While the cloud may be dominating the talk at VMware's VMworld keynotes, many companies have their feet firmly on the ground with client-related announcements.
Dell will be bundling VMware View on Latitude and OptiPlex desktop systems to help spur use of the virtualisation system in businesses, as part of its flexible computing strategy.
IBM also announced the availability of its Smart Business Desktop via the cloud. The virtual desktop system will be available from next month in the US as well as Europe.
RTO Software
A partnership between RTO Software and VMware will see the former's Virtual Profile technology integrated into VMware View, letting IT admins manage profiles while users get a more secure, personalised experience.
The virtualisation giant is looking to break up the software side of client, splitting out the OS from applications and even specific profiles.
In other words, a virtual machine culd run on a piece of hardware - be it a thin client or a laptop - and hold the operating system, as well as a "bubble" of applications, using VMware's ThinApp. That helps reduce costs associated with management.
Under a new partnership, the "personality" piece - the settings, drivers and other bits that a user changes to personalise a client - will be controlled using RTO Software.
PCoIP
VMware also unveiled details of its PC over IP (PCoIP) system, a software-only protocol for delivering client computing over networks. Herrod said PCoIP was currently in beta, but would ship later this year.
While it's a software-based system, manufacturers will have the option of using hardware acceleration to increase performance, according to Herrod.
VMware partners Terradici and Wyse announced support for the system, with the former launching a new PCoIP hardware zero client solution.
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