Cisco and Citrix team up for desktop virtualisation

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Cisco and Citrix have come together to offer a new desktop virtualisation solution, designed to make it easier to deploy high-definition virtual desktops across a business.

The partners claimed this is the first such product to offer software, hardware and support in one desktop virutualisation solution.

The system incorporates Cisco’s Unified Computing System (UCS), which brings together computing, networking, storage access and virtualisation onto a single data centre platform.

This is combined with Citrix’s XenDesktop virtualisation software, which was released just last month.

As for what direct benefits customers can expect, the package offers a number of preconfigured service profiles for shared desktops, to speed up installation and configuration when installing and configuring XenDesktop with the Cisco UCS.

A Starter Kit lets customers get going with the first 300 virtual desktops, while Expansion Kits mean customers can scale up from there in a plug-and-play way.

Adopting an “open” approach, the solution supports a number of leading hypervisors, including Citrix XenServer and VMware vSphere from today, and Microsoft’s Hyper-V at some point in the “near future.”

Cisco and Citrix service teams, meanwhile, are cross-training to provide greater support for customers.

“The combined solution we’re announcing today represents a significant milestone in delivering on our vision to simplify desktop computing for enterprises around the world,” said Gordon Payne, senior vice president and general manager for the desktop division at Citrix.

IT services company CSC has said it will leverage the solution to provide big desktop virtualisation deployments for customers.

“We find this solution compelling for its ability to support large-scale implementations with lower cost and ability to scale,” said John Ryan, vice president and global portfolio executive for CSC’s managed services sector.

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