Sun Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Software 3 is available for purchase for as low as $40 per user/per year, or a free 90-day trial of the software can be downloaded for a test drive. The latest version of Sun's VDI software is said to offer ground-breaking VDI storage economics, built-in virtualization capabilities, and support for a wide variety of virtual desktop operating systems and client devices.

Features:

• A wider variety of OS support, including Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 2000, OpenSolaris and Ubuntu

• Broader choice of client devices such as traditional PCs or Macs, Sun Ray thin clients or thin clients from other vendors

• Improved integration with VMware Infrastructure that offers users the choice of leveraging it or Sun's built-in virtualization or a mixture of the two.

• Leverages core open source technologies including Sun's Open Storage, OpenSolaris, VirtualBox and MySQL

• Integration with Solaris ZFS and Open Storage enables data integrity for business continuity and data throughput in an economical storage footprint with simplified management design. For example, Sun says when Sun VDI Software 3 is coupled with a Sun Storage 7000 Unified Storage System or other Open Storage architecture, it can significantly reduce storage consumption and costs.

• Expanded VMware support enables customers to scale larger deployments of Sun VDI Software paired with VMware Infrastructure.

• Instant VM cloning alleviates having to wait for multi-gigabyte file copies since virtual machine clones are created instantly and consume virtually no disk space by using ZFS snapshots.

• Multiple virtual desktops per user means one user can have multiple virtual desktops and can choose between them when logging in.

• Active Directory support permits customers to assign virtual desktops to users in Active Directory.

• Built-in support for Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) clients allows customers to connect directly to a Sun VDI Software 3 server from nearly any RDP-enabled device, without installing any software on the client.

• Streamlined, simplified installation provides a single installer for the core components to reduce complexity.

"The open architecture of our Sun VDI Software 3 creates a new dimension of choice and integration with Sun's high-performing Open Storage systems," said Jim McHugh, vice president of Datacenter Marketing, Sun. "Customers can now increase the utilization of existing IT assets; gain greater flexibility in client, desktop operating systems and host virtualization; increase scalability and simplify management; and mitigate the #1 issue facing all VDI deployments -- the cost of storage. In today's volatile economy, these advantages and capabilities can bring significant benefits to virtualization customers."

A real-world example of how Sun VDI software works can be seen from the implementation of Sun's virtualization solutions at Northern Arizona University (NAU). The college reports it was able to:

• provide flexible access to Windows and UNIX desktops without adding staff or expanding lab space
• reduce its energy requirements and costs, reaping a 95 percent savings in electrical costs and carbon footprint by migrating from PCs to Sun Ray thin clients

"I am really impressed with Sun VDI Software 3," said Richard Toeniskoetter, technology director of NAU's W. A. Franke College of Business. "The open architecture will provide us with a broad choice of client device, virtualization host and virtual desktop OS. That's really important to us at NAU because flexible access to Windows and Unix desktops, some of which have been in production for over seven years, maximizes our IT utilization and simplifies our management."

The university reports that all of the Sun equipment purchased since 2002 is still in production.

To learn more, listen to Christopher Kawalek, product line manager for Desktop Virtualization Marketing at Sun, talk about how the new Sun VDI software boosts virtualization flexibility and pares down storage costs in a 15-minute piece on Sun News Radio.

More Information

Sun VDI Software 3 download

Sun VDI datasheet

FAQ for Sun VDI Software 3

Sun VDI Software 3 product page

Sun VDI Version 3 wiki home page - Login or registration required.

Sun Desktop Virtualization

Sun VDI Software - topic on Sun News Radio (15 mins.) [...read more...]

		fullsource
Print Email Current Profile Archive Blog Generate newsletter