Citrix, Dell partner on new simple VDI appliance for the mass market

Citrix Systems and Dell have announced that they have teamed up to deliver a new VDI appliance that radically simplifies and accelerates desktop virtualization deployments for the mass market. The Dell DVS Simplified solution with Citrix VDI-in-a-Box is an easy, repeatable solution that will be sold through Dell's global sales team and channels.

"We are seeing tremendous customer and partner momentum with Citrix VDI-in-a-Box as SMBs and departments within enterprises seek to capitalize on the benefits of delivering IT services from the cloud by virtualizing desktops," said Krishna Subramanian, Vice President, Marketing & Business Development, SMB Solutions, Citrix. "Our relationship with Dell and the new integrated VDI appliance is aimed at making the transition to the cloud a no-brainer for our mutual customers, ultimately breaking down the barriers to VDI adoption for this very important customer segment through a repeatable, simple, affordable and predictable hardware VDI solution.

"Leveraging the all-in-one Citrix VDI-in-a-Box software, the new integrated hardware VDI appliance is pre-certified to support defined numbers of desktops. There is no need to determine how much disk, CPU and RAM to use. Simply unpack the box, power it on and go. Built on the VDI-in-a-Box grid architecture, adding virtual desktops is as simple as adding appliances like building blocks, and high-availability is built-in.

Based on the unique VDI-in-a-Box grid architecture running on Dell servers, the Dell DVS Simplified VDI appliance can be easily installed to create and rapidly scale a virtual desktop deployment in response to business needs. This makes VDI easily consumable by light IT organizations that may have previously lacked the resources and datacenter infrastructure needed for desktop virtualization.

"Dell's DVS Simplified dramatically reduces VDI deployment complexity, with nothing to architect, configure or install - simply power it on and go," said Steve Lalla, Vice President and General Manager of Dell's Mobility Products and Solutions. "What's more, the solution enables businesses of all sizes to realize the benefits of central desktop management that were previously reserved only for the largest enterprises.

"The VDI appliance is backed by a full Citrix Ready verified ecosystem, providing customers with tested and validated workforce mobility solutions, supporting over one billion devices, including PCs, Macs, thin clients, tablets, smartphones, along with peripherals such as web cams, printers, mice and keyboards.

Citrix has launched a comprehensive, self-paced 4-hour technical training curriculum for VDI-in-a-Box available free of charge to qualified partners. Over 1,000 partners have already taken the sales training curriculum for VDI-in-a-Box in the first few weeks of availability. The comprehensive partner sales and technical training is designed to enable the Citrix partner ecosystem to sell to and support the rapidly growing customer base for easy, affordable desktop virtualization with Citrix VDI-in-a-Box.

Source: http://www.echannelline.com/usa/story.cfm?item=27554