Startup Wanova Launches Distributed Desktop Virtualization
Wanova is a software virtualization company that’s making some ripples in the big virtualization pool. Launching today comes some new Distributed Desktop Virtualization software and it’s designed to cut costs and be future proof. Does that sound too good to be true? Here’s the deal on the new offering…
Wanova is making some waves with Wanova Mirage, a “Distributed Desktop Virtualization” solution. Like many of these solutions, they’re designed for IT professionals or channel partners to help centrally manage virtual desktops, while “protecting the remote connection” between the mobile PC or end-user device. And the reason for this solution? Well…
Wanova says that laptops have outpaced desktops in the enterprise market, but the virtualization technology hasn’t caught up to take advantage of remote users. They noted that, according to Gartner, managing mobile users is going to become a cost-heavy priority by 2015.
If/when that urgent need surfaces, Wanova Mirage wants to ease the transition. You can automatically back up, restore remote users, migrate hardware and maintain security compliance. The goal, of course, is to reduce that projected cost of IT support (which is a little more than $7,000 a year per notebook computer.) Wanova plans on doing that by charging customers $210 an “endpoint” and it’ll drop off as your volume increases.
So what are the features that makes Mirage stand out?
Mirage takes a unique approach to desktop virtualization, by ‘layering each desktop’ into 3 components. First, it’s your standard base, clean, spiffed up, driver-ready core OS image, apps included. Then, it’s a ‘layer’ of personalization, your own coat of paint, if you will. Your personal applications live here, and so does the machines ‘state’. And lastly, you’ve got your user layer, which is your physical files and data. The virtualization sandwich — as it were — is dubbed the “Centralized Virtual Desktop” or CVD for short. CVDs are hardware agnostic, which means you can move them around. And that means fast deployment, in minutes.
The press release offers some interesting uses like…
- Hardware Migration: If a user needs to move to a new computer – even one from a different manufacturer – the CVD can be transferred to the new device, and the user can be up and running in minutes with full personalization and all previously installed applications.
- Single-Image Management: IT can manage, patch and ensure compliance with one Base Image, which can be easily deployed and continually enforced to hundreds of endpoints, while retaining user personalization. Offline users will be automatically updated when they reconnect.
- Business Continuity: IT can load a CVD into a physical or virtual machine for troubleshooting, or re-image an endpoint in minutes instead of hours or days, without deleting user-installed applications or settings.
- Data Protection: Because the primary copy of the entire desktop contents resides in the datacenter, organizations can easily create backups, with snapshots for point-in-time restores. Desktop streaming delivers a snapshot to a broken endpoint and has the end user up and running in minutes. End users can also restore single files themselves, further reducing support costs, and companies retain employees’ valuable data even when they leave.
Obviously, the uses don’t stop there, but you get the idea. This is virtualization doing what it should be doing, making life easier.
Wanova Mirage has potential. Be on the look out. We will.
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