Here is what Citrix says about its acquisition of Virtual Computer: Citrix announced the acquisition of Virtual Computer, provider of enterprise-scale management solutions for client-side virtualization. Citrix will combine the newly-acquired Virtual Computer technology with its market-leading XenClient® hypervisor to create the new Citrix XenClient Enterprise edition. The new XenClient Enterprise will combine all the power of the XenClient hypervisor with a rich set of management functionality designed to help enterprise customers manage large fleets of corporate laptops across a distributed enterprise. The combined solution will give corporate laptop users the power of virtual desktops “to go”, while making it far more secure and cost-effective for IT to manage thousands of corporate laptops across today’s increasingly mobile enterprise.
The number of highly mobile workers as a segment of total employees is growing dramatically. IDC expects that by 2015 they are expected to make up nearly 40 percent of the workforce1. As a result, the number of laptops used by professional workers is exploding. Industry analysts see the growth in mobile devices like tablets and smartphones as complementary to PCs, making it more important than ever to have a holistic, enterprise-wide desktop virtualization strategy that enables anywhere, anytime access to desktops, applications and data from any device. IT will continue to invest in laptops for mobile and office-based workers, and must address the deployment, management and security challenges that go with these devices, while faced with the added demands mobile devices introduce to the enterprise.
XenClient is a key component of the Citrix portfolio of desktop virtualization solutions, which includes market-leading products like Citrix XenDesktop® and Citrix XenApp®. Together, these solutions make it easy for people to access their business apps and desktops on any device they choose, including more than two billion PCs, Macs, laptops, tablets and smartphones. XenClient is specifically designed to target corporate laptop users, giving them all the benefits of virtual desktops on the go, even while disconnected from the network.
Virtual Computer is an ideal choice to accelerate the XenClient strategy. The company, located minutes from the Citrix Boston area offices in Bedford, MA, has long focused on scalable, centralized management solutions for Xen-based client hypervisors. Its technology includes world-class backup, disaster recovery, provisioning, security and monitoring capabilities that make it simple for administrators to create, deploy and synchronize virtual desktops running on corporate laptops.
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