Virtual Computer, Inc. the company redefining PC lifecycle management through virtualization, today announced its final beta and release candidate of NxTop 1.0. Desktop IT managers interested in evaluating the product can register online for this beta release at
http://www.virtualcomputer.com/beta. Virtual Computer will also be demonstrating the product to customers, resellers and business partners during VMworld in Cannes, France. Interested parties may request a demonstration at
http://www.virtualcomputer.com/demo.
According to NxTop beta tester Steve Dale, director of IT at Camiant, “NxTop addresses our organization’s most challenging pain points. Every user here has a notebook PC and like many organizations, managing backups in a notebook-centric environment is a major challenge, now with NxTop it’s a snap. An added benefit of NxTop is the convenience of abstracted hardware which allows me to manage a single image for operating system (OS) deployment rather than many images that are hardware specific. I’m also enjoying the ability to run two OS simultaneously and the security of full disk encryption built into the solution.”
NxTop makes PC’s more manageable, reliable and secure, while enhancing the end-user’s computing experience. The NxTop solution tackles core PC management functions currently addressed with legacy agent-based tools, and delivers additional benefits only possible using bare-metal virtualization technology at the end-point.
NxTop’s features include:
- One-to-many provisioning, publishing and patching of the base operating system including the ability to roll patches forward or backward in the event of a failure at the end-point.
- User data and profile backup and recovery including the ability to move a user from one computing device to another in a matter of minutes, without any loss of data or productivity.
- Security including trusted boot and cryptographic disk, with an enterprise key management system ensuring that computing environments cannot be tampered with and eliminating the concern of data leakage in the event a PC is lost or stolen.
- Full policy-driven control of end-point computing devices including the ability to filter on particular types of USB devices, device expiration and remote disable of computers.
In addition, NxTop allows more than one operating systems to execute at the end-point in a fully symmetric fashion with complete isolation and security; literally as if the operating systems are executing on disparate devices. This enables new use-cases for organizations and end-users, such as:
- Running a personal operating system side-by-side with a locked-down corporate image, enabling end-users to bring their own laptops to work or load applications outside the corporate standard thereby reducing support costs and lost productivity.
- A simple upgrade path from Windows XP to Windows 7 without the need to physically touch the end-point during the upgrade.
- Allowing for a compact and fast booting operating system with custom functionality such as a web browser or terminal service to run side by side with a more robust operating systems such as Windows.
“NxTop is different from traditional PC lifecycle management tools and VDI solutions, because it delivers a one-to-many PC lifecycle management solution, including a type-1 client hypervisor and complete PC management system optimized for remote and mobile workers,” said Dan McCall, president and CEO of Virtual Computer. “Unlike complex VDI solutions NxTop does not require an expensive server, networking, and storage infrastructure since it uses the same computing equipment organizations have already purchased. We have users up and running on NxTop in under an hour.”