Cisco and VMware are together simplifying the physical and virtual infrastructure management associated with virtual desktops deplyoments. to learn more, please check the VMware blogs. you’ll find the link at the end of the article.

Both Cisco and VMware have diligently delivered on our joint vision to regain control of the corporate desktop environment. We’ve integrated VMware View with the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS). We’ve made the Cisco Desktop Virtualization Solution with VMware View a core module of the Cisco Virtualization Experience Infrastructure (VXI) system. Known simply as Cisco VXI with VMware View, the solution addresses today’s IT and end-user challenges: achieving scalable, high-performance desktop virtualization with media-rich communications, unified management, pervasive security and an uncompromised user experience. The integration of voice, video and virtual desktops transforms desktops into virtual collaborative workspaces.

In an effort to simplify implementation, we are working with our ecosystem partners including NetApp and EMC to deliver Cisco Validated Designs that provide detailed technical guidance based on validated and tested configurations. Both NetApp and EMC have worked with Cisco and VMware to deliver separate validated reference architectures for shared infrastructure and virtual desktops.

Customers of VMware, Cisco and NetApp, including Metro Health (a regional healthcare provider based out of Grand Rapids, Michigan) have embraced our joint solution, achieving significant cost and efficiency benefits. Read about optimizing clinical workflows with VMware View and Cisco VXI or hear what Metro Health has to say about utilizing desktop virtualization to optimize clinical workflows and improve care.

Metro Health in example is using VMware View with Cisco VXI and NetApp.

Link: http://blogs.vmware.com/alliances/2011/11/teaming-with-cisco-to-accelerate-virtual-desktop-deployment.html

My colleague Raymond van’t Hag who’s a Sr. Specialist Systems Engineer in End User Computing at VMware posted a great overview of Horizon Mobile on his blog. If you want to learn more about the basics of the solution please give this article a read.

Link: Bright Streams

There is an update for VMware ACE 2.7.(5) which is based on VMware Workstation 7.1. The release notes just haven been published today. The new version is a maintanance release and comes with a few improvements. Additionally it adds support for Ubuntu 11.04 as a guest operating system.

The ACE Management Server got the following enhancements:

• The AMS servers now run on RHEL 5.5 and SLES 10. RHEL 4 and SLES 9 are no longer supported hosts.
• The AMS servers now run Apache 2.2.15.
• The AMS appliance now runs on CentOS 5.5.
• Performance and scalability enhancements.

The update fixes the following issues:

• Accessing the ACE instance list from the Helpdesk Web user interface was slow if there were more than 1000 instances.
• Importing a large number of activation keys failed with the following error:
  Reply from server was too large.
  Subsequent attempts to read policy information for the virtual machine also failed. This release checks for the activation key limit, and the appropriate message appears if this failure occurs. In addition, the older policy is retained and used for subsequent operations.

Link: http://www.vmware.com/support/ace27/doc/releasenotes_ace275.html

You may have heard about VMware’s new Project Octopus during VMworld in Las Vegas. If not here is a quick summary. Project Octopus enables users to access files on any device from anywhere and share them with anyone. The solution can be deployed on premiese or consumed through a service provider. It integrates easily with your existing infrastructure and applications.

Please check the links to get more information:

• http://www.thatsmyview.net/2011/08/30/vmware-project-octopus/
• http://www.thatsmyview.net/2011/08/31/vmworld-tv-project-octopus-in-detail/

If you’re interested in bata testing the new solution please register here.

There was a lot of rumours going around on several websites in the last few month about the new feature set of VMware’s Enterprise Virtual Desktop solution View. Today the company announced the upcoming release and of course it comes with loads of great enhancements. The user experience is cleary the focus as it comes with a lot nice new features here but also the new management functionality looks great. Let’s see what you get with the new version.

• PCoIP Optimization controls
• View Media Services
• PCoIP Continuity Services
• View Client for Android
• Korean Language Support
• View Persona Management
• PCoIP Extension Services
• Enhanced Security Certificate Handling
• vSphere 5.0 Platform Support

A lot of new stuff, right? Let’s check out the new features!

PCoIP Optimization Controls

With the PCoIP Optimization Controls you can gain control oft he user experience performance requirements. There are three new controls which can help to reduce the used bandwidth by 75%. The Client Side Caching helps to cache the image content on the client to avoid the retransmission. This setting is enabled by default and you can configure the cache size. Usually the PCoIP protocol delivers a lossless image which is great but also uses a lot of bandwidth, depending on the content. With the new version you can disable the „Build to lossless“ option and customize the time to build images to a fully lossless state. Those options will help to reduce the bandwith required. For environments where you need a lossless, high quality image with a rich user exerience i.e. Healthcare Imaging or Designers, you shouldn’t disable the option. Use it more for task or knowledge workers and other typical desktop use cases.

View Media Services

The View Media Services include the Unified Communications, the Printer Support, Clipboard Support and the Media Services for 3D Graphics. With View 5.0 VMware delivers a integrated and scalable Unified Communications and virtual desktop solution. View offers new interfaces for partners companies to deliver a VoIP integration. This is ideal for call centers, knowledge workers or home offices. Leading vendors like Avaya, Cisco and Mitel will support the new technology.

The second part of the Media Services (for 3D graphics) enables richer graphics and applications fort he end user. There is no need to purchase specialized graphics cards as it is a non-hardware accelerated basic 3D capability for non-worlstation users. It supports DirectX9 and OpenGL2.1 apps, like Google Earth and also AERO. The great news ist hat there are no client dependencies for this functioniality. You’ll get acceptable performance on the WAN up to 100ms latency.

The next part of the Media Services is the View Media Services for Printer Support. This is enabling location based printing for non-Windows clients. This is an enhancement which extends the location based printing function for Window clients which already was part oft he VMware View solution. It helps the ser to print tot he closest network based printer. There are several location detection rules including IP address, MAC address, Username, User Group and Client hostname.

The last part is the View Clipboard support which expands support for copying and pasting content between the local machine and the virtual desktop. It’s configurable via GPO and there are four different policies. Allow local to virtual, allow virtual to local, allow bi-directional, Disbaled. The function supports files up to 1 MB size which can also include graphics and rich text documents and it will preserve the formatting.

PCoIP Continuity Services

With this function the users will automatically be reconnected to their virtual desktops after a lost of connectivity. The session will seamlessly recover during loss of network of 30 seconds. The benefit here is clearly a better experience and it minimizes end user productivity disruptions.

VMware View Client for Android

A few weeks ago VMware publsihed a tech preview oft he VMware View Client for Android. Now the client goes GA! It’s made for Android Honeycomb and later tablets and it does support the PCoIP protocol. View 4.6 is a minimum if you want to use this client.

View Persona Management

Back in February 2010 VMware announcec that they’re going to aquire RTO’s Windows profile management solution. With the View Persona Management you’ll get a just in timeretrieval of your user persona and you don’t need any infrastructure fort hat. The profile management is integrated in the View components. You can maintain the personalization between sessions with no dependency on Roaming profiles but it will still support them. Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows Xp is supported.

PCoIP Extension Services

The PCoIP Extension Services will gain you an insight for troubleshooting your View environment. You’ll get per session statistics for protocol performance and network impact. There are 23 statistics available in 4 different categories. The Extension Services support WMI based tools. This component enabled you to do performance monitoring, proactively troubleshoot issue and find a quick resolution for them. Here are some statistic details:

Enhanced Security

On the client side VMware has added enhanced security capabilities, especially for client certificate handling. Like standard browser-based models, VMware View uses known SSL security models. With that you get another mechanism to enforce higher security and using commercial certificates. All VMware View Clients can be configured in three ways:

1.)  Disable certificate checking (TRUSTED network)

2.)  Prompt user to accept/igonore common certificate erros (This is similar to web browser defaults)

3.)  Mandatory certificate checking (For Internet/DMZ)

Last but not least: VMware vSphere 5 Platform support!

For a limited time VMware offers you 25% off the list price for a 500-pack of View Premier. The promotion starts effective at 01. August 2011 and is running unti 15th December 2011. It’s available to commercial, academic and government end-user customers. Please check this website for more information on eligibility. The 500-pack is only available in North America. In EMEA and APAC you can purchase the 250 pack and you’ll receive 18% discount off the list price. The promotion is limited to 1 order per customer. Check the full terms and conditions here.

The following SKUs are associated with the promotion:

• VU4-PR500-PRO
• VU4-PR500-APRO
• VU4-PR500-FPRO
• VU4-PR250-PRO
• VU4-PR250-APRO
• VU4-PR250-FPRO

The View Premier Bundle includes the lastest versions of:

• VMware View Manager with VMware View Composer
• VMware ThinApp (client and packager)
• VMware Workstation
• VMware vCenter
• VMware vSphere for Desktops

If you want to know more about the promotion please check the FAQ pages.

A few weeks ago VMware announced the new vSphere 5 version and with that they started a new licensing model based on the VRAM of virtual machines. VMware now announced some changes in the vSphere licensing. Raj Mallempati, Director, Product Marketing, End User Computing yesterday also updated the article on the EUC blog. Check it out for the changes.

Link: VMware EUC Blog

Back in April I’ve published a post about VMware View on a brand new Fujitsu Q550 tablet PC. At this time the device was a prototype and I had the chance to test it. It was great to work with it event if it was a prototype. In the last few month was a lot of buzz going on about tablet computers. Almost every vendor released a device but there are a lot of differences between the tablets. First of all the platform and the operating systems. Most of the hardware vendors developed their devices on a ARM based platform but there are also ATOM based computers. One of those is the Fujitsu Q550. It’s not running Android, no there is a standard Windows operating system installed. Yes, that’s true – a standard Windows OS what gives you loads of advantages but also a few challenges. As I’m really interested in how a user can work with a tablet and the cloud only I’ll try this for a week. As the tablet is Windows 7 based I’ve an advantage because I can run my email software Zimbra Desktops as I would run it on my laptop. Good for me as this gives me offline access. Additionally I want to use the VMware View 4.6 client to access my work desktop whenever I’ve a network connection. Let’s see how this all works.

To clarify one point up front – The Fujitsu Q550 is not a consumer device, it was released to match the needs of enterprises.

The Q550 includes some great features which are necessary for using a tablet in the business.

• Dual digitizer – Touch screen but also a digitizer pen to make notes with Microsoft OneNote for example.
• Fingerprint reader for authentication
• SmartCard reader for authentication
• Changeable battery
• USB port
• 2 Cameras for collaboration (Front View and Webcam)
• Integrated microphone and loudspeaker, earphone plug
• SD Card reader

From my view this device can easily be handled by IT departments as it is a standard Windows device which can be integrated in the companies Active Directory. You could even use Group Policy Objects or a software deployment software with it.

Disadvantages? Sure! Windows is not optimized for touch tablets! It’s great to have the dual digitizer with the pen as this helps a lot. I’ll also check how a bluetooth mouse and keyboard or a USB replicator will help me when working on the desk.

We’ll see! Let’s get started with testing. You’ll see some posts about my experiences in the next days.

Two days ago VMware announced the new version of vSphere which also comes with a new licensing model which is based on the vRAM. This is the first cloud licensing model but in case of VMware View you’ll still be able to license your desktops per concurrent connection. VMware also has a new SKU for a vSphere Edition especially for hosting desktops. As others already have written great articles about that today I’ll not start a new post but refer you to one. Check Think Loud for a summary.

Join the VMware VDI experts for a 9-part bootcamp training series. Partners and Customers can get an in-depth look at how to successfully roll out and optimize virtual desktops and applications within their environments.

Join the experts each day for everything you need to know, including:

Design Considerations Guidelines for VMware View – Overview

• Speaker – John Dodge, Sr. Manager PSO Services, VMware
• Overview of the technical considerations to keep in mind while you’re designing a View environment

Storage Deep Dive – Considerations and Best Practices

• Speaker – Jim Yanick, Sr. Systems Engineer, VMware
• How to design your storage infrastructure to fit your environment
• Sizing and workload considerations

Network Considerations and Best Practices

• Speaker – Shannon McFarland; Consulting Engineer for Data Center technologies and Enterprise IPv6 design on Cisco’s Consulting Engineering team in the Office of the CTO, Cisco
• Network requirements for LAN and WAN
• Bandwidth requirements deep dive
• Security considerations – Security Server, AV, Encryption, Authentication

Optimizing the Base Image for VMware View

• Speaker – Todd Dayton, Staff Product Manager, Desktop Product Management, VMware
• How to build and tune your desktop image
• User and workload considerations
• OS specific tips (XP, Win7)

Delivering Applications

• Speaker – Heath Doer, Sr Systems Engineer, VMware
• Packaging and updates (applink and appsync)
• Best practices-storage, image management and application deployment
• Application migration, application conflict and compatibility

PCoIP Implementation Overview and PCoIP Tuning Best Practices

• Speaker – Stuart Robinson, Director of Strategic Marketing and Business Development, Teradici
• Speaker – Chuck Hirstius, PSO, WW Advanced Services, VMware
• How to optimize PCoIP for different types of workloads
• How to optimize for LAN, mobile and remote users
• Bandwidth requirements

Automating View 4.5 with Powershell

• Speaker – Tom Elliot, Sr. MTS, Enterprise Desktop, VMware
• Introduction to View PowerCLI
• Setting up an environment and basic tasks
• Creating your own scripts
• Integrating with vSphere

Leveraging Security Server for PCoIP

• Speaker – Mark Benson, View Architect, Enterprise Desktop, VMware
• Introduction to Security Server

VMware View’s Reference Architecture

• Speaker – Mac Binesh, Sr. Technical Marketing Manager, Enterprise Desktop, VMware
• Review of RA for stateless desktops
• Description of test environment, equipment and lab results

You can also register to receive a FREE e-book which is a collation of all of the presentations used during the bootcamp.

Link to the communities page: http://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/desktop/view/bootcamp/

Link to the e-book registration page: http://info.vmware.com/content/12284_BootCamp_View_REG