VMware View 4 is the industry’s first purpose built solution for delivering desktops as a managed service. Transform desktop management into a simplified and automated process, reduce the total cost of desktop ownership by 50%, provide end users a consistent high performance desktop experience and bring the power of the datacenter and vSphere to your desktops.”

I’m very excited about this new release of VMware View. Especially the new display protocol, the software implementation of Teradici’s PCoIP. Other key features and capabilities are: Read the rest of this entry »