VMware Acquires VDI Software Maker RTO

VMware, which continues to expand its market reach outside of the server virtualization sector that it currently dominates, said in a blog post on its Website Feb. 23 that it has acquired software management toolmaker RTO Software.

Financial details were not disclosed.

The RTO team of 12 employees, based in Alpharetta, Ga., will be incorporated immediately into VMware and become part of the company's desktop business unit.

VMware and RTO had been in a partnership since last fall, when VMware announced at VMworld that it had integrated RTO's Virtual Profiles management tool into its VMware View platform.

"This was and is a strategically important technology for VMware and is destined to become a critical component of the View solution, providing the foundation for robust persona management," Scott Davis, VMware's chief technology officer for the Desktop Business Unit, wrote.

In fact, RTO's software apparently is "critical enough" that VMware simply decided to buy the company, the post said.

"One of those critical parts [of a virtual desktop] is the user persona, a user's profile, data files and settings," Davis wrote. "Clean, efficient user persona virtualization is vital to our vision, and that is precisely what RTO's industry-leading Virtual Profiles will deliver for VMware View."

Real-Time File Availability in Multiple Sessions

Virtual Profiles protects files in use and enables multiple views of the same file. A feature called Live Sync updates profiles in real time when a user is running one or more work sessions. For example, when a user creates a new document in one VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) session, it will automatically be made available in other active sessions.

In addition, Virtual Profiles enables users to download files from the Web or elsewhere to their laptop for offline access. Data protection comes in when a user's network connection is dropped; Virtual Profiles automatically saves any modified user profile data locally, RTO said.

"With persona management, end-user specific information such as user data files, settings and application access is separated from the desktop image and centrally stored, enabling increased flexible access, greater portability and seamless file management and backup," Davis wrote.

VMware is planning to ship an updated version of VMware View that contains integrated support for Virtual Profiles in mid-2010, Davis wrote.