There's been some controversy about the legitimacy of the desktop virtualization market, and even VMware CEO and president Paul Maritz said it's more a journey than a destination. The company has more than a million desktops virtualized across 7,000 customers, but with more than 500 million desktops globally, that's just a drop in the bucket. "We are still investing very heavily in desktop virtualization. But it's not going to happen overnight."

As part of its journey, VMware signed an OEM agreement with RTO Software to integrate its Virtual Profiles technology with VMware View desktop virtualization solution. The integrated offering will provide comprehensive user personality management and will enable View customers to dynamically provision users, together with their profile, applications and data, across networks and devices.

According to Chris Wolf, senior analyst, Burton Group, profile virtualization an important and necessary part of all virtualized desktop. "Efficient, dynamic virtual desktop environmentsbacked by platforms that intelligently combine desktop, application, and profile virtualizationprovide a foundation for improved user productivity, increased self-service, and lower IT operational expenses. Vendors that deliver such solutions are well-positioned for significant growth in 2010."

VMware also made partnering news with HP and Dell. The HP Insight Control for VMware vCenter Server will enable customers to manage both physical and virtual infrastructure through the VMware vCenter console. This combines two industry-leading management solutions to offer customers the best of both worlds through 'single-pane-of-glass' infrastructure management, said Raghu Raghuram, VP and GM, Server Business Unit, VMware. "The solution will help customers manage virtualized environments more easily, with familiar tools that their IT staff has been trained on. At the same time, customers will be able to improve operational efficiencies by spending less time on maintenance issues and more time building out solutions that will help increase revenue."

HP Insight Control customers are entitled to the VMware vCenter integrations when they purchase an HP Insight Control license. Pricing starts at $349 per server and the software is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2010.

The Dell announcement was about a partnership expansion where Dell will bundle VMware View as an option on select server and client platforms. The intent is to establish a one-stop shop for companies looking to take advantage of the benefits of virtualization that encompasses an end-to-end solution from the desktop to the data center as a foundation for cloud computing. Dell will also offer services to help customers with the initial scoping, design, implementation, ongoing support, and management of these solutions, including monitoring and reporting performance and capacity issues in real-time.

"A comprehensive datacenter solution combining Dell technology and VMware View gives our customers an easy-to-deploy virtualization solution that provides outstanding flexibility, reliability, efficiency and security for managing end-to-end, from the desktops to the datacenter," says Todd Forsythe, VP of Business Client Product Marketing for Dell. "And when coupled with Dell services specifically designed to help companies with the virtualization process, Dell is clearly the vendor of choice for companies interested in proven virtualization products and strategies."

EMC jumped on the cloud bandwagon with a 'breakthrough approach' to speeding the transition to private cloud with a suite of more than 30 new services and solutions. The new services and solutions, encompassing consulting, technology integration, resident, and education services offerings, along with a full suite of EMC Proven Solutions, will help customers dealing with such issues as backup and recovery, business continuity, disaster recovery, management, and the transition of tier 1 applications to the virtual infrastructure.

And finally, RSA--the security division of EMC--released a brief titled "Security Compliance in a Virtual World," featuring best practices for organizations faced with proving compliance in virtualized environments. It offers practical guidance for establishing a solid foundation to mitigate risk and address compliance with various regulations, industry standards and internal policies in the context of virtual infrastructures.

According to Jon Oltsik, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group, maintaining compliance in a virtualized environment requires the business to understand the impact of this new system on the overall IT risk management program."EMC and VMware are in a unique position to offer sound advice for how organizations can best achieve and maintain compliance in virtualized environments."  

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