Server platforms Toolkit

Story: Citrix readies virtualisation upgrade

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The other interesting company in this space is Provision Networks (www.provisionnetworks.com). They announced their VDI solution in a press release last year at VMworld 2005, and they're about to release it in a few days. This is the same company that's been reported to be giving Citrix a run for their money in the application deivery space (see #13 - https://baird.bluematrix.com/docs/html/47413.html).

Provision's existing solution is based on Terminal Server and is thus RDP-centric. It's also been met with great success over the last 3 years and is pretty extensive insofar the features that it offers (i.e., app publishing, load balancing, seamless windows, SSO, universal print driver, user profile management, PDA redirection, resource optimization, Web portal, SSL VPN). Of course, Citrix continues to own the general mindshare, but Provision is making some big and important inroads, too.

Tech-savvy folks should give this company a close look. Their solution known as the Provision Management Framework (PMF), is pretty unique in the way it integrates Terminal Servers virtual machine pools running windows XP. If you're familiar with Citrix Program Neighborhood, the PN Agent, and the Web Interface, Provsion Delivers pretty much those same access methodologies. The difference is that the published applications that the users see could be published on either Terminal Server or virtual Windows XP desktops hosted on VMware Virtual Infrastructure. The user simply doesn't know where these apps are published. In essence, each WinXP desktop becomes a single-user Terminal Server providing a completely isolated standard desktop environment for its owner. Terminal Server, of course, is a shared environment.

Citrix's approach is to publish the Remote Desktop Connection client in the Presentation Server farm. In order to access an isolated Windows XP desktop, one must establish an ICA session with the Presentation Server and then RDP over to the Windows XP desktop. With this approach, VDI customers are forced to implement a Presentation Server infrastructure whether or not they plan on using Presentation Server for other applications. Sounds pretty kludgy!

Provision's Connection Broker is also top-notch. It implements most of the VM management functions found in VMware VirtualCenter. It is also policy-driven, allowing Administrators to establish VM pool management policies pertaining to access and security.

Keep an eye on these guys. They're exhibiting at VMworld 2006 in November.

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