The partnership with EMC enables users of VNX storage systems to scale out their XenDesktop deployments to as many as 1,000 virtual desktops per server/storage array.
Virtual-desktop specialist
Citrix Systems (Nasdaq: CTXS) is making the rounds for lining up new
intellectual property and partnership deals.
On May 25 at its annual
Synergy conference, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company revealed a new
agreement with storage giant EMC to optimize its XenDesktop for EMC's new VNX
unified storage systems.
The VNX packages were part
of
EMC's
big 41-product launch last January.
Several weeks ago,
Citrix
and longtime partners Dell and VMware unveiled a group of new enterprise
desktop-virtualization packages. These VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) systems can be either cloud-based
or locally based and are comprised of prepackaged services with pretested
hardware and software.
Earlier this week,
Citrix
revealed that it has acquired Cupertino, Calif.-based virtual-desktop software
maker Kaviza for its popular VDI-in-a-Box product.
The latest partnership with
EMC enables users of VNX storage systems to scale out their XenDesktop deployments
to as many as 1,000 virtual desktops per server/storage array. Most VDI
deployments cannot serve up more than 200 to 300 desktops from one
server/storage array.
"This is a new
reference architecture that showcases the tangible benefits associated with
implementing EMC's advanced unified storage systems in a virtual-desktop implementation,"
Eric Herzog, EMC's vice president of product marketing and management for the
Unified Storage Division, told
eWEEK.
"This [XenDesktop] is a
great way to take advantage of our FAST Cache and NAND flash capabilities in
the VNX. There's little or no latency in this system. And there's no cost for
the software for VNX users."
The
VDI software can be downloaded here.
EMC Fast Suite enables 1,000
virtual desktops to power on, achieve a steady state and register with the
XenDesktop controllers within about eight minutes, Herzog said.
At peak load and with high
IOPS being generated by a boot storm, the EMC VNX system requires only 20 SAS
drives and two flash drives in comparison to the 90 to 100 (nearly five times
more) SAS drives required by an equivalent competitive configuration without
flash drives to match this performance, Herzog said.
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Chris Preimesberger was named Editor-in-Chief of Features & Analysis at eWEEK in November 2011. Previously he served eWEEK as Senior Writer, covering a range of IT sectors that include data center systems, cloud computing, storage, virtualization, green IT, e-discovery and IT governance. His blog, Storage Station, is considered a go-to information source. Chris won a national Folio Award for magazine writing in November 2011 for a cover story on Salesforce.com and CEO-founder Marc Benioff, and he has served as a judge for the SIIA Codie Awards since 2005. In previous IT journalism, Chris was a founding editor of both IT Manager's Journal and DevX.com and was managing editor of Software Development magazine. His diverse resume also includes: sportswriter for the Los Angeles Daily News, covering NCAA and NBA basketball, television critic for the Palo Alto Times Tribune, and Sports Information Director at Stanford University. He has served as a correspondent for The Associated Press, covering Stanford and NCAA tournament basketball, since 1983. He has covered a number of major events, including the 1984 Democratic National Convention, a Presidential press conference at the White House in 1993, the Emmy Awards (three times), two Rose Bowls, the Fiesta Bowl, several NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments, a Formula One Grand Prix auto race, a heavyweight boxing championship bout (Ali vs. Spinks, 1978), and the 1985 Super Bowl. A 1975 graduate of Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., Chris has won more than a dozen regional and national awards for his work. He and his wife, Rebecca, have four children and reside in Redwood City, Calif.Follow on Twitter: editingwhiz
