Dell-Quest deal will strengthen Dell enterprise services and force shakeout in desktop virtualization market

According to Bloomberg News Dell is in discussions to acquire Quest Software in a bid to strengthen its enterprise software services portfolio. Dell has been shopping, with five acquisitions announced so far this year, to add software, computer storage and networking gear to its lineup of PCs, which account for 52% of its sales. With PC sales flat and margins thin, Dell has been seeking to broaden its services portfolio and directly challenge HP which has suffered multiple missteps in recent months.

News: VMware Welcomes Wanova – Is it a Mirage – does VMware finally get desktops?

VMware have announced the upcoming acquisition of Wanova. The combination of VMware View and Wanova Mirage will be an an industry first pairing that could well dramatically redefine the VDI market. It is increasingly common to find vendors acknowledging that a VDI-only solution is not enough. Citrix know it. Quest know it. Desktone know it. We’ve critiqued before that by having a VDI only view, VMware doesn’t “get” desktops. With their Wanova acquisition VMware gets desktops.

Liquidware enhance ProfileUnity with FlexApp: User Installed Apps – What's in a name?

Liquidware Labs ProfileUnity 5.0 with FlexApp offers an option for user-installed applications (UIA) technology. This new feature offers VDI users the option to seamlessly install their own applications into any non-persistent Windows environment without affecting master images or underlying systems. We take a look what FlexApp delivers, where it is headed and consider it in the context of Citrix Personal vDisks and AppSense StrataApps

Next Generation Thin Clients – Cheaper, Faster, Better

The cost of a VDI desktop dropped again last week with the release of a new low-cost thin clients that increasingly blur the boundaries between the cost of physical and virtual desktops, creating new opportunities for growth in a market segment that is struggling to reach more than 5% of enterprise desktops.

And then there were three – NxTop Enterprise morphs to XenClient Enterprise

How will Citrix acquisition of NxTop impact VARs and users? How will XenClient will be marketed longer term. Looks like Citrix will embrace IDV as there is a wider market share, and an admission that VDI will never be the sole solution: hybrid solutions are key to capturing as wide a desktop market share as possible.

Citrix acquires client hypervisor leader Virtual Computer

Citrix has acquired client hypervisor segment leader Virtual Computer. Citrix now has a new client hypervisor solution XenClient Enterprise featuring extremely strong management capabilities. Integration with Citrix’s existing client hypervisor is sure to come, providing customers with the best of both worlds.