VMware aims to displace Windows with cloud-based desktop apps
- 01 September, 2010 03:32
- Comments
VMware is developing a new hosted service with the code name "Project Horizon" that will allow delivery of cloud-based desktop applications to any sort of user device, and perhaps further its goal of diminishing the importance of Microsoft's Windows operating system.
The subscription service, previewed at VMworld this week, will help deliver the right applications and data to users, whether they have an iPad, Android phone, Windows machine or a Mac, according to VMware. Partners will be involved in Project Horizon, presumably to deliver the end-user applications.
See the hottest virtualization products at VMworld
Details on Project Horizon are scarce, but the key seems to be a security model that extends on-premise directory services to public cloud networks, giving each user a "cloud identity," as VMware puts it.
Project Horizon may also play a role in VMware's long-term project to diminish the importance of the operating system, particularly the Windows operating system sold by Microsoft, its greatest rival. (See also: VMware says Windows still matters … sort of)
Project Horizon -- to be available as a hosted, subscription service sometime in 2011 -- will create a "permissions and control structure that worries less about the operating system" than current technologies do, says Noah Wasmer, a director of product management for VMware.
"The role of the operating system is getting diminished every day on the server side," and a similar shift is beginning to happen on the desktop, claims Vittorio Viarengo, vice president of desktop marketing for VMware. For users, "Windows is becoming the offline mode" as they increasingly use applications hosted entirely over the Web, he says.
Microsoft, of course, presents a different argument. Virtualization, particularly on the server side, is just a feature of the operating system, rather than a replacement of the OS, in Microsoft's view. Even on the PC, Microsoft provides virtual desktop technology within the Windows desktop operating system.
To state the obvious, operating systems and virtualization technologies have co-existed for decades, for example on IBM's mainframe, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
But VMware's attempts to move from being a company that simply virtualizes operating systems to one that provides the broader operating frameworks for data centers and desktops is interesting, nonetheless.
Horizon "securely extends enterprise identities into the cloud and provides new methods for provisioning and managing applications and data based on the user, not the device or underlying operating system," VMware says.
Project Horizon aims to provide access to various types of applications including software-as-a-service, legacy applications and mobile apps. One example mentioned by Wasmer is a calendar and contacts application. But VMware is trying to build up interest in the project without getting too specific about it. Wasmer mentioned the phrase "cloud-based desktop," but whether Project Horizon will be robust enough to replace existing desktops remains to be seen.
"We'll deliver whatever applications users need to be productive, on whatever operating system they happen to be using," Wasmer says.
A more immediate example of VMware's attempts to displace the operating system, at least the server operating system, is "vCloud Director," a private cloud building tool that was formerly known as Project Redwood. VMware has announced that vCloud Director will become available Sept. 1, and will essentially extend the resource pooling capabilities in the vendor's vSphere virtualization platform.
VMware says this allows IT to create "logical pools of compute, networking and storage resources with defined management policies, SLAs and pricing," and offer computing services to users in a fully automated self-service system.
VCloud Director takes the basic unit of consumption -- the virtual machine -- and turns it into a "virtual data center," while giving users a catalog of services that can be deployed within a virtual data center, says Bogomil Balkansky, VMware's vice president of product marketing.
VCloud Director will be available in packs of 25 virtual machines for prices starting at $3,750.
Follow Jon Brodkin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jbrodkin
Read more about data center in Network World's Data Center section.
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.
- Bookmark this page
- Share this article
- Got more on this story? Email CIO
- Follow CIO on twitter
- VMware vs. Microsoft vs. Citrix
- VMworld
- The hottest virtualization products at VMworld
- VMware's Maritz: OSes are having their jobs stolen
- VMware says: Windows still matters … sort of
- Who has the better virtualization platform – VMware or Microsoft? : NetworkWorld.com Community
- Data Center Research Center - Network World
- IDC Case Study - EMC IT Increasing Efficiency, Reducing Costs, and Optimising IT with Data Deduplication
- How to Choose an SMB - Unified Communications as a Service (UCAAS) Solution
- There is a HP Printer for everyone
- Why Hackers have Turned to Malicious JavaScript Attacks
- Business Intelligence Best Practices for Dashboard Design
-
Face Time - Interview with John Brennan and Robert DiStefano
-
Monday Grok: Will Siri crack the walls of GOOG?
-
Face Time - Interview with John Brennan and Robert DiStefano
-
Face Time - Interview with John Brennan and Robert DiStefano
-
Phones are distractions during catch-ups
-
Case Study: HJ Heinz
Heinz has trusted Sophos to protect its desktop users and email systems from malware and spam for many years. As part of its multi-tier approach to IT security, the company needed more robust protection against web-based threats and the use of unauthorised applications. -
Investment Protection and Elasticity for your Network
Enterprise IT teams are being challenged to increase overall IT flexibility and business agility by incorporating emerging cloud technologies into their next generation datacentre architectures. Top of mind is how to embed a high degree of elasticity to properly handle increasingly unpredictable application traffic loads, while still meeting strict performance service level agreements (SLAs). Satisfying these often opposing goals requires that individual elements within the larger datacentre infrastructure provide a native capability to increase capacity and performance as conditions dictate. Read on. -
Staying Secure and Preventing Data Leaks in a Cloud-obsessed World
If your organisation is to benefit from this explosive growth, it needs to be able to exploit all that the cloud has to offer. But at the same time, it is vital to protect your company’s employees, networks, data and reputation from the risks that exist in the cloud.
-
Windows 7 for Dummies®
-
Excel 2007 All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies
-
MYOB Software for Dummies 6E Australian Edition
-
Computers for Seniors for Dummies, 2nd Edition
-
Office 2007 All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies
-
Windows 7 for Dummies® Dvd+book Bundle
-
Office 2007 for Dummies
-
Windows 7 for Seniors for Dummies®
-
Microsoft Office








Comments
Post new comment