Desktone, Inc., provider of the first platform that enables hosted virtual desktops as an outsourced subscription service, today announced that it has teamed with ICC Global Hosting, the leader in virtual desktop hosting, to deliver desktops as a service.
ICC is offering cloud-based virtual hosted desktops based on the Desktone Virtual-D Platform™ to organizations in the academic, public sector and mid-tier business markets. ICC and Desktone already share one customer—Pike County School District, which saved 64% TCO by using the ICC/Desktone solution instead of building and deploying virtual desktops themselves—and anticipate adding a number of additional customers in the coming months.
“Throughout the past 25 years, ICC has established a great reputation for delivering technology services that help customers cut costs and operate with much greater flexibility, and we’ve seen proof of this first-hand,” says Les Yetton, Senior Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Business Development for Desktone. “We’re excited to have ICC join Desktone partners IBM, HP and SoftBank in delivering world-class DaaS® solutions.”
“DaaS is a great way for organizations to quickly realize the benefits of cloud computing without upfront CAPEX investments,” said Tim Hites, President of ICC Global Hosting. “We partnered with Desktone to deliver this because they offer the only platform specifically designed for the service provider model. It provides the capabilities needed to offer a reliable, flexible and highly scalable virtual desktop hosting service to organizations across the country.”
The Virtual-D Platform, which is uniquely designed along two tiers (service provider and enterprise), lets enterprises maintain ownership and control over their Windows OS images, applications and all relating licensing while outsourcing the physical data center infrastructure powering their virtual desktops to ICC.
ICC offers three levels of Desktone-powered DaaS, enabling customers to choose the service best suited to their needs:
· Bronze Desktop: For standard users, provides Windows XP desktop image in non-persistent pooled environment.
· Silver Desktop: For people with demanding application usage, provides Windows XP desktop with an expanded image, additional memory, 85% of desktops in non-persistent pool with 15% in persistent static environment.
· Gold Desktop: For power users, developers and graphics users who need additional computing power, this provides additional memory and a larger image than the Silver offering.
ICC’s DaaS offering is currently available. To learn more about the service, register to attend ICC’s free introductory webinar, hosted by Desktone, on May 13, 2009 at 12:00 p.m. ET.