Lanamark expands virtualization capacity planning to the desktop

Canadian-based Lanamark, developer of IT infrastructure analysis and design software for virtual environments, announced the availability of its latest solution: the Desktop Analysis Pack for its Lanamark Suite.

This new analysis pack takes virtualization analysis and planning up a notch. The company is no longer just looking at servers; now, it also helps organizations take the guesswork out of capacity planning for the desktop environment.  The new pack is designed to help solution providers analyze enterprise desktop environments, identify candidate desktops for virtualization, and then recommend optimal resource allocation to virtual desktops in order to maximize end user adoption and satisfaction.

[ Find out more about Lanamark Suite 2009 and who it can help with monitoring, reporting, and capacity planning. | Also take a look at Microsoft’s Assessment and Planning Toolkit ]

“As enterprises embark on desktop virtualization projects, they are faced with a myriad of decisions. Which desktops should be virtualized? What applications should be made available to end-users? How should resources be allocated to virtual desktops to maximize end user adoption and productivity? Answers to these questions are critical to ensuring successful execution of these projects,” said Mark Angelo, CEO of Lanamark. “The Desktop Analysis Pack for Lanamark Suite enables data-driven analysis of existing desktops, taking out the guesswork and the risk associated with deploying virtual desktop infrastructure.”

According to the company, the Desktop Analysis Pack distinguishes desktops from laptops so it can identify mobile users and determine associations between workstations and external devices such as monitors, printers, and scanners. The company also uses what it calls Lanamark Software Intelligence (LSI) technology to recognize which applications are installed versus ones that are actually used across the enterprise.

Lanamark’s software accumulates all of this information about the desktop hardware and software being used so it becomes possible to identify which desktops are most suited for virtualization and which type of thin client device is most appropriate to replace that hardware. It also helps with figuring out how to minimize software licensing costs — a cost that can get out of hand when virtualizing if you aren’t careful. Once you have this information in hand, you can leverage Lanamark’s Server Virtualization Design Module to optimally build out the virtual desktop infrastructure.