VMware View 4 Speeds Up Desktop Virtualization

VMware has unveiled a faster, more scalable version of its VMware View desktop virtualization software.

The company's new VMware View 4 helps cut the cost of desktop virtualization while increasing the user experience and management capabilities, said Ben Matheson, senior director of global partner marketing for the vendor.

The first major change in VMware View 4 is a new protocol, PC over IP, or PCoIP aimed at increasing the performance of virtual desktops.

"It provides a much richer user experience for users over the network," said Matheson. "In the past, the performance of virtual desktops was not what people expected. For instance, someone moves a mouse, but sees a delay in the cursor. PCoIP removes this delay."

PCoIP works by understanding a customer's network and then compressing and encoding information relevant to the user's endpoint, Matheson said. This allows a boost in the refresh rate of the virtual desktop image.

PCoIP is a proprietary, patent-pending technology of VMware. Matheson refused to say whether VMware would open that technology to other vendors or not.

VMware View 4 also adds support for VMware's vSphere 4.

That support allows it to take advantage of vSphere's increased fault tolerance and scalability to run up to 1,000 virtual desktops per server host, or manage up to 10,000 virtual desktops with one management console, Matheson said.

Also new with VMware View 4.0 is a simplified sign-on which allows a user to sign on to both his or her local machine and remote desktop in one step instead of two, Matheson said.

VMware View 4 is scheduled to start shipping on November 16. It is priced the same as the current version of View.

VMware View Enterprise edition is priced at $150 per concurrent connection, and includes vSphere 4 and the View Manager connection broker. The VMware View Premier edition is priced at $250 per concurrent user, which also includes VMware's ThinApp application virtualization software and View Composer, which links virtual desktop images together to reduce storage costs.

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