Lenovo announces that they will support Citrix XenClient on Think-Branded PCs
Lenovo, today announced a new relationship with Citrix Systems, Inc. to support Citrix XenClient™ on select Think-branded products, such as ThinkCentre M Series desktops and ThinkPad X and T Series laptops. Customers can also have XenClient added to their custom image through Lenovo’s Imaging Technology Center.
Lenovo’s support of XenClient will be available beginning in Q4 2010. These alternative computing solutions are designed to give IT administrators maximum control by combining the performance of a traditional PC and the security and manageability benefits of a virtual solution. Additionally, Lenovo will begin offering its ThinkServer line of Citrix Ready® verified servers in Q4 2010 to provide the highest levels of performance while running Citrix XenServer® on Lenovo ThinkServers.
In a recent 2010 worldwide CIO survey by Gartner1, CIOs ranked virtualization followed by cloud computing as the top two technology priorities in 2010. Lenovo customers will now be able to choose from a wide portfolio of Lenovo offerings combined with XenClient including Lenovo’s Secure Managed Client (SMC). Lenovo’s SMC is a storage-based, alternative desktop computing solution that helps enterprises reduce IT costs and security risks by storing data in a remote location while delivering desktop PC performance and functionality. Computing activities occur locally on the PC so end-users experience little difference in power or functionality between a hosted desktop and a traditional PC
“Our customers have expressed an increasing interest in alternative client solutions as they look to mitigate ongoing data, security and liability threats within the enterprise,” said Peter Schrady, vice president and general manager, Software & Peripherals Product Group, Lenovo. “Desktop virtualization is a great step in addressing these pain points, and Lenovo’s new relationship with Citrix allows us to offer cost-effective solutions for virtual desktop delivery.”
XenClient is a core feature of Citrix XenDesktop®, which is a desktop virtualization solution that delivers a complete Windows desktop experience as an on-demand service to any user, anywhere. XenClient extends desktop virtualization to millions of corporate laptop users making it easy for IT to incorporate these users into a unified enterprise desktop virtualization strategy with unparalleled security and simplicity.
“Desktop virtualization is rapidly being adopted by enterprises as the best way to enable virtual workstyles for users and increase business agility for IT. XenClient extends the numerous benefits of desktop virtualization to every user in the enterprise, even laptop users that are disconnected from the network. With our partnership with Lenovo we make it incredibly easy for customers to get the benefits of virtualization from the leading supplier of commercial laptops,” said Sumit Dhawan, vice president, product marketing, XenDesktop product group, Citrix.
Lenovo and Citrix desktop virtualization products give insurance, hospital, banking and educational customers the flexibility to provide their employees with anywhere, anytime computing in a business or home environment without breaching company security policies. IT managers can remotely issue centralized single-image management, data security and backup, and recovery for laptop users. In today’s computing environment where users do not always have network access, user data can be automatically and securely backed up to the data center when laptops are later connected to the Internet.
Lenovo and Citrix are also working together to develop unique offerings such as a diskless desktop computer that can support XenClient – a first-of-its-kind innovation. Lenovo will be at the Citrix Synergy conference in Berlin, Germany from October 6-8 at Lenovo Booth #403 in Foyer #1.
