Virtualisation software specialist 2X has launched a connection broker to compete with the Quest Provision offering.

2X's CEO Nikolaos Makris said that the VirtualDesktopServer (VDS) offered support for the widest range of virtualisation platforms, supporting products from VMware, Microsoft and Virtual Iron with Citrix Xenserver and other platforms will follow soon.
Makris said that 2X would be able to compete with Quest by drawing on the strength of the installed base of its previous products 2X ApplicationServer and 2X LoadBalancer. He said that company was drawing on a worldwide user base of 15,000, that the company was moving towards VDS. He said that there were two particular strengths of 2X VDS.

"It's it is very easy to install and maintain. At the same time because of its very secure gateway architecture it's extremely scalable and robust." Makris also highlighted the pricing structure, "The other difference is our "per server" and not "per user" licensing model." He added that with prices starting at €900 per server, 2X compared favorably with the completion.

There are further developments planned, said Makris "In the next step we will integrate our so called ‘Zero Administration Client' module that automatically connects and manages 2X OS or other ThinClients and Mac OS, Linux and Windows PCs pre-installed with the 2X client.

The other project that is in development is the 2X CloudServer that will deliver 2X published applications and desktops from different ASPs to a so called ‘Cloud as a Service'," he said.