Unidesk has announced the availability of Unidesk® 3.0, which extends the Windows Server and Hyper-V platform to provide more efficient, scalable management of the Microsoft VDI experience. Enterprises looking to host desktops and applications in their private clouds using Hyper-V and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) can now simplify application deployment, eliminate image sprawl, offer persistent personalization and achieve scalable management of VDI users, desktops, and collections.

VDI Challenges and Hyper-V Growth Drive Demand for Layering Innovation

Unidesk 3.0 is arriving at just the right time. Complexity and application delivery challenges are two of the top issues that have limited VDI deployments. Organizations looking to host desktops on the Microsoft virtualization platform now have a solution to overcome both challenges.

"According to the latest IDC research, Hyper-V units were on track to capture one third of the x86 hypervisor deployments in 2014,” said Robert Young, Research Manager, Cloud & Virtualization System Software, IDC. “Solutions like Unidesk that make it easier to virtualize desktop workloads on Hyper-V could accelerate that growth. For companies looking to overcome the cost and complexity challenges that have hindered VDI adoption to date, Unidesk for Hyper-V is a solution that should be explored.”

Unidesk for Hyper-V Features and Benefits

As the pioneer in layering technology, Unidesk enables Windows operating systems, applications and personalization to be delivered and managed from a central installation point as modular virtual disks.  This singular ability to virtualize every component of the desktop above the hypervisor -- market-proven with more than 1,000 customers -- bolsters Microsoft VDI with powerful new capabilities:

  • Application layering: Deliver applications to any number of desktops from a single installation point as shared, read-only virtual disks (VHDs); layered applications look and feel as if they are locally installed for full interoperability.
  • Windows OS layering: Capture Windows operating systems as read-only virtual disks that can be assigned to all VMs as a base OS layer; eliminates image sprawl for simple, efficient patching and compliance.
  • Desktop provisioning: Create custom persistent (personal) and non-persistent (pooled) virtual desktops on Hyper-V quickly and easily using the same OS and application layer building blocks.
  • Persistent personalization: Overcome VDI acceptance issues with Personalization layers -- writable virtual disks that capture all settings, data, plug-ins, and user-installed applications.
  • Storage optimization: Reduce space requirements and the total cost of VDI by sharing the same OS and application layer virtual disks across multiple VMs.
  • Microsoft RDS integration: Create and manage RDS collections directly, eliminating the need to write PowerShell scripts to scale RDS. Provision, patch, and update thousands of desktops by user, desktop, collection, or Active Directory attribute.
  • Citrix XenDesktop integration: Provision desktops into XenDesktop catalogs and groups to bring all of the benefits of Unidesk layering to Citrix XenDesktop deployments on Hyper-V.

“Unidesk’s innovative layering technology for Microsoft VDI takes the delivery and the management of virtualized Windows desktops and applications to a new level,” said Andrew Conway, Senior Director, Microsoft Enterprise Mobility. “We are excited to welcome Unidesk to our partner ecosystem as they bring great new capabilities to businesses of all sizes that are deploying remote desktops and apps.”

Support for Unidesk 3.0
“We are a long-time customer of Unidesk, with all of our personalized virtual desktops created from one Windows layer and 60 application layers,” said Chris Mertens, Director of Information Technology, Hamilton County Government, Indiana. “We’re planning to move to Hyper-V this year to make optimal use of the value and flexibility of the Microsoft virtualization platform. Given the desktop and application management efficiencies we’ve seen from layering, knowing Unidesk is available for Microsoft VDI made the decision to move to Hyper-V a lot easier.”

 

This article was originally posted “Unidesk Unveils Unidesk 3.0” from Cloud Strategy Magazine.