Xiotech Corporation, the leader in Intelligent Application Storage, today joined with Silver Peak Systems, Inc., GlassHouse Technologies, Inc., Pano Logic, and Virsto Software, to found an industry coalition focused on helping customers accelerate the effective deployment of Virtual Desktop Infrastructures (VDI). The group's charter is to develop solution architectures and best practices that will provide customers with a blueprint for optimizing VDI in their environment.

Uniting worldwide data center infrastructure, storage and networking industry leaders, the mission of the VDI Coalition is to remove the risk of single vendor lock-in, and ensure the highest levels of performance, security and cost containment. With plans to convene a bi-annual summit, the first meeting will take place at The BD Event in Palo Alto, Calif., January 25-27, 2011.

In a recent VDI adoption survey of nearly 1200 IT professionals at VMworld 2010 by Xiotech, in partnership with Silver Peak, desktop virtualization is on a majority of enterprise roadmaps, with nearly 70% planning to deploy within the next 12 months. However, concerns about end-user experience (60%+), cost (50%+) and vendor performance claims (30%+) are hindering rapid adoption.

"The desktop virtualization proposition is one in which the whole is greater than the sum of the parts," said Brian Reagan, CMO at Xiotech. "However, not fully understanding the solution components -- and their interdependencies -- can significantly reduce or delay the cost, management and security benefits that VDI promises. Helping customers understand those components and interdependencies is the mission of the VDI Coalition."

The VDI Coalition comprises and will welcome participants from all levels of the VDI solution stack. In a non-competitive environment, the VDI Coalition will collaborate on the best approaches to enabling VDI in a way that reduces risk and accelerates time-to-value based on experience and lessons learned from real-world customer deployments. More information can be found at http://vdicoalition.com.

"Desktop virtualization can deliver substantial business benefits to organizations of all sizes. The ability for organizations to deliver multiple types of virtual desktops, including VDI-based desktops, allows them to address the growing user demands for more mobile, flexible computing that will support virtual workstyles. With FlexCast™ technology in XenDesktop, IT can deliver every type of virtual desktop -- each specifically tailored to meet the performance, security and flexibility requirements of each individual user. To support successful rollouts, the Citrix Desktop Transformation Model is designed to help customers quickly realize the many benefits of desktop virtualization. We support the goals of the VDI Coalition to help increase awareness and adoption of desktop virtualization," said Jagdeep Sahni, senior director, product marketing, XenDesktop product group at Citrix.

Each of the inaugural partners brings a wealth of expertise and experience and was selected based on their successes in enabling VDI for customers, including:

GlassHouse
GlassHouse is a global data center consulting and services firm that offers a unique tool, the vLab Virtual Data Center, to help customers model how different desktop virtualization technologies would perform in their environment. The use of vLab significantly reduces the time and investment put into a traditional Proof of Concept because it's all done in the cloud-based model that can be set up and tested within hours, not days or weeks.

Pano Logic
Pano Logic, the leader in zero client desktop virtualization (VDI), is radically changing desktop computing by centralizing everything on the server. Pano Logic offers a simple, all-in-one solution completely eliminating the burden of endpoint management, removing endpoint security breaches, and dramatically reducing energy consumption, all resulting in significant TCO reductions.

Silver Peak
Silver Peak develops data center class network appliances that maximize WAN performance while minimizing WAN costs. Through network optimization techniques that address bandwidth, latency and loss in real-time, Silver Peak eliminates many of the factors that inhibit a consistent and reliable remote VDI user experience. The company's unique network approach to WAN optimization also delivers unprecedented scalability and flexibility, enabling hundreds of thousands of users to simultaneously access centralized resources.

Virsto Software
Virsto Software provides innovative solutions to address the growing need for cost-effective and efficient storage for virtual servers and desktops. Companies worldwide use Virsto to achieve breakthrough increases in performance, reduce storage capital and operating costs, and streamline provisioning and data management for virtual computing. Founded in 2007, Virsto Software is backed by leading Silicon Valley venture firms.