Virtual Bridges, Inc. today announced enhancements to VERDE, the industry’s first “VDI Gen2″ solution. Key additions include a new cache I/O storage saver that removes CAPEX hurdles long associated with VDI, and integrated endpoint management that delivers on the promise of desktop management infrastructure solutions.

Industry analysts have cited storage costs as one of the top 10 inhibitors for organizations looking to implement VDI. Unlike competitive solutions that focus on storage capacity (terabytes needed), VERDE StorageSaver^TM uses cache I/O technology to reduce the number of Input/Output Operations Per Second (IOPS) required, the single most important metric in VDI desktop performance. Additionally, Copy-on-Write and Copy-on-Read features reduce external storage requirements by using local disks. On average, VERDE’s storage-related costs are one-third of other VDI solutions.

VERDE also now integrates PC Life Cycle Management (PCLM) policy and patch management into the virtual desktop. This includes integration with IBM’s PCLM solution, Tivoli Endpoint Manager built on BigFix technology, to ensure consistent policy across both physical and virtual desktops. VERDE is also now a management component within BigFix and other PCLM vendor frameworks including Novell zCM, Microsoft SCCM and more.  The result is smarter, faster endpoint management that also reduces risk and complexity.

Other VERDE highlights include:

• Integrated Third-Party Application Management streamlines the deployment of applications inside the Gold Master with unified policy management and improves overall manageability; works with application virtualization solutions, including VMware ThinApp, Novell SPOON/ZenWorks, Cameyo and InstallFree.
• Enhanced HA Clustering increases high availability of VERDE with automatic ClusterMaster^TM (CM) failover in less than two minutes for any candidate without manual intervention; improves manageability by simplifying installation updates and eliminates the need for third party tools; adds cluster-wide licensing and unattended cluster-wide install/upgrade, offering native CM fail-over.
• Enhanced Desktop Use Case Coverage extends support beyond traditional productivity/power users who do not need to install their own images, to cover a wide range of users scenarios including:
  • Long Life Dynamic Desktops – Improves security of the virtual desktop for VERDE LEAF users, such as traveling sales executives, who sporadically connect to the corporate network but often use public networks in airports or coffee shops.
  • Static Desktops – Provides greater control for fully persistent users, such as developers or engineers, who need to manage their own applications.
  • Non-Persistent Desktops – Provides ease of use without the need for customization for those who do not persist user data, such as workers at call centers or kiosks.
  • Dynamic Desktops – Continues to deliver robust user experience for productivity and power users who do not need to install their own images, but expect to have persistence for personal settings and documents.

“This release of VERDE is a true collaboration with our customers, tackling their biggest challenges including storage, endpoint management and third-party application management,” said Jim Curtin, CEO of Virtual Bridges. “VDI Gen2 continues to deliver significant advancements to make VDI easier and more cost effective than ever.”

As the first VDI Gen2 offering, VERDE features core capabilities that include online, offline and branch VDI, a Gold Master provisioning model, a Distributed Connection brokering architecture, flexibility to run both Windows and Linux desktops, branch-level VDI at LAN speeds, the ability to span both on-premises and hosted deployment modes and desktop portability on a USB stick.

Virtual Bridges has been named a “Major Player” in desktop virtualization by IDC, a “Cool Vendor” in Personal Computing by Gartner, an MIT Sloan CIO Symposium Innovation Showcase finalist, and one of 15 desktop virtualization vendors to watch in CRN’s Virtualization 100.

For more on VERDE visit http://www.vbridges.com/products/.

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