At Citrix Synergy, the conference where virtualization, networking and cloud computing meet, McAfee, Inc. and Citrix Systems delivered the first product of a joint collaboration announced earlier this year to make virtual desktop security simpler and more scalable for large enterprise deployments. Available today, McAfee Management for Optimized Virtualized Environments AntiVirus (MOVE AV) has been specifically designed for Citrix XenDesktop®, making it easy for customers to secure corporate data and applications delivered to virtual desktops running on servers in the datacenter.

The release of McAfee MOVE AV reaffirms the strategic commitment of McAfee and Citrix to provide security solutions designed and optimized for virtualized environments. McAfee and Citrix also previewed the next phase of their partnership, which would allow for the extension of McAfee MOVE to support millions of laptop users by integrating security directly into the Citrix XenClient™ hypervisor. XenClient, a core feature of Citrix XenDesktop, is the industry’s first secure-by-design client virtualization platform, enabling virtual desktops “to go” by delivering native performance to virtual desktops running directly on PCs and laptops. The companies are demonstrating both solutions at Citrix Synergy Berlin, October 6-8, 2010.

Desktop virtualization is quickly becoming a top strategic initiative for CIOs as they seek a more secure, flexible and cost-effective way to deliver Windows desktops and applications to business users in any location, over any network, and on any device. With traditional desktop computing, security has often been an afterthought – an approach that cannot scale to protect enterprises from the changing security threat landscape in an environment where employees are increasingly mobile and are using their own devices to access corporate resources. McAfee and Citrix are committed to driving the transformation of desktop computing by providing virtual desktops that are “secure by design.” McAfee’s ability to provide deep intelligence of operating system, network, applications and data gives customers new and better ways to correlate, predict and prevent possible threats.

The addition of McAfee MOVE to all XenDesktop virtual desktops – whether running on the server or in a local client-side VM – will simplify desktop security and increase user density by 60 percent through a “virtualization aware” centralized service where resources are optimized and intelligence is shared. For example, if McAfee MOVE encounters malware, it can process appropriate behavior based on a set of security policies on behalf of the guest attempting to access the file. Additionally, it will also update all of the other guests supported by MOVE. Having the flexibility and adaptive security to provide in-depth intelligence will open new opportunities to protect and provide flexible IT delivery methods to business users.

“Desktop virtualization is rapidly being adopted as the best way to solve critical business objectives of enabling virtual workstyles for users and increasing agility for IT. Simple and scalable security specifically designed for virtual environments is a critical requirement for mainstream adoption of desktop virtualization,” said Raj Dhingra, group vice president and general manager, XenDesktop product group at Citrix. “With the availability of MOVE for hosted virtual desktops, and the upcoming extension of its capabilities to client-side virtual desktops, our customers are realizing the benefits of the best-in-class security capabilities from McAfee designed for the industry-leading desktop virtualization solution, XenDesktop.”

“While traditional security tools and solutions can get in the way of maximizing the full power of virtualization, McAfee is providing optimized security solutions specifically designed for virtualized environments,” said Candace Worley, general manager, endpoint protection business unit at McAfee. “McAfee and Citrix are giving customers security that is flexible, secure and designed to protect virtual desktops and servers without impacting performance.”

For more information about McAfee MOVE visit www.mcafee.com/virtualization.