Great blog post by : Nikolaos Makris, 2X Software CEO

The days of the local desktop OS are numbered, it’s official. By 2014, Gartner predicts that there will be more than 66 million virtualised desktops globally. Hosted virtual desktop (HVD) growth is likely to be rapid during the next three to five years, with the analyst estimating that units will be equal to more than 40 per cent of the worldwide professional PC market – in revenue terms that’s around $65 billion by 2013.

As companies increasingly look for infrastructure efficiencies in the current depressed economic climate, these figures could be on the conservative side. Either way, this is a hugely popular shift in thinking challenging the old fat client, local OS model. So how far can this go and what are the reasons behind it?

When it comes to infrastructure and operations, Gartner also states that virtualization will be the most significant trend through the next four years. Virtualization has been particularly successful in the data centre over a relatively short time, and we are now seeing this approach being increasingly adopted on the client side through application virtualization and desktop virtualization.

The future of computing – the local desktop OS is dead

As virtualization is rolled out, the end-user device becomes less important – users simply want to have access to their hosted desktop / application anywhere. So the desktop or application is virtualised for use on: mobile devices (iPhone, Android); netbooks; and whatever increasingly miniaturized machines the future brings. The delivery of the desktop thus becomes an ASP model – delivering applications and desktops to anyone with an online connection. This model is not just being adopted by corporates, but even smaller/medium sized enterprises and resellers offering this service for customers.

The ‘No OS’ desktop is really the definition of an authentic server-based computing environment. In its simplest terms, the better the technology, the less you need locally. The future becomes less about people physically installing boxes, but more about offering a hosting service delivered to customers. This is then centrally maintained which is a much more flexible, secure and cost efficient model.

This service-led approach then evolves onto the next stage – companies don’t want the aggravation of maintaining a server room and the associated admin people – so we’ll see them move the server capacity to the cloud and migrate to a leased rental model. As such it falls under a SAAS (Software as a Service) system, or even a new acronym as it includes the delivery method, CAAS – ‘Cloud As A Service’.

Different companies will deliver their services to the cloud – and customers will pick and choose the services they require from the cloud. It will become as easy and ubiquitous as receiving e.g. television programs anywhere you choose. Companies that are going to succeed at this will offer flexibility – this is critical in a pay-per-app or desktop service.

We’ve already seen the start of this, with the emergence of e.g. the Amazon, Google and Microsoft cloud model. New ideas for cloud computing will follow in the coming years making access to applications and desktops even easier.

Click here to read the full article

Dallas, Texas, August 18, 2009 – 2X Software announced today that one of their core products, the 2X VirtualDesktopServer Version 7.1, has been favorably reviewed by two leading virtualization magazines, IT PRO and Network Computing Magazine. Both groups praise the 2X VirtualDesktopServer overall, with IT PRO claiming the product was "easy to install and deploy, and fully capable of managing all virtual resources," while Network Computing stated that "after just a short time in our test lab, it was clear to us that 2X VDS can make very light work of managing large numbers of virtual desktops". Both groups were impressed by the degree to which the product was able to mesh an impressive features list with a straightforward general design, with IT PRO claiming it can "bring order to chaos" by allowing "virtual desktops to be swiftly published" while retaining "good overall value as well."

Though impressed with 2X VirtualDesktopServer product features, particularly its SSL security and load balancing capabilities, the reviewers’ highest praise was clearly reserved for the accessibility provided to end-users through the product’s design. IT PRO appreciated the format of the 2X VDS console, describing it as "a handy search facility that can discover terminal services systems on the network". Also highlighted was the 2X VDS agent appliance, which "provides tight integration" between the 2X VDS and the virtualization server, complete with "controls for remotely powering systems up and down," among other options. Network Computing approved of the 2X VDS main console, terming it "intuitive and requiring minimal training to use", while characterizing its remote publishing resources as "straightforward, as a wizard takes you through the entire process". Load balancing was lauded as being "a standard feature of 2X VDS", as well as the "tight security" provided through its SSL security functionality. While the reviewers considered these features to be highly useful, they claim the ability of the 2X VirtualDesktopServer to provide "a very shallow learning curve to users" through "easy access" to its functionality ultimately lift it above its competitors.

Read the IT PRO review in full.
Read the Network Computing Magazine review in full.

About 2X VirtualDesktopServer
The 2X VirtualDesktopServer improves virtual desktop manageability, security and performance, helping companies experience the full benefit of desktop and application virtualization. The product is hosted on a variety of virtualization platforms, and helps to lower companies’ operating costs by delivering secure, centrally-managed access to virtual desktops and applications.

2X VirtualDesktopServer Features:

• Publish virtual desktops and applications, rather than installing locally
• Use the same client to connect to virtual desktops and terminal server applications
• Automatically suspend inactive virtual desktops for maximum server efficiency
• Publish Windows applications and virtual desktops onto Linux and Mac
• Publish applications to a terminal server farm
• Universal Printing
• Supports a variety of virtualization platforms, including VMware, Citrix Xen, Sun VirtualBox, Microsoft Virtual Server, Microsoft Hyper-V, Oracle Virtual Iron and Parallels
• Integration with 2X LoadBalancer
• Windows 2008 and 64-bit ready

Obtaining the Trial Version
2X is offering a 30-day trial version of the 2X VirtualDesktopServer, with unlimited connections and virtual guest OS’s for 2 servers. After the 30-day trial period, users can still use the 3-connection, 3 virtual guest OS free version for a single server by registering for the 3-connection license key. Download the trial version today.

About 2X
2X Software Ltd - 2X - is a company developing software for the booming server-based computing market. Thin client computing controls spiraling PC management costs, centralizes application and desktop management, improves security and performance and allows users to work remotely. The company’s product line includes: 2X ThinClientServer, 2X LoadBalancer for Terminal Services/Citrix, 2X ApplicationServer for Windows Terminal Services and 2X VirtualDesktopServer. 2X is a privately held company with offices in the USA, Germany, UK, Cyprus and Malta. Its management team is backed by years of experience in developing and selling network infrastructure software. 2X is a Microsoft, IBM and VMware partner. For more information visit: http://www.2x.com/.

Delivering terminal services and virtual desktops to many thousands of users can present a management nightmare. Support staff can often struggle to provide secure remote access to multiple hosts offering a range of applications and services.

2X offers a selection of products that aim to provide cost-effective, centralised management solutions for virtual applications and desktops and significantly reduce the time taken to publish them to clients. It already has a strong following for its ApplicationServer, which targets Windows Terminal Server environments only and its latest VirtualDesktopServer (VDS) goes much further by adding support for all key virtualisation technologies including Microsoft’s Hyper-V, VMware, Parallels and Oracle’s Virtual Iron.

Essentially, VDS functions as an RDP based connection broker that maintains lists of virtual applications and desktops and publishes them to users for selection over secure connections. It goes much further as server load balancing is included as standard. What it does is to manage whole server farms and direct user requests to the least loaded members.

Click here to read the full review

2X Client for Portable Apps v7.3.703.0 has been released for download

Click here to download