Trend Micro announced today it is broadening its virtualization security portfolio to enable enterprises to fully leverage the benefits of their desktop infrastructures. Trend Micro’s strategy for desktop virtualization is comprehensive in terms of protection technologies, flexible in terms of deployment scenarios and proven, having been on the market securing virtual desktop environments and enabling maximum ROI since 2009. The company’s latest virtual desktop-aware product, Trend Micro™ OfficeScan 10.5, was also announced today and rounds out Trend Micro’s virtualization portfolio. [See the multimedia announcement for Trend Micro OfficeScan 10.5 here.]

The software, designed to work in virtual desktops either a Citrix XenDesktop or VMware View VDI environment as well as on physical desktops, senses when it’s running in a virtualized environment, adjusts how and when it runs scans and updates to avoid overloading the server’s CPU, storage or networking operations.

Other features include the ability to manage up to 20,000 physical and virtual desktop endpoints from a single OfficeScan console, full compatibility with Windows 7-including Windows 7 Action Center (the operating system’s one-stop shop for security information and system maintenance) as well as better role-based administration for delegating administration, as well as Active Directory synchronization. The software is expected to be released by the end of July.

According to a report by Mathew J. Schwartz of Information Week, a study done by Enterprise Strategy Group in 2009 has found that around two-thirds of enterprises have a desktop virtualization strategy, and in next few years nearly half of the enterprises expect to virtualize 50 percent of their desktops. So there are amble opportunities for this kind of security software for virtual desktop.

“VDI is a phenomenon that we thought was a ways out, but just in last six to nine months is something we have seen more interest in,” said Punit Minocha, Senior Vice President for datacenter and cloud, Trend Micro.

The company claims that with the new VDI-aware antivirus, the virtual desktops on any given server are only allowed to run their antivirus scans serially, thus eliminating the performance hit. Furthermore, IT managers can white list the applications contained in virtual desktop base images, to eliminate the need to scan them further.

By using VDI-aware antivirus, “people can more than double the number of desktop hosts without sacrificing performance,” said Joerg Schneider-Simon, Product Marketing Manager, Trend Micro.

“Our latest virtualization and virtual desktop innovations are examples of our strategy to create security for virtualized and cloud-based environments. Our goal is to enable customers to fully benefit from virtualization initiatives, without security imposing performance or scalability constraints,” said Steve Quane, Chief Product Officer, Trend Micro. “We believe virtual desktop deployments will become increasingly popular over time. As early innovators in virtualization security, and with deep relationships with all key providers in the virtualization ecosystem, we can bring-to-market the most comprehensive and flexible virtual desktop solutions available – both now and in the future.”

How is Trend Micro already securing and enabling the virtual desktop landscape?

Because different desktop virtualization scenarios require tailored solution approaches, Trend Micro is creating products and solutions that meet varied security needs. Enterprises can choose virtual appliance-based security solutions that are more easily provisioned, managed, and can also be lighter on the host. Now, they also have the option of in-guest, agent-based desktop virtualization security solutions, which provide flexible security levels for comprehensive protection that’s backed by the Trend Micro™ Smart Protection Network™ infrastructure for faster, lighter, cloud-based protection.

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