Virtual Computer releases NxTop

The folks at Virtual Computer (see The Launch of Virtual Computer, Inc. andVirtual Computer NxTop Beta) have launched NxTop, a desktop virtualization product that aims to bring some order to what could otherwise be a chaotic world of physical and virtual desktop systems.

Virtual Computer Inc., the company redefining PC lifecycle management through virtualization, announced its NxTop Now! program and NxTop 1.0, the first client-side virtualization technology that supports central management and distributed execution.

On the heels of a successful beta program, NxTop Now! delivers price incentives and enhanced support for early adopters of the NxTop 1.0 product release. All beta customers are invited to participate in NxTop Now! and new customers can request an invitation at http://www.virtualcomputer.com/purchase.

Unlike point desktop virtualization solutions, NxTop includes everything a desktop manager needs to regain control of its managed PCs.  The NxTop™ platform consists of two components:

• NxTop Engine: A “bare metal” hypervisor and management control framework capable of running and servicing virtual desktops directly on PC hardware.
• NxTop Center: A feature-rich management console used by IT administrators to create, manage, and maintain virtual desktop environments centrally.

NxTop delivers provisioning, publishing and patching of the base operating system on a one-to-many basis;  as well as user data and profile backup and recovery. The PC management solution also delivers key security features including cryptographic disk and remote kill.  IT managers can also enable and disable specific classes of USB devices, specify back-up schedules, or even specify the lifetime of a NxTop via an expiration policy.

Snapshot analysis

As organizations embark on a journey to a more virtualized client environment (often after they are well down the path to a virtual server environment), they run into the same issues found in their virtual server environment, only magnified. Those dealing with tens of virtual servers might be dealing with thousands of virtual clients. There obviously is a need to manage operating system images, application images, user data and user personalization data in a rational way.

Many suppliers have seen this need and rushed to satisfy it.  Virtual Computer saw the need and thought a bit differently than the others. Rather than starting with the virtual machine software, the hypervisor, they started with the management environment and worked from there. This minor difference in initial thought has led to a powerful, easy to manage environment.

Unasked for shoot-from-the-hip advice

Virtual Computer, you've built the software, tested it and are now making the push into the market. Let's hear from the initial users of the technology. We'd like to learn what they were doing that required technology of this type, what products did they consider before making a selection, why they selected your product and what real world benefits that they've seen.