VMware vCenter is the de facto standard for managing VMware virtual infrastructures and the SANsymphony-V Storage Hypervisor combines powerful storage virtualization and enterprise-wide storage management. Together, these capabilities are seamlessly integrated to allow a VMware administrator to efficiently manage all their virtual machines (VM) and storage resources from a single console.

"The new DataCore Storage Hypervisor Plug-in for VMware vCenter Server combines two industry-leading management solutions to offer customers the best of both worlds through a single view infrastructure management," said Parag Patel, vice president, Global Strategic Alliances, VMware. "Customers can better manage and realize the full benefits of their desktop, server and storage resources in a VMware virtual environment."

DataCore and VMware – A Combination Delivering Compelling Benefits
VMware administrators are now able to provision, monitor and manage their storage and server resources from a single pane of glass and perform common storage tasks and complex scheduling workflows to clone, snapshot and restore data stores and VMs without having to become storage experts.

The vCenter Plug-In helps VMware administrators increase productivity and respond faster to user needs in a number of ways, including:

• Enabling an end-to-end view for VMware to storage from a virtual machine, host or virtual disk perspective; central monitoring and management of storage resources
• Rapidly provisioning virtual disks to VMware vSphere®/ESX® hosts
• Creating and restoring snapshots of data stores where VMs are housed
• Scheduling tasks to coordinate workflows between vSphere and SANsymphony-V servers
• Taking consistent snapshots of a data store for validation or before making changes to the environment
• Scheduling recovery clones (full copy) or efficient differential snapshots to rapidly restore VMs
• Employing high-availability mirror protection to virtual disks
• Visualizing current conditions in easy-to-understand terms to simplify troubleshooting and performing root cause analysis for virtual machines and their storage
• Lowering OpEx and enhancing administrator productivity – through automated workflows, task wizards and lesser need for storage training and specialized skill sets

Simplify Difficult Storage Tasks: Snapshots, Clones and Restorations
The software’s built in wizards and simple command menus take the complexity out of creating, scheduling or capturing snapshots of VMs. Administrators simply select the data store housing the specific VMs of interest. The plug-in signals the VMware vCenter Server to quiesce those VMs and then triggers SANsymphony-V to take snapshots of the corresponding data store. Both full clone and differential (lightweight) snapshots are supported. The known positive state in those online snapshots may be used to set up new VMs or quickly recover from malware and user errors that may have damaged their integrity.

Snapshots with a click of the mouse may be scheduled at regular intervals, for instance, Saturday morning at 3:00 a.m. when it will not disrupt daily operations. The workflow can also define how long the snapshots should be retained before being deleted.

VMware administrators want to focus on VMs not storage complexity
Transitioning to a virtualized environment creates new requirements for the effective management of the underlying storage resources that are virtualized. VMware administrators are faced with requests to provision new VMs, set up data stores and manage cloning and snapshot copy operations. There can be a lack of in-depth knowledge of storage systems and no end-to-end management leaving VMware administrators with an incomplete view into how physical resources in the virtual environment are used. This in turn, can increase the amount of time and effort required to manage the environment. Therefore, VMware administrators need to be prepared with the right management tools to take on these tasks and as a result are using VMware vCenter to manage their servers.

The SANsymphony-V Plug-in for VMware vCenter provides a rich set of management capabilities for storage. From the plug-in, vSphere administrators can fulfill the dynamic storage needs of their vSphere/ESX clusters, hosts and virtual machines without having to become a storage expert or having to leave their familiar central console.

DataCore and VMware: The Fully Virtualized Data Center
“VMware customers around the globe running VMware vSphere rely on DataCore’s solutions to deliver the critical 'third dimension' of virtualization – storage. DataCore has architected its software to cost-effectively shape the shared storage infrastructure required by virtualization,” states Carlos Carreras, vice president of alliances and business development for DataCore Software. “The SANsymphony-V VMware vCenter Plug-in makes the storage management job significantly easier for VMware administrators. They now have a ‘one-stop’ administrative console to monitor and manage the full set of server and storage resources across their entire virtual data center.”

Related posts:

1. DataCore Storage Hypervisor Integrates with Hitachi IT Operations Analyzer
2. VMworld 2011: DataCore to Offer Free Storage Hypervisor to VMware Professionals
3. DataCore Software Offers Free Storage Hypervisor to Microsoft Certified Professionals

“Truly inspired thinking and ingenuity went into this software, which delivers a personalized user experience on par with physical desktops,” said Jason Mattox, CTO of Liquidware Labs. “ProfileUnity with FlexApp allows virtual desktops to support a greater number and diversity of workers, which permits more companies to move their hundreds or even thousands of physical PCs to virtual platforms running Windows 7.“

At the same time, the company also announced a “FlexApp This!” Contest to provide users with a fun, rewarding and original way to learn about the large number of applications that FlexApp currently supports as well as to break new UIA ground. Users can enter weekly raffles for an Apple® iPad by providing new application names to test on FlexApp.

“Over our beta process, we’ve had hundreds of customer recommendations that were successfully installed with FlexApp,” said Mattox. “However, we want to encourage the community to challenge us with new suggestions, so that we can build out our collection of proven applications.”

Early next week, Liquidware Labs will also launch the “Dare2Compare” program to allow companies who are currently using user virtualization solutions to compare them with ProfileUnity with FlexApp for FREE. The “Dare2Compare” program provides customers with a set number of free, fully functional ProfileUnity with FlexApp licenses and Support services for a year in order to fully evaluate competing solutions and pick the best for their requirements.

“We’ve had growing interest from companies wanting to test out the latest version of ProfileUnity with FlexApp in their environments and see how it compares to their current option,” said Mattox. “This product launch is the perfect time to extend a risk-free, high value program allowing users to properly evaluate ProfileUnity with FlexApp.”

ProfileUnity with FlexApp offers key benefits to customers, including:

• Simplifies management of non-persistent Windows environments dramatically because fewer master images must be maintained
• Promotes greater desktop virtualization ROI and economies of scale because more workers can use the virtual desktop infrastructure
• Reduces desktop administrator time on maintenance and troubleshooting activities
• Significantly lowers TCO as organizations realize optimal license use and reduce storage requirements
• Virtualizes the installation of an application location, not the application itself, thus appears native to the OS, therefore, applications are instantly usable without any modifications

“ProfileUnity with FlexApp changes the game for managing our users within our Citrix environment,” said Sam Ault, System Administrator for Turner Bros. “In our testing and production environment, our users have been able to ‘FlexApp’ virtually every application we’ve tried. The solution is highly capable of delivering on its promise of separately managing the installation of user applications, while leaving the underlying golden image intact for streamlined management.”

How ProfileUnity with FlexApp Works
ProfileUnity with FlexApp is enabled by the administrator for select users or groups within the ProfileUnity central console. Users are provisioned a VHD (virtual hard disk) to store their applications separately from the OS and local session. Users install applications just as they would normally, and ProfileUnity with FlexApp “hooks” the installation of program, adding specialized “links” both into the local Windows operating system and into the user’s managed ProfileUnity with FlexApp settings.

ProfileUnity with FlexApp perfectly complements thin application technologies, allowing administrators to support both corporate applications and UIA today. The work and development of the May release reflects the “heavy lifting” for the next version of ProfileUnity with FlexApp, scheduled for the fall timeframe 2012, which will deliver departmental installed applications (DIA) in addition to UIA. Combining these three types into the ultimate application-delivery triad permits the most cost-effective virtual desktop environments, reducing the number of master images needed as well as storage.

“Liquidware is looking to bring a management layer to self-installed apps,” said Andrew Wood, Analyst, The Virtualization Practice. “As a solution for managing custom applications in non-persistent VDI, FlexApp is an admirable start and lays the ground for DIA in future. I think DIA is a technology that can open the door to desktop virtualization for many more companies, and we will watch with close interest the impact that Liquidware Labs has on this space.”

Related posts:

1. Liquidware Labs Strategic Partnerships Help Accelerate Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Adoption Rates
2. Liquidware Labs Unveils Stratusphere Designer for Virtual Desktops
3. Liquidware Labs and Red Hat Collaborate To Accelerate End-to-End Server and Desktop Virtualization

“As a government aggregator for VMware, Carahsoft applauds Teradici’s ongoing commitment to ensure that the security of virtual desktops exceeds that of traditional desktop or laptop computers,” said Will Jones, vice president of sales for VMware Government at Carahsoft. “Teradici’s latest updates simplify implementation of security requirements and provide flexibility to meet federal needs.”

PCoIP zero clients virtually eliminate the need for desktop management because they have no CPU, application OS, device drivers or hard drive, making them the ideal computing solution for deployments where security is mission critical.

In addition to supporting SIPRNet hardware tokens, PCoIP zero clients are designed to meet stringent security requirements and government mandates with the following suite of security features:

• CAC and PIV smart card authentication
• 100BASE-FX fiber connectivity
• IPv6 ready
• AES encryption of PCoIP data
• Encrypted PCoIP pixels are sent over the network – rather than user application data
• No Windows or Linux Operating system (no security patches, no spyware, no viruses)

“Teradici continues to add features and enhancements to PCoIP that enable our mutual government customers to gain the most from their VMware View VDI environments,” said Vittorio Viarengo, vice president, End-User Computing, VMware. “By adding support for SIPRNet hardware tokens, Teradici PCoIP zero clients for VMware View offer a high fidelity, flexible and secure VDI solution, well-suited for government deployments.”

“Teradici continues to align PCoIP zero client functionality with the requirements of the most demanding deployments where security is the number one concern,” said Trent Punnett, vice president of marketing, Teradici. “With support for authentication with SIPRNet hardware tokens, Teradici offers the definitive high-security hardware VDI client solution for VMware View. With no local storage, no operating system and no data actually delivered to the desktop, zero clients with VMware View are a natural choice in security-critical deployments.”

Support for SIPRNet hardware tokens is included with PCoIP zero clients in Firmware 3.5.1, currently available for download at http://techsupport.teradici.com. PCoIP zero clients for VMware are available from trusted OEMs in a wide variety of form-factors. For more information on PCoIP zero clients, please visit www.teradici.com/zeroclient.

Webinar: Achieving Mission-Critical Security with PCoIP Zero Clients
Those interested in learning more about the security benefits of VMware View, PCoIP zero clients and SIPRNet hardware token authentication can attend the upcoming webinar, “Achieving Mission-Critical Security with PCoIP Zero Clients.” The webinar is hosted by Teradici and will include speakers from VMware and DHDW Consulting.

The webinar is scheduled for Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 8:00 a.m. PDT/11:00 a.m. EDT.

Related posts:

1. PCoIP comes to the Mac and Linux View Clients
2. Industry’s First Strong Authentication Solution Delivered for PCoIP Zero Clients
3. Teradici Releases Firmware 3.5.0 for PCoIP Zero Clients

“McAfee MOVE AV provides McKesson with comprehensive and consistent malicious code protection for our virtual environment,” said Patrick Enyart, senior director, McKesson Information Security, Security Operations. “As we continue to adopt emerging technologies, particularly cloud computing solutions, implementing McAfee MOVE AV provides us with additional security in our virtual environment. The solution makes sizing and deployment simpler and ensures that every system is deployed with the same level of protection.”

The McAfee MOVE AV agentless deployment option addresses the challenges of protecting the virtual environment and keeping it free of malware without the bulk of an agent, resulting in easy deployment and set-up. Both deployment options (multi-platform and agentless) provide powerful, comprehensive, and consistent protection, and are managed and reported by the McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator platform.

The integration with VMware vShield Endpoint enables users to optimize performance in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and virtual server environments based on VMware technology, while knowing that they are completely secure. Virtualization is all about flexibility, efficiency and scalability. McAfee provides adaptive, agentless security protection for the virtual environment without jeopardizing performance, allowing users to utilize the full benefits and power of virtualization.

“The combination of McAfee MOVE AV with VMware vShield Endpoint offers customers protection with top-rated security and high performance in their virtual desktop and server environments,” said Parag Patel, vice president, Global Strategic Alliances, VMware. “This enables users to further embrace virtualization and benefit from the cost savings it provides.”

As a part of the McAfee security connected framework, McAfee MOVE AV delivers real-time visibility and predictive capability that is enabled by McAfee Global Threat Intelligence, allowing customers to balance the business need to embrace all forms of virtualization while protecting their critical assets and sensitive data, all seamlessly integrated into one console.

“Business is a virtual entity -- the IT landscape CIOs work in is rapidly changing,” said Candace Worley, senior vice president and general manager of endpoint security at McAfee. “Virtualization is providing the foundation for this agility. With our latest release of McAfee MOVE AV designed to integrate with VMware vShield Endpoint, security can be enabled without an agent making it easier to deploy and manage. Together, McAfee and VMware equip customers with the security and manageability they need.”

Security in the data center environment needs to be designed from the ground up and adopt the fundamentals of virtualization, which include shared resources, optimized performance and low cost of ownership. As part of the McAfee security connected framework, which includes Network IPS, SIEM and server security technologies, McAfee is bringing new products to market optimized for virtual infrastructure using the McAfee MOVE platform.

Availability
McAfee MOVE AV agentless deployment option is available now.

Related posts:

1. McAfee and Citrix to Make Virtual Desktop Security Simpler and More Scalable
2. McAfee Highlights Discrepancy Between Data Center Security Perceptions and Reality
3. Intel completes McAfee acquisition

“With the widespread adoption of virtualization initiatives taking place throughout Europe, we see the Teradici technology as a key addition to our portfolio of virtualization solutions,” said Julien Peronneau, vice president of operations and business development for Arrow ECS in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “With this agreement, we will further enable the acceleration and growth of PCoIP technology and VMware virtual desktop implementation deployments throughout Europe.”

Through this agreement, Arrow ECS will provide its extensive network of solution providers across EMEA with the Teradici APEX 2800 server offload card. The card greatly enhances virtual desktop deployments by offloading the most active 64 displays from the server CPU, providing a consistent, reliable user experience and allowing more virtual machines per server. Compatible with all PCoIP zero clients and VMware View software clients, the APEX 2800 server offload card is fully integrated into VMware vSphere™ 4.1 and 5.0 and managed by VMware View 4.6 or later.

“With its strong ties to the VMware reseller community, we believe this agreement with Arrow ECS will further drive adoption of the APEX 2800 and PCoIP-based VDI solutions throughout Europe, providing VMware View customers with the best possible end user experience,” said Trent Punnett, vice president of marketing and product management, Teradici. “With the help of our partners, we continue to expand the broad offering of PCoIP products, and we look forward to providing clients worldwide with exceptional VDI performance, flexibility and security.”

Related posts:

1. Teradici to Showcase Latest PCoIP Solutions at VMworld 2011 Europe
2. Teradici APEX 2800 Server Offload Card Now Supporting VMware View 5.0 on ESXi 5.0
3. Teradici Releases Firmware 3.5.0 for PCoIP Zero Clients

VMware ESXi 5.0 combined with View 5.0 improves VDI user experience through a brand new virtual GPU capability, which enables better graphic performance, starting with the 3D/aero features present on Windows 7 OS. However, this new feature is enabled at the cost of increased server CPU utilization. The Teradici APEX 2800 server offload card enables IT managers to reclaim these CPU cycles and eliminate the need to re-architect the VDI environment already in place, all while ensuring a reliable and consistent user experience even as VDI loads change.

The APEX 2800 monitors the activity of all the VMs on the server and dynamically offloads the most active 64 displays, reducing server CPU utilization by up to 50 percent. The card is also fully compatible with VMware DRS and vMotion. By consolidating the number of View users on the same server, and leveraging View Administrator interface for its management, the offload card helps to reduce the overall cost per user.

“With our dedication to developing and providing solutions that highlight and complement the benefits of VMware View deployments, we are pleased to announce full compatibility on ESXi 5.0 with the APEX 2800,” said Trent Punnett, vice president of marketing, Teradici. “We are committed to maintaining full compatibility with future releases of VMware View and vSphere to ensure the APEX 2800 remains future proof for our growing PCoIP-enabled VDI customer base.”

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1. Teradici to Showcase Latest PCoIP Solutions at VMworld 2011 Europe
2. Teradici Releases Firmware 3.5.0 for PCoIP Zero Clients
3. PCoIP comes to the Mac and Linux View Clients

Privacy and security issues are a growing concern as more companies turn to cloud computing and virtualization. Trend Micro SecureCloud provides distinctive data protection for cloud and virtual environments using encryption with policy-based key management and unique server validation. This protection can safely and easily secure sensitive data stored with the Dell Cloud with VMware vCloud Datacenter Service, an enterprise-class Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) hosted in a secure Dell data center.

“Security is a primary concern among customers moving to the cloud. Delivering encryption and key management solutions from Trend Micro enables us to further alleviate our customers’ concerns while addressing important risks of data privacy, security and compliance with an efficient cloud data protection solution,” said Kevin Jones, vice president, Dell Services. “SecureCloud gives customers the tools and peace of mind to move sensitive workloads into Dell’s public cloud.”

The addition of the data encryption service lends oversight and accountability to the secure Dell data center, for either multi-tenant or single-tenant cloud development. The SecureCloud encryption solution is closely integrated with the Dell Cloud with VMware vCloud Datacenter Service, but the encryption keys are managed by Trend Micro and accessible only by Dell customers. This layered approach physically and logically separates the encryption keys from the service provider, thus providing additional security and an essential separation of duties.

“Security is one of the greatest challenges facing public cloud computing and we are pleased to work with companies like Dell that know what it takes to design, build and deploy highly efficient cloud solutions, and are committed to providing the unique needs of the hyperscale computing environment,” said Wael Mohamed, executive vice president of Corporate Strategy and Global Field Operations at Trend Micro. “We are also excited that Dell has selected Trend Micro to be one of its primary security vendors for Dell Cloud Services, further proof that when it comes to cloud security innovation and leadership, Trend Micro is ahead of the game.”

With the rollout of SecureCloud, Dell is ensuring that its cloud customers have access to a cutting-edge data encryption and key management service. By employing Dell SecureWorks’ comprehensive security services, Dell is also making sure that the infrastructure of the data center is protected around the clock from cyber threats.

Dell and Trend Micro hold a strategic relationship across several product lines and business units, from OEM to Cloud services. Dell is one of the largest Trend Micro resellers in the world and the companies’ combined products are used worldwide to help organizations drive efficiency while exchanging digital information safely.

Solution Availability
Dell is currently offering Dell Cloud with VMware vCloud Datacenter Service with Trend Micro SecureCloud services in U.S. data centers. Additional joint product offerings will be available in 2012 leveraging Trend Micro’s industry-leading innovation in virtualization and cloud security solutions built for VMware environments.

Related posts:

1. Trend Micro Broadens Virtualization Security Strategy
2. Trend Micro Launches Endpoint Protection With OfficeScan 10.5
3. Juniper Introduces Virtualized Security for Private and Public Clouds

FlashSoft’s software is targeted for Windows, Linux and VMWare platforms, and will form the basis of a growing ecosystem of SSD-optimized software solutions from SanDisk and third party partners, enabling the configuration of complete solutions optimized for the specialized needs of enterprise and cloud customers.

Data center managers face ongoing challenges in achieving balanced application performance as the underlying system resources process data at different rates. As CPU speeds and memory bandwidth have grown rapidly, I/O bottlenecks have begun limiting application performance as data-starved CPUs must wait for overloaded I/O subsystems to deliver application data.

SSD-based caching solutions allow the most frequently accessed data to reside close to the CPU in high-performance flash memory, resulting in dramatic application performance increases. FlashSoft’s software solutions enable flash products, such as SanDisk’s Lightning® Enterprise SSDs and PCIe-based devices, to be configured as high-performance cache for their HDD storage. This allows customers to improve performance with smaller, more cost effective storage configurations and to deploy more virtual machines per server in virtualized environments. SanDisk’s strategy for serving enterprise and cloud customers includes offering optimized hardware and software solutions, as well as partnering with leading ISVs and solution providers to enable customers to mix and match devices and software to optimize for specialized application requirements.

“The acquisition of FlashSoft represents an important step in SanDisk’s strategy of delivering complete SSD and software solutions to enterprise storage customers,” said Sanjay Mehrotra, president and CEO of SanDisk. “FlashSoft’s software products complement our growing family of SAS, PCIe and SATA Enterprise SSDs, and we are pleased to welcome FlashSoft to the SanDisk family.”

The FlashSoft acquisition is expected to be neutral to SanDisk’s earnings in 2012 and accretive in 2013. Additional details of the acquisition were not released.

About FlashSoft
FlashSoft Corporation provides software solutions for Flash Virtualization™ that enable customers to increase application performance and virtualization capability while reducing hardware and operational costs. Its Active Data Management technology uses sophisticated algorithms to observe IO traffic and cache hot data on server-tier SSDs.

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2. OCZ Technology Acquires SANRAD Inc.
3. Virtustream Acquires Enomaly, Including its Cloud Brokerage and Enablement Software

Fast Forward to January 2012 and Vmware announced deadline for VCP4 and that you must RETAKE training course in order to take the VCP5 exam. That was UNACCEPTABLE. Frankly, in my opinion, Vmware announced the date prematurely but it doesn't matter now that I've cleared both exams. So, I made it a mission to go through the official documents for VCP4 and read the Mastering vSphere 4 book by Scott Lowe, again! I gave the exam early February but failed... I guess, I missed a couple of questions as score was close. I went back to studying and gave the test again and this time I was successful. That was such a confidence booster that I scheduled the VCP5 exam 8 days after the VCP4 and I am glad I passed it the first time. I guess taking a beating and failing an exam a couple of times makes you good at stuff you are suppose to know for the exam?

Tips for passing

• Study the Official VMware Manuals documents
  Now that VCP4 is gone, VCP5 documentation is much better and organized (it could be better though) so just go through each one of those a couple of times and there is no way you can fail (provided that you remember important details from those documents).
• Pay attention to the "Note: or bullets" in the official documents. That stuff is important. I like to write stuff down on paper if I feel its important, helps me remember otherwise its hard to recall.
• I have a great virtualization lab at home and I used it every step of the way! I retired my existing lab servers and got a couple of great Dell PowerEdge 1950 IIIs. I will write more about that later this week or next. In addition to home lab, I work with this stuff at work as well so that is always helpful with some real world scenarios but every environment has its own real world as compared to the real world that Vmware imagines in the exam.
• I bought the Mastering vSphere 4 and Mastering vSphere 5 books by Scott Lowe. GREAT Books. Go through them at least ONCE ( i read the version 4 twice and 5 just once). Scott provides a lot of ideas and information so even if you fail (hope not) you still get away with great info and ideas.
• Another book which I thought was very useful but extremely technical was the VMware vSphere 4.1 HA and DRS Technical deepdive by Duncan Epping and Frank Denneman - Its a good book if you feel like knowing how HA and DRS work from a very technical point of view. I have and read that as well, just once though.
• I used Simon Long's notes/practice exam as well as Forbes Guthrie's notes on vsphere 4 and vsphere 5. Thanks guys!
• I am not a big fan of video based training, it doesn't help me but if you are then David Davis/TrainSignal make some good training videos on Vmware vSphere products. I must have watched whatever they have available for free thats about it.
• The Vmware mock exam is helpful for some but I think its a joke. If you want to spend hour or so thats okay but I wouldn't waste too much time on it. The mock exam doesn't have questions as close to the real exam as possible, the answer explanation are poor or non existent.. its just poor over all.
• READ each question on the exam a couple of times before answering it. It becomes must clearer. If there is time, try to break it up in parts...

That is it from me. I am glad to be VCP4 and VCP5 and wish you good luck if you plan on taking your exam soon. If you have any tips, questions or comments, please share with me or post in our Virtualization Community Forums.

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"Partnering with Pivot3 adds a compelling offering into our existing VMware-based line-card by providing us with the opportunity to deliver simple and affordable desktop modernization to our mid-market VMware View solution providers,” said Chuck Bartlett, Vice President and General Manager of Advanced Infrastructure Solutions (AIS) at Tech Data Corporation. “Our View solution providers will be able to quickly deploy a virtual desktop infrastructure at an attractive price point to both the reseller and the customer.”

"The strength of Tech Data’s partner network and their focus on serving the desktop virtualization mid-market, such as state, local government and education, make them a perfect partner to distribute Pivot3 VDI solutions,” said, Olivier Thierry, CMO of Pivot3. “The mid-market has been clamoring for a View appliance-based solution that has enterprise class features and yet is simple, scalable and affordable.”

TSK a UK based company that delivers high performance workplaces for corporate organizations recently implemented the Pivot3 vSTAC VDI product. Mark Eades, IT manager at TSK commented, "We were very impressed with how well the Pivot3 vSTAC VDI installation went, making our VMware View 5.0 deployment both simple and affordable. It eliminated the complexities and skill levels normally imposed.”

In support of the this partnership, Pivot3 recently announced its VDI Channel Ready program consisting of many unique elements designed to maximize lead opportunity and qualification for Tech Data resellers and solution providers. Beyond the traditional online resources, there are unique online tools for VDI self-configuration and ROI analysis. Additionally, prospects can “Test Drive” a live, hosted 300 to 400 desktop scenario complete with workload simulation, login storms, scale-out of desktops and performance reporting. The Channel Ready program is also designed to eliminate channel conflict and enhance sell-though with all VMware and Microsoft license revenues flowing to the resellers. In addition, deal registration is available to partners.

Product Availability and Pricing
The Pivot3 vSTAC VDI is available now and has already garnered the interest of several leading enterprises across various industries, including healthcare, education, government and financial services. Customer pricing starts at $350 per desktop.

Related posts:

1. Tech Data Partners with VMware to Deliver VMware vSphere 5
2. PCoIP comes to the Mac and Linux View Clients
3. VMware Expands its View, Brings Windows Virtual Desktops to Kindle Fire, Mac and Linux