RingCube offers vDesk VDI Edition, helps VMware and Citrix users deploy virtual desktops

RingCube Technologies recently launched vDesk VDI Edition to help organizations adopt virtual desktops in a more controlled, more efficient way. Their goal is helping organizations quickly move pilot projects into production.

Here's how RingCube describes their new product

RingCube Technologies, the leading provider of managed virtual workspaces, today introduced vDesk VDI Edition – a new enterprise desktop virtualization solution that expands an organization’s VDI user base, enables faster and more efficient VDI rollouts, reduces VDI infrastructure costs, and lowers a VDI project’s cost per user while increasing its return on investment (ROI). With vDesk VDI Edition, organizations can now realize the promised productivity and cost-saving benefits from their VMWare View and Citrix XenDesktop investments.

One of VDI’s most persistent challenges is the inability to scale across an organization to its various types of employees. Most organizations choose to implement dedicated pooled VDI deployments in order to keep storage and infrastructure costs low, thereby forgoing the ability to personalize users’ desktops.

vDesk VDI Edition solves this challenge by expanding the rollout of VDI desktops across an organization which decreases the cost per user and increases economies of scale. No longer is VDI restricted only to structured task workers - employees who require highly personalized desktops can now be included in VDI implementations. By broadening the VDI rollout to a larger percentage of employees, organizations lower the overall cost of their VDI projects which results in a higher return on investment.

Benefits of RingCube’s new vDesk VDI Edition include:

• Maximizing an organization’s VDI user base
  • Virtualizes a user’s complete desktop environment, including applications, data, profile and settings, and also supports department and user-installed applications.
  • Expands VDI rollouts beyond task workers to employees that require customized desktops including knowledge and mobile workers.

• Rolling out VDI faster and more efficiently
  • Minimal setup requirements; vDesk VDI Edition is easy to implement and utilize.
  • Leverages IT staffs’ existing Windows management expertise with no steep learning curve.

• Reducing VDI infrastructure costs
  • Utilizes pooled VDI model for lower storage costs while still offering 100% persistent personalization.
  • Unlike other virtualization technologies, works seamlessly with VMware View and Citrix XenDesktop by supporting their image management capabilities and preserving their ability to reduce storage costs.
  • Integrates with application management and provisioning tools so an organization’s existing management structure is maintained.

• Lowering VDI’s cost per user and increasing ROI.
  • Dramatically decreases a VDI project’s cost per user, because a larger percentage of employees can utilize VDI. Also increases a VDI project’s return on investment.

Snapshot analysis

The desktop virtualization market, that is the combination of access virtualization, application virtualization and processing virtualization software necessary to offer virtualized access to desktop applications or, perhapse, a complete virtual client system, is hotly contested.  Suppliers such as Citrix, Microsoft, MokaFive, Virtual Computer, VMware and  others are fielding solutions. Each solution has its merits and challenges.

I've written about RingCube in the past (see RingCube vDesk 3.0) and have spoken with a number of their customers (see  RingCube vDesk Customer Profile as an example). The company appears to be well regarded by its customers.

With this announcement, the company is addressing some of the things that have held organizations back when they've considered virtual desktop solutions (see Five reasons desktop virtualization has gotten off to a slow start.)

If your company is considering virtual desktop solutions, RingCube offers interesting tools that might make your life easier.