Web 2.0: Article Citrix Buys Virtual Computer It means to combine the acquisition’s NxTop widgetry with its XenClient hypervisor

BY MAUREEN O'GARA ARTICLE RATING: Select ratingGive it 1/5Give it 2/5Give it 3/5Give it 4/5Give it 5/5 GIVE IT 1/5 GIVE IT 2/5 GIVE IT 3/5 GIVE IT 4/5 GIVE IT 5/5 MAY 20, 2012 12:00 PM EDT READS: 1,025 Citrix has acquired Virtual Computer, a little Massachusetts outfit with enterprise-scale management solutions for client-side virtualization. It means to combine the acquisition's NxTop widgetry with its XenClient hypervisor to create a new Citrix XenClient Enterprise edition that can manage "large fleets" of corporate laptops across a distributed enterprise and give users a virtual desktop "to go." It's due this quarter as a standalone product at a reported $175 a user. Citrix said it's getting the management piece faster by buying it. Virtual Computer has historically focused on solutions for Xen-based client hypervisors. Its technology includes backup, disaster recovery, provisioning, security and monitoring capabilities. The merger also promises greater integration between XenClient and XenDesktop. Citrix Announces XenClient Enterprise and Acquisition of Virtual Computer New Offering Combines Power of XenClient Hypervisor with Enterprise-Class Management of Virtual Computer San Francisco, CA » 5/9/2012 » Today, at Citrix Synergy™, the conference where mobile workstyles and cloud services meet, Citrix announced the acquisition of Virtual Computer, provider of enterprise-scale management solutions for client-side virtualization. Citrix will combine the newly-acquired Virtual Computer technology with its market-leading XenClient® hypervisor to create the new Citrix XenClient Enterprise edition. The new XenClient Enterprise will combine all the power of the XenClient hypervisor with a rich set of management functionality designed to help enterprise customers manage large fleets of corporate laptops across a distributed enterprise. The combined solution will give corporate laptop users the power of virtual desktops “to go”, while making it far more secure and cost-effective for IT to manage thousands of corporate laptops across today’s increasingly mobile enterprise. The number of highly mobile workers as a segment of total employees is growing dramatically. IDC expects that by 2015 they are expected to make up nearly 40 percent of the workforce*. As a result, the number of laptops used by professional workers is exploding. Industry analysts see the growth in mobile devices like tablets and smartphones as complementary to PCs, making it more important than ever to have a holistic, enterprise-wide desktop virtualization strategy that enables anywhere, anytime access to desktops, applications and data from any device. IT will continue to invest in laptops for mobile and office-based workers, and must address the deployment, management and security challenges that go with these devices, while faced with the added demands mobile devices introduce to the enterprise.