Virtual Computer, the market leader in distributed desktop virtualization, today announced that its groundbreaking NxTop desktop virtualization solution is now available as a free product download. The free download bundle includes NxTop Engine, Virtual Computer’s innovative ‘bare-metal’ client hypervisor, as well as the NxTop Center, a feature-rich management console that enables a wide array of advanced virtual desktop creation and management functions. This new pricing model enables corporate IT teams, VARs, and PC enthusiasts to use the complete NxTop product suite, managing up to five PCs without any licensing fees or time-based evaluation restrictions. The free download is available immediately at http://www.virtualcomputer.com/download. Virtual Computer, among the BriForum sponsors, will demo NxTop at Booth #400 (Chicago Hilton Hotel, June 15 – 17).

“Desktop virtualization has become a disruptive force as corporate IT teams develop their next-generation desktop strategies,” said Terry Cosgrove, senior research analyst at Gartner, Inc. “Organizations are looking for convenient ways to test emerging client virtualization technologies to address their myriad client computing pain points. The increasing availability of free product download options is making this process easier.”

Bringing Bare-metal Hypervisor Technology to the PC

Virtual Computer pioneered the use of client hypervisor technology to extend desktop virtualization beyond the data center. The result: cost-reduction promises of desktop virtualization can be achieved without increasing data center expenses, degrading the end-user experience, or compromising mobility. NxTop Engine sets the standard for client hypervisor performance and maturity with features such as:

• Industry-leading hardware compatibility, including support for newer Intel vPro enabled systems as well as a wide array of corporate workhorse models dating back to early 2007.
• A one-of-a-kind symmetric graphics architecture, compatible with numerous Intel and NVIDIA graphics processor models, that delivers equivalent graphics performance across multiple virtual machines without the need to install hardware-specific drivers.
• A robust collection of platform control and convenience functions, including platform suspend and resume, dynamic or user-specified memory allocation, power management profiles, fully-configurable wired and wireless networking modes, and many other advanced functions.
• Integrated, full disk encryption.
• Broad USB support including the ability to leverage native Windows USB drivers.

Centralized Management and Control

NxTop is the only product that pairs a client hypervisor with a complete management suite capable of managing both the hypervisor itself and the virtual desktops running on it. Free download users may take advantage of a rich set of NxTop Center management capabilities, including:

• Point-and-click virtual desktop creation and provisioning.
• Efficient, one-to-many system patching.
• Seamless backup and restore of user-specific personalization and data layers.
• Granular security and policy controls, including time-based expiration, policy-based lockout, USB filtering, and remote wipe.

“There is tremendous interest in client hypervisor technology from corporate IT teams, VARs, and the global community of computer enthusiasts,” said Dan McCall, CEO and president, Virtual Computer. “We are pleased to offer these early adopters a client hypervisor that is very likely to be compatible with their existing PCs, as well as all a rich set of management capabilities that will allow them to experience the full potential of client-side virtualization.”