Posted by Tom Rose on Tue, Sep 07, 2010 @ 09:28 PM
What a difference a year makes! At VMworld 2009, we gave demos of our pre-Beta software on air hockey tables in the VMworld Virtual Pavilion. A handful of attendees saw how desktop layering technology enables Unidesk to transcend profile management with 100% personalization; package and deliver any application (even the ones application virtualization can't); provision and patch Windows itself; and cut VDI storage use up to 70% - all in one solution.
This year at VMworld 2010, we demonstrated in our own booth why customers are rapidly adopting Unidesk 1.0 as the VDI management companion to VMware View, Citrix XenDesktop, Pano Logic, and other VDI access solutions.
Here's Unidesk booth #1727 just before the show started.
Video screens provided animated messaging supporting our "VDI, Better" theme, with the 2 lower screens also serving as extra demo stations. Combined with the big monitor in front, we had 3 demo stations in total. And we needed them all to meet demand, as you can see from this picture taken after the Expo opened:
We asked the IT admins who visited our booth what made them stop. Some heard about us from partners such as Fusion-io, INX, Pano Logic, and VMware. But the most common answer was "I saw 'VDI, Better' and wanted to know what you do." Whether they were from law offices, colleges, health care companies, government agencies, insurance companies, financial institutions, or other organizations trying to implement VDI, they all reported the same challenges:
- User experience: "For VDI to really succeed, we need to give our end users a virtual desktop that will look and feel like their own, and sustain their profile settings, applications, plug-ins, data, and any other customizations they make."
- Cost: "We can't afford to create persistent virtual desktops for every user because the storage costs are too high, and we don't get any of the OpEx benefits of single image management."
- Complexity: "We've been led to believe we need profile management, application virtualization, O/S provisioning, and storage deduplication in addition to our connection broker if we want to extend VDI to more than just task workers. Which category does Unidesk fit in?"
That's why we configured the Unidesk booth with 3 demo stations! Without exception, everyone wanted to see how one management solution - paired with their favorite broker - could help them overcome their biggest VDI hurdles.
If you missed VMworld (or missed us), you can still see the demo. Those of you who are short on time can opt for the Quick 4 minute version. If you have more time, check out the full 30 minute version. Or, join the many organizations who are now piloting Unidesk, and request your free evaluation.
Last year we said "we can't wait until VMworld 2010 when we’ll be out of stealth, off the air hockey tables, and on the exhibit floor." Mission accomplished! Now, we can't wait until VMworld 2011 - when we'll be back with a bigger Unidesk presence!
-Tom Rose
Unidesk CMO
Posted by Tom Rose on Tue, Jul 20, 2010 @ 10:15 AM
Unidesk sponsored last week's Wisconsin VMware Users Group meeting in Madison, with Ron Oglesby presenting "Implementing VMware View and VDI - Strategies for Success." Over 100 people attended, indicating the strong interest in desktop virtualization, and the need for help when implementing a VDI access solution such as View.
Ron's discussion of the user adoption, management, and storage challenges struck a chord with the 10% who said they had already implemented VDI, the 40% who are currently in pilot, and the rest who are thinking about it.
Here are a few of the tweets:
@timcurless Really great and entertaining VDI preso from @RonOglesby! Very applicable to what we're doing. Thanks Ron and @wivmug
@EricSelje I will sit through just about anything to win an iPad, but that was *great* content yesterday. I learned a ton.
@banksz This last one probably would have come in handy as we are considering attempting to implement View
@nelmedia Another great WI VMUG yesterday. Great to see you again Ron & thx to @Unidesk for the iPad giveaway.
Here's Ron presenting, nice of Promega Corp to let us use their state of the art facility.
Congratulations to Nathan Scheunnaman of Wonderbox who was the lucky winner of our iPad give away.
Big thanks to Rod Gabriel (@ThatFridgeGuy), WI-VMUG leader, for inviting us and for his feedback on Ron's session: "Overall, among the best overall quality of all presentations. I got a lot of very good feedback from attendees. I'd be happy to work with you again and would recommend you to any other VMUG looking for sponsors that provide quality content."
And thanks to all who attended, especially those who have already downloaded Unidesk and are starting to pilot us with VMware View!
-Tom Rose
Unidesk Chief Marketing Officer