Virtualization
Virtualization homes in on desktops | CNET News.com http://www.news.com/Virtualization+homes+in+on+desktops/2100...
Virtualization homes in on desktops
By Ina Fried and Stephen Shankland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: September 17, 2007, 4:00 AM PDT
When Parallels Desktop was released in June 2006, it opened the
door for hundreds of thousands of Apple users to run Windows
at the same time as they ran the Mac operating system.
It also introduced the masses to the notion of desktop virtualization.
Virtualization, until recently, has focused largely on the server,
where the idea of enabling one server to act as many has clear cost
benefits.
While Windows-on-a-Mac is still the most widely known use for the
technology, there are reasons why desktop virtualization may soon
expand into new areas.
So far, many of those areas are in the corporate arena, where
businesses are aiming to offer more secure environments or
perhaps run older in-house software that only works with older
operating systems, while at the same time having desktops running
modern operating systems. It also has benefits in terms of disaster
recovery, provided the virtual machines are well backed-up.
There are two main ways of doing desktop virtualization. One is to
run multiple operating systems on one PC. Another is to have one or
more operating systems running on a remote server, with the
desktop tunneling in to those other operating systems. Technology
such as Microsoft's Remote Display Protocol pipes keystrokes and
mouse clicks to the server and a view of the screen back to the user.
VMware offers technology for both desktop virtualization
approaches. Its Virtual Desktop Infrastructure takes the
server-based approach, while two other options handle things
directly on the desktop, one for power users and the other for
standard cubicle dwellers.
Its workstation product is geared for power users such as
administrators who want to test software patches before distributing
them across a company, said Jerry Chen, senior director of
enterprise desktop software at VMware. Chen himself uses it to run
three separate virtual machines: one for work, one for home and
one for his Slingbox video player.
The one geared for standard users enables corporate administrators
to provide locked-down desktop software, for example prohibiting
use of printers or flash memory drives in cases where sensitive data
is involved. It also lets the user pack up the virtual machine on a
flash drive and continue working with it on another PC, provided that
computer is capable of running a virtual machine.
Virtual machines could also prove useful in the home, letting a
physical machine be carved into each family member's "own PC."
Nowadays, typically each member has a separate user account to
segregate the programs and data, but a virtual machine would
prevent, say, junior from wiping out dad's PC with a virus
downloaded from some file-sharing service.
Start-ups entering the fray
While VMware is the dominant player, there are plenty of contenders
in the desktop virtualization industry.
Citrix, which has years of experience with thin-client software,
acquired XenSource in August for $500 million, a move that provides
it with software for virtual PCs on a central server.
And other start-ups are preparing to enter the fray. Qumranet,
sponsor of the open-source KVM virtualization software, plans to
announce a product later this month that integrates all the
technology necessary for setting up and running virtual PCs on
central servers. Pano Logic, headed by former XenSource CEO Nick
Gault, announced its plans last month to use VMware server
technology to create centralized virtual desktops.
Microsoft also sees desktop virtualization, in its many forms,
gradually becoming more popular among general users, but
general manager Mike Neil noted that the technology is still
probably "a ways from (being used by the) majority of mainstream
users.
The company was an early player in desktop virtualization, scooping
up the Virtual PC business of Connectix back in 2003. The company
has since made that product largely free, but chose not to participate
in the Windows-on-Mac space, an area where Virtual PC was once
the only game in town. On the PC side, though, there have been 2.5
million downloads of the product since February, with IT
departments being among the most common users of the technology.
Others, including Intel, have proposed running security and
management software in an administrative virtual machine that runs
alongside a PC's regular operating system. It could, for example,
monitor network traffic to guard against the spread of a worm.
Another idea is to use a virtual machine to segregate work and
personal applications on a PC, allowing businesses to separate their
corporate environment from personal applications, such as iTunes.
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