VMware Expands Virtual Desktops

LAS VEGAS -- Today at VMworld 2008, VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW), the global leader in virtualization solutions from the desktop to the datacenter, further extended its leadership position by announcing its vClient Initiative aimed at delivering universal clients desktops that follow users to any end point while providing a rich personalized experienced that is secure, cost effective and easy for IT to manage. The first step of the initiative is the roll out of VMware View – a set of products that extend VMware’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solutions to include both server hosted virtual desktops and client virtual desktops that can run on any laptop or desktop computer.

VMware View is a portfolio of products that will give end users a single view of all their applications and data in a familiar, personalized environment – “myview” – that is available from any device and any location. With VMware View, enterprises can achieve greater flexibility, reliability, efficiency and security managing desktops and applications.

The vClient Initiative also includes several new desktop virtualization technologies previewed at VMworld which VMware will introduce in 2009. These new technologies include client virtualization, image management (available as VMware View Composer) and offline desktop. Together these technologies provide key components of VMware View that will make desktops, applications and user profiles secure, easy-to-manage, and fully mobile. Industry leaders including Fujitsu Siemens, HP and NEC have embraced and endorsed VMware’s vision for the universal client and the value it will provide in extending virtualization benefits from the datacenter to the desktop.

“The desktop of the future will not be a single device like a laptop or a thin client – it will be all the richness and personalization of their desktop experience accessible from any location,” said Paul Maritz, president and chief executive officer, VMware. “Users want a desktop that follows them wherever they go while IT wants to manage those environments securely, cost effectively, and more easily than they do today. VMware is addressing both ends of the spectrum with our vClient Initiative and our new VMware View product portfolio will satisfy both stakeholders’ priorities. Users will be able to view their desktop running remotely in the datacenter or running locally on any device. At the same time, IT administrators will be able to manage, update, and secure all of these desktops centrally with greater flexibility and scalability than what is possible today.”

VMware Inc.