2X and Virtual Iron announced a strategic alliance to provide a complete Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and Application Publishing Solution.

Desktop computing makes up a large part of the enterprise computing infrastructure today. As distributed end points, desktops are among the most difficult to secure, manage and maintain. Refresh cycles, compliance, ongoing maintenance and user support are huge undertakings. These challenges put IT resources under tremendous pressure and significantly increase total cost of ownership. The 2X / Virtual Iron virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution hosts individual Windows desktop PCs inside virtual machines running on servers in the data center. This thin-client architecture is easier to secure, maintain and support and it enables an organization's complete Windows desktop environment to be securely accessed and serviced centrally.

"Companies using Virtual Iron can take advantage of true server virtualization including intelligent virtual machine mobility, high availability, rapid recovery and performance load balancing," said John Haskins, Managing Director, 2X Software USA/Canada. "2X Software's ApplicationServer and Loadbalancer, is the perfect complement to Virtual Iron. It provides a cost effective connection broker to deliver virtualized desktops and published applications to end users."

The joint solution enables a fully isolated, customizable and secure environment where users are able to work with standard desktop operating systems and applications. Virtual desktops can be user-customized and provisioned on demand instantly, providing performance and user experience that are comparable to a desktop personal computer. This allows enterprises to replace physical desktops with virtual desktops for many usage scenarios such as call centers, offshore development, and secure, remote access. The benefits of VDI are numerous, these include:

• reduced hardware and software costs
• reduced IT support costs
• streamlined upgrade path for faster adoption of new software; i.e. Microsoft Vista
• increased IT staff productivity and reduced employee downtime
• reduced power and cooling requirements
• increased data and IP security

   "Server hosted virtual desktops bring the true power and flexibility of virtualization to the desktop for the first time," said Tony Asaro, chief strategy officer at Virtual Iron. "Combining 2X Software's desktop brokering and thin client display solutions with Virtual Iron's server virtualization allows organizations of all sizes to gain the benefits of desktop provisioning and business continuity."