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VMware Strengthens End User Computing Strategy, Introduces New Products and Partnership to Drive IT as a Service

 

VMware Strengthens End User Computing Strategy, Introduces New Products and Partnership to Drive IT as a Service

Siemens and VMware Ink Hosted Desktop Pact for VMware View 4.5-based Service Offering; VMware View 4.5 Dramatically Lowers Datacenter Acquisition Costs for Virtual Desktops – Delivers First Sub-$300 Price Point; New Zimbra Desktop 2.0 Delivers Offline Access to Zimbra Collaboration Suite While Integrating New Social Tools

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Oct. 12, 2010 — Today at VMworld 2010 Europe, VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), the global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, advanced its vision for the future of end user computing with new products and a partnership to help organizations evolve their legacy desktop computing environments to a more modern, user-centric application and data delivery model.

Introduced at VMworld 2010 in San Francisco, IT as a Service is the transformation of IT to a more business-centric approach, focusing on outcomes such as operational efficiency, competitiveness and rapid response. This means IT shifts from producing IT services to optimizing production and consumption of those services in ways consistent with business requirements. This changes the role of IT from a cost center to a center of strategic value.

”Desktop computing is rapidly moving to a world focused on connecting end users to critical data and applications they need via any device at the edge of the cloud,” said Vittorio Viarengo, vice president, End User Computing products, VMware. “Enterprises today are seeking a path forward from a decades-old PC-centric architecture to a model that enables users to be more productive while more effectively managing the growing portfolio of devices, data and applications. VMware is uniquely positioned to help enterprises unlock the value of their existing end user investments while architecting a more flexible, more powerful model that serves the needs of end users and the business for decades to come.”

Advancing an Evolutionary Approach to End User Computing

The VMware End User Computing strategy delivers solutions for enterprises to evolve their PC-centric environments to a more modern architecture that leverages cloud computing to deliver applications and data to end users when and where they need it. Announced in August at VMworld 2010 in San Francisco, VMware View™ 4.5, VMware ThinApp™ 4.6, VMware vShield™ Endpoint, Zimbra Appliance and VMware’s Desktop Infrastructure Service provide a foundation for a new way of addressing the two fundamental client computing challenges, enabling secure data access to an increasingly mobile workforce and managing the burgeoning diversity of data, applications and client devices needed to run their businesses.

Also in August, VMware previewed and demonstrated Project Horizon, a cloud-based management service that securely extends enterprise identities into the cloud to provide new methods for provisioning and managing applications and data based on the user, not the device or underlying operating system.

Today, VMware continues to build on this model, introducing:

  • Siemens selects VMware View 4.5 to deliver hosted virtual desktop Service
    Siemens IT Solutions and Services and VMware today announced an agreement to jointly develop, market and deploy new, hosted virtual desktop services based on VMware View 4.5.

VMware View 4.5 is a complete virtual desktop solution that enables enterprises to improve security, lower operating costs, and simplify desktop administration and management by establishing a modern, end user computing architecture that is centrally hosted and managed while being delivered to users across the broadest set of devices. Siemens, one of the world’s leading providers of managed client infrastructures, will use VMware View 4.5 to establish a hosted desktop environment enabling its enterprise IT customers to provide secure, real-time access to enterprise desktops from any device while significantly reducing the ongoing costs of desktop management.

“Siemens IT Solutions and Services will provide premium, hosted virtual desktop services to enterprises of all sizes based on VMware View™ 4.5,” said Ralf Eichler, vice president, Portfolio and Innovation, Siemens IT Solutions and Services. “Thanks to our agreement with VMware, our hosted virtual desktops will provide a more compelling user experience than traditional desktops while enabling our customers to rapidly deploy, manage and secure large-scale desktop infrastructures in minutes. Perhaps most compelling for our customers is the reduced capital and operational expenses associated with large-scale client infrastructures.”

  • VMware View 4.5 achieves acquisition cost savings with first sub-$300 stateless desktops
    Outlined in a Reference Architecture Brief announced in August at VMworld 2010 in San Francisco, VMware continues to rewrite the economics of VDI deployment thanks to the tiered storage enhancements of VMware View 4.5 and the company’s broad ecosystem of infrastructure partners. Acquisition cost is frequently cited as an inhibitor to virtual desktop adoption. Validated in a white paper commissioned by VMware and published by Enterprises Management Associates, enterprises leveraging existing client devices can now deploy a secure, flexible, highly responsive and stateless virtual desktop at a datacenter infrastructure cost under $242 per user, more than 60 percent lower than previously published architectures.

Available today, the full reference architecture includes detailed validation for a deployment of 1,000 desktops. Download the reference architecture titled VMware Reference Architecture for Stateless Virtual Desktops with VMware View 4.5.

  • Zimbra™ Desktop 2.0 enhances end user collaboration experience with offline access
    Available now, Zimbra Desktop 2.0 extends the power of Software as a Service (SaaS)-based collaboration to the desktop with an unparalleled end user experience that works across many different platforms. Zimbra Desktop 2.0 is designed to give Zimbra Collaboration Suite users customizable offline access to their email, contacts, calendar and document management features in one central place. Moreover, Zimbra Desktop 2.0 operates consistently across all platforms (Windows, Mac and Linux) and provides a unified offline solution for businesses with multiple operating systems for end users.

Additionally, Desktop 2.0 brings a new level of manageability and integration to the world of SaaS-based applications by enabling users and administrators to download Zimlets directly to their desktop client. Zimlets seamlessly integrate Zimbra’s collaboration experience with third-party, SaaS-based data sources to create new "mash-up" user interfaces within a user’s email and collaboration environment.

The new Social Zimlet in Desktop 2.0 integrates updates from Twitter, Facebook, Digg and other social networks. With more than 100 Zimlets available for download, features such as translation, CRM, photos, maps and online meeting management can be easily added to the desktop client.  Additional information on VMware Zimbra Desktop 2.0 can be found at http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vmworld/vmware-zimbra-desktop2.0-en.pdf.

Pricing and Availability

Zimbra Desktop 2.0 is generally available today worldwide as a free-of-charge download in 12 languages, including: Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.

Additional Resources

About VMworld 2010 Europe

VMworld 2010 Europe builds on the theme of “Virtual Roads, Actual Clouds” laid out at VMworld 2010 in San Francisco in August. The European event will feature more than 115 unique breakout sessions from VMware and its ecosystem of partners and customers that are driving innovation in virtualization and cloud computing. More than 113 sponsors and exhibitors are supporting the conference including Global Diamond sponsors Cisco, Dell, EMC and NetApp; Global Platinum sponsors HP and Intel; and Platinum sponsors CA Technologies, Fujitsu, IBM, Mitel, Symantec, VCE and Wyse. Leading off the General Session keynote is VMware President and CEO Paul Maritz and CTO and Senior Vice President of R&D Steve Herrod on Tuesday, October 12 at 9 a.m. CEST (3 a.m. EST). An archived version of the presentation will be available that same day by 9 a.m. EST at http://www.vmware.com/go/vmworld-generalsession.

About VMware

VMware delivers virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions that enable IT organizations to energize businesses of all sizes. With the industry leading virtualization platform – VMware vSphere™ – customers rely on VMware to reduce capital and operating expenses, improve agility, ensure business continuity, strengthen security and go green. With 2009 revenues of $2.9 billion, more than 190,000 customers and 25,000 partners, VMware is the leader in virtualization which consistently ranks as a top priority among CIOs. VMware is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the world and can be found online at www.vmware.com

VMware, VMware ThinApp, VMware View, VMware vShield, VMware vSphere, VMworld and Zimbra are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. The use of the word “partner” or “partnership” does not imply a legal partnership relationship between VMware and any other company.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements including, among other things, statements regarding the future of end-user computing and IT as a Service, expectations for the evolution of desktop computing environments and user demands, new product availability, our future Horizon technology and future benefits that can be achieved by customers.  These forward-looking statements are subject to the safe harbor provisions created by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risk factors, including but not limited to: (i) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions; (ii) delays or reductions in consumer or information technology spending; (iii) competitive factors, including but not limited to pricing pressures, industry consolidation, entry of new competitors into the virtualization market, and new product and marketing initiatives by our competitors; (iv) our customers’ ability to develop, and to transition to, new products and computing strategies such as cloud computing and IT-as-a-service, (v) the uncertainty of customer acceptance of emerging technology; (vi) rapid technological and market changes in virtualization software and platforms for cloud and desktop computing; (vii) changes to product development timelines; (viii) our ability to protect our proprietary technology; (ix) our ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees; and (x) the successful integration of acquired companies and assets into VMware. These forward looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to uncertainties and changes in condition, significance, value and effect as well as other risks detailed in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K that we may file from time to time, which could cause actual results to vary from expectations. VMware assumes no obligation to, and does not currently intend to, update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release.