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Virtual Bridges is partnering with Rackspace to offer its Verde desktop virtualization suite in the cloud.
Virtual Bridges announced its Verde Hosted Powered by Rackspace cloud-based VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) offering March 16.
The hosted offering complements Virtual Bridges’ on-premise version of its Verde software, enabling the company to expand the reach of its portfolio.
Businesses can access the Verde suite through the on-premise offering, the cloud or a combination of both, according to officials.
“With this announcement, we are extending our TCO leadership, improving our ease-of-deployment leadership and extending the functionality of our solution beyond anything available in the industry,” Virtual Bridges CEO Jim Curtin said in a statement.
The company’s move comes at a time when the hosted desktop virtualization space is poised to grow, according to analysts. Research firm Gartner last year said that worldwide revenue in the hosted desktop virtualization space will grow from about $1.5 billion in 2009 to about $65.7 billion in 2013, which will represent 40 percent of the global professional PC market.
Gartner analysts also said that about 15 percent of current professional desktop PCs worldwide will migrate to a hosted desktop environment by 2014, and that VMware, Citrix Systems and Microsoft will be key beneficiaries of the trend.
Virtual Bridges officials say their hosted offering will enable businesses to avoid the capital expenses that come with a VDI deployment. That includes lowering TCO over the on-premise Verde suite, which officials say are 40 percent less than that of competitors.
It also will reduce ongoing operating expenses of desktop environments, they said.
The company is offering three editions of the hosted Verde suite, including the Silver Edition, which offers up to 100 seats and a six-month contract, and a Gold Edition of up to 500 seats and a one-year contract.
The Platinum Edition includes up to 1,000 seats and a one-year contract.
Businesses also can sign up for a paid pilot program on a monthly basis.
All the editions include the complete Verde suite, and a dedicated infrastructure managed and hosted by Rackspace. The infrastructure includes a Cisco Systems firewall and VPN (virtual private network), a Cisco intrusion detection system for the Platinum Edition, physical servers and internal storage.
The Gold and Platinum editions also include storage offerings from NetApp.
Businesses also can customize an infrastructure configuration, according to Virtual Bridges.