Parallels and Quest team up on virtualisation

PARALLELS AND QUEST SOFTWARE have teamed up to announce the launch of a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure bundle which will allow businesses to centrally host and manage Windows desktops.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is an alternative to the traditional thin client set up for terminal services in which users aren’t given a PC, rather applications are run off virtualised servers.

In terms of what it means for a company, VDI purportedly slashes the management and support burden on the poor overworked techies down at the IT department, making it a bit simpler for them to roll out patches and upgrades. It also lets the powers that be control exactly who is downloading what onto the business’ IT environment, and reduces lifecycle costs as hardware doesn’t need to be replaced as often.

Underpinning the whole software bundle is Parallels’ server virtualisation tool, Parallels Virtuozzo Containers, which sits on top of the operating system. This allows every virtual desktop to use the resources of the underlying host operating system, meaning only the data on each desktop needs to be stored and because they need less space, more desktops can be bunged onto each server (the company reckons three to five is optimum).

The alternative hypervisor approach requires that the entire operating system applications and data have to be saved for every single desktop, which, in comparison, offers quite a bit less storage efficiency.

Research Analyst at IDC , Michael Rose, gushed "The combined platform can enable organizations to build a VDI infrastructure with high density that maximises management efficiency." µ