Seven of the biggest desktop virtualization stories in 2012

Server virtualization has become so mainstream that I feel confident nearly every single organization has at least one server running some type of hypervisor platform in their data center today. But for some reason, the virtual desktop hasn’t caught on in the same way as its bigger sibling — at least not in corporate America.

For the past few years we’ve been told this could be the year of VDI. While that hasn’t happened yet, we did see a lot of events in 2012 that put VDI and desktop virtualization on the map. Here are seven of the biggest desktop virtualization stories of the last year.

[ Also on InfoWorld: Seven of the biggest server virtualization news stories in 2012 | How can virtualization managers implement a chargeback solution | Track the latest trends in virtualization in InfoWorld’s Virtualization Report newsletter. ]

1. No shortage of key acquisition news

In 2012 there were four key acquisitions announced in the desktop virtualization market.

In April, Dell made a lot of noise when it acquired Wyse. The move gave Dell an advantage in the VDI hardware market because it brought on board the highly respected Wyse thin client and zero client devices that are compatible with many different virtual desktop software providers. The acquisition vaulted Dell alongside one of its biggest competitors in this segment of the market: Hewlett-Packard.

In May, while at the Citrix Synergy show in San Francisco, Citrix rocked the desktop virtualization market by announcing it had acquired one-time competitor Virtual Computer, giving Citrix an additional advantage in the client hypervisor market. Citrix said it would integrate Virtual Computer’s NxTop technologies into the newly announced Citrix XenClient Enterprise Edition. Virtual Computer focused on Xen-based client hypervisor technology, so the acquisition seemed a natural fit. Citrix was already an investor in the company, oddly enough.

Not to be outdone, VMware in May announced it had acquired Wanova, adding a significant piece of technology to VMware’s end-user computing (EUC) portfolio. Wanova’s flagship product, Mirage, centralizes image management by using a layering technology. This technology would be incorporated into VMware View, allowing VMware to more easily compete with Citrix in the desktop market. The other interesting detail about this acquisition is that Wanova’s technology also works within the physical endpoint device, giving VMware the opportunity (or option) to manage either a virtual desktop or a physical machine.

In July, Dell came back for a second round of desktop virtualization news and announced it had acquired Quest Software. The only question was what would become of the Quest vWorkspace product. With Wyse devices firmly in hand and vWorkspace now added to its arsenal, Dell has a fairly unique opportunity to offer a full VDI solution stack. However, the company still seems intent on making VMware View and Citrix XenDesktop its key focal point with VDI sales.

2. Pano Logic closes shop and sneaks off into the night

In October. Pano Logic, virtual desktop infrastructure vendor and creator of the infamous tiny chrome zero-client device, closed up shop without so much as a peep to anyone — including its customers and evidently some of its employees.

Startup companies like Pano Logic go out of business all the time. It happens. But things seemed to be going in the right direction for the company, and it had showed signs of customer success only days before suddenly closing its doors. Beyond that, it was the way in which the company closed that helped make this a top news item: The company disappeared off the face of the planet in the middle of the night without any explanation.

The problem for existing Pano Logic customers was the fact that the Pano Logic system was a completely proprietary end-to-end solution. Its zero-client cube contained no CPU, no memory, no operating system, and no software; and it moved all computing to the client’s data center or out to the cloud. Unlike competitor thin client devices, Pano Logic’s dedicated hardware technology only works with its own data center software. The company’s midnight departure really left clients holding the bag.

3. Microsoft targets iPad and Android users with tablet virtualization license fee

Even before the TV commercials sprang up about Microsoft Surface tablets, the Redmond giant was already trying to stake its claim in the growing tablet market with the release of Windows 8 and Windows RT, as well as an updated licensing change. Unfortunately, what was already considered by many to be a complicated licensing process now became even more complicated. The move was described by some as Microsoft’s attempt to slow down Apple iPad and Android tablet adoption by enterprise consumers.

With Windows 8, Microsoft debuted its Companion Device License (CDL), an add-on licensing fee for Windows imposed on tablet devices running virtualization programs that access Windows applications across corporate servers. The CDL would allow organization employees to access a corporate desktop locally in a VM or remotely via VDI on up to four personally owned devices. But therein lays the rub. If a user’s nonlicensed personal device happened to be a Windows RT device, the company wouldn’t need to buy the additional CDL to cover the user’s access to a primary Software Assurance-licensed desktop. Windows RT will automatically receive what is being called “extended VDA” rights. These rights provide access to a full VDI image running in the datacenter.

Microsoft enjoyed going after VMware for the “vTax,” but this desktop “tax” somehow seemed reasonable to it.

4. How does OnLive get away with it?

Whether or not people admit to it, they like to get involved with controversial subject matter, and in early 2012, the VDI market had its own “news of the weird” story about a very small online company called OnLive. Amid the controversy (or dislike) around Microsoft’s Virtual Desktop Windows licensing, news broke of an online cloud offering that consisted of a Windows 7 desktop with Office applications (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) that was free of charge on an iPad tablet thanks to OnLive.

While this was cool for end-users who could sign up for a free account, it wasn’t cool for other DaaS vendors who wondered how it was that OnLive could offer this free of charge and still remain compliant with Microsoft licensing regulations. Nobody would answer, but OnLive eventually complied.

5. Oracle wants in on the VMware and Parallels desktop virtualization discussion

For many years, when you thought about desktop virtualization software that installs on top of Windows or Mac OS, you thought about companies like Microsoft, VMware, and Parallels, whose respective software solutions have been around for quite some time and are really quite good at what they do. But Oracle has been trying to become relevant in that market as well.

In September, Oracle announced another update to its open source desktop virtualization platform, Oracle VM VirtualBox version 4.2, which is popular with the hipsters in the underground. While not as polished or as easy to use and configure as some of the rival desktop virtualization products, VirtualBox 4.2 did get Oracle much closer to that elite group of competitors. It was another solid release from Oracle, adding to its platform support, increasing its capabilities to run more and larger VMs, enhancing its networking features, and updating its manageability. The solution is open source, free, and quick to set up. Oracle VirtualBox should finally be able to move from a cult following to a mainstream desktop virtualization solution worthy of a trial if nothing else.

6. Nvidia unveils virtualized GPU

With an eye on the evolving BYOD and VDI markets, Nvidia hoped to address the problem of running graphic-intensive applications on virtual desktops. The company unveiled its VGX platform, designed to virtualize server-side GPUs to deliver on those graphic-intensive applications and push multimedia content to any device. The announcement played into the company’s broader vision of a GPU-accelerated cloud, where users can access high-end graphical applications and content anywhere in the cloud from any device.

The main idea behind the VGX platform is to enable power users and designers to be able to access their local desktop and all of their heavy-duty apps (3D graphic design, CAD, or medical imaging software) from within a thin client, tablet, or smartphone device without any performance hiccups.

7. Citrix XenDesktop reaches the cloud with Project Avalon

One of the more interesting announcements made during Citrix Synergy in May was the unveiling of Project Avalon. Desktop virtualization was one of the main themes at the event, and Citrix provided its take on how enterprises could best deal with the challenge of managing desktops and applications in a mobile-centric world.

Project Avalon would allow enterprises to run any Windows application or desktop in a public, private, or hybrid cloud. The desktop or client can then be delivered across any network, to any device. Citrix said the Project Avalon platform would run on an integration of XenDesktop and Citrix CloudPlatform, powered by Apache CloudStack. The combination would enable multitenant installations across multiple locations that could scale to a large number of users. You can see why this was a big theme at Citrix Synergy.

We saw plenty of interesting things happen in the desktop virtualization market in 2012. Will 2013 finally be the year that VDI breaks out?

Beyond these seven stories, what other desktop virtualization news items stood out in your mind in 2012?

This article, “Seven of the biggest desktop virtualization stories in 2012,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in virtualization and cloud computing at InfoWorld.com.