Kaviza, the pioneer in affordable plug-and-play desktop virtualization for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) today announced the beta release of Kaviza VDI-in-a-box 3.0. As part of a licensing agreement from enterprise desktop virtualization leader Citrix Systems, the new Kaviza release features high-definition Citrix HDX technology, significantly enhancing the overall virtual desktop experience for end users. The new version also adds full support for Citrix XenServer, making it easy for Kaviza customers to host their VDI environments on a world-class virtualization platform at a far lower cost. Kaviza will be showcasing live demos of the new VDI-in-a-box 3.0 beta release in booth #613 at Citrix Synergy™ 2010 in San Francisco. Interested parties may also register for a free webinar at https://www.kaviza.com.

“We see cost, complexity and user experience as the three key roadblocks to VDI adoption, especially for smaller enterprises and their service providers. Kaviza now addresses all three concerns. By adding support for Citrix HDX and XenServer, Kaviza VDI-in-a-box 3.0 delivers turnkey virtual desktops with rich high-definition experience at an unprecedented total cost per desktop of less than $500 (including servers, software and support) – delivering unparalleled ease-of-use, affordability, and functionality,” explains Kumar K. Goswami, CEO Kaviza.

“With desktop virtualization going mainstream, there is a growing need in small to mid-size businesses to realize the operational benefits of virtual desktops. Kaviza’s simplicity combined with Citrix HDX technology and XenServer make it ideal for such businesses looking for a low cost, high performance virtual desktop solution for up to 250 desktops,” said Raj Dhingra, group vice president and general manager, XenDesktop product group at Citrix.

Kaviza VDI-in-a-box is designed specifically to fit departmental budgets and desktop IT expertise using a plug-and-play architecture that runs on commodity servers without requiring shared storage. Kaviza enables the desktop IT staff to deploy VDI or hosted virtual desktops without any specialized IT expertise – for a total cost per desktop (including servers, software and support) of less than $500. This innovative approach makes VDI less expensive than traditionally managed personal computers and generates immediate return on investment (ROI). The two new additions in Version 3.0 are:

• Kaviza VDI Accelerator with Citrix HDX— With this add-on, customers can experience a rich high-definition user experience with Kaviza virtual desktops leveraging the Citrix HDX technology. This feature is available on all hypervisors supported by Kaviza.
• Kaviza VDI-in-a-box for XenServer—Customers can now leverage Kaviza’s hypervisor agnostic design to choose the virtualization platform that best suits their needs. Kaviza VDI-in-a-box for XenServer drives down costs associated with virtual desktops while providing customers with more choices. Kaviza VDI-in-a-box is also available for VMware ESX & vSphere.

Learn more about Kaviza’s award-winning VDI-in-a-box — recognized as “Cool Vendor in Client Computing, 2010” by Gartner, “Product to Watch 2010” by eWeek and recipient of “Innovation Award 2010” by Network Products magazine by visiting us at kaviza.com.

About Kaviza
Kaviza’s award-winning VDI-in-a-box™ — the industry’s first and only affordable turnkey virtual desktop solution designed specifically for desktop budgets, desktop IT, and desktop user needs — employs patent-pending grid architecture to lower costs and eliminate the need for expensive infrastructure. Kaviza was founded by virtualization and VDI veterans from HP and IBM to create the next generation VDI that is simple and affordable. Kaviza is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA and is funded in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation and by Citrix Corporation. For more information, contact: Kaviza.