Till now, virtualization software has been concerned mostly with server consolidation in the data center. Last week, virtualization market leader VMware said it's ready to virtualize corporate desktops as well.

Some vendors already market desktop virtualization technology, including Virtual PC and Virtual Server from Microsoft, the Workstation virtual engine from Parallels, and Virtuozzo from SWsoft. But VMware proposes virtualizing hundreds or thousands of desktops, instead of a few at a time, and managing them from a central console.

In doing so, VMware is falling into step behind a partner, Hewlett-Packard, which announced its Virtual Desktop Infrastructure in November. HP's desktop virtualization is based on VMware's virtual machine technology and its own Consolidated Client Infrastructure, its central server for managing many clients.

But there's a difference. HP streams virtualized applications that are running on a central server to desktops over the network, the same way Salesforce.com streams sales force automation applications off an Internet server to its remote customers. But VMware's ACE 2 Enterprise edition moves a complete set of virtualized desktop files over the network, including the end user's operating system, applications, and related data, which then run on the receiving user's computer, whether desktop or laptop. The desktop environment runs inside VMware's Workstation 6 virtual engine, along with an IT "wrapper" that determines who can use the machine and what privileges he or she has. That becomes an added layer of security that prevents the data on a lost or stolen laptop from being accessed by an unknown party.

In an era of changing employee relationships, IT must provide contract workers with computing tools, but it must also "limit their access to sections of the company or corporate network," notes Pund-IT analyst Charles King. Virtual end user machines may be part of the answer. "You have centralized control over how virtual machines behave," says Jerry Chen, VMware's director of enterprise desktops.

POCKET FULL OF FILES
Microsoft might have something similar in mind as it works to combine its Virtual PC and Virtual Server engine with the application-virtualizing software it acquired from Softricity last year. Similar to HP's approach, Softricity streams desktop applications running on a central server to the user. Microsoft hasn't announced a product like VMware's ACE 2 yet.

	VMware ACE 2
	BIG NUMBERS Virtualizes hundreds or thousands of PCs and note books
	COMPLETE PACKAGE Sends a set of virtualized files over the network, including operating system and desktop apps
	REMOTE CONTROL ACE Management Server administers virtual desktops remotely
	POCKET ROCKET Pocket ACE lets user put a virtual desktop on a flash drive or an iPod
	Data: VMware

VMware ACE 2 includes the ACE Management Server for administering these virtual desktops remotely. The Management Server is a virtual appliance; it comes preconfigured and preinstalled, ready to deploy on available x86 instruction set hardware. Now in beta, ACE 2 is expected to be delivered as a product during the second quarter. Pricing has not been announced.

VMware's ability to package a desktop as a set of virtual files has led it to market Pocket ACE, a product that lets the user load the virtual desktop onto a USB flash drive, a portable hard drive, or even an Apple iPod. Pocket Ace can be plugged into a laptop or desktop, and it will run a complete version of its owner's desktop environment. A startup, RingCube Technologies, exhibited similar capabilities at the Demo 2006 show in San Diego last fall.

Other startups are trying to enter the desktop virtualization market. Altiris and AppStream teamed up to offer virtualized desktop applications streamed off a central server, similar to HP and Softricity. Kidaro provides a management console from which to populate end user computers with virtual desktops based on either VMware Workstation or Microsoft Virtual PC.

But given its predominance in the server virtualization market, VMware may have a virtual lock on the virtual desktop.