Kidaro, provider of enterprise desktop virtualization solutions, told me that a leading government contractor, Smartronix, is deploying the Kidaro platform in order to enhance the security and manageability of their desktop and laptop computers. When asked what initially prompted Smartronix to the Kidaro product, John Parris, Executive Vice President of Smartronix, said his company was looking for a secure, repe Kidaro, provider of enterprise desktop virtualization solutions, told me that a leading government contractor, Smartronix, is deploying the Kidaro platform in order to enhance the security and manageability of their desktop and laptop computers.When asked what initially prompted Smartronix to the Kidaro product, John Parris, Executive Vice President of Smartronix, said his company was looking for a secure, repeatable, enterprise class desktop and application management environment. They looked at several competing technologies such as terminal services based solutions but were intrigued by the possibilities of a completely managed environment that did not require expensive server purchases. “We wanted to be able to use the existing corporate resources, such as laptops and wanted to be able to leverage users home computers while still being able to protect corporate data and our network. Kidaro’s ability to centrally manage IT and corporate application resources really stood out.”The Kidaro Managed Workspace leverages industry-standard virtualization engines from Microsoft and VMware, managed within a scalable infrastructure for automatically provisioning, distributing, auditing, and securing desktop applications and data. To help provide mobility, the company offers Kidaro ToGo which enables deployment of secure, encrypted virtual machine images to USB drives or even iPod devices. This USB function seems to be the preferred delivery mechanism for Smartronix employees that work at home. And because Kidaro Managed Workspace performs all processing on endpoint PCs, the virtual desktop can run disconnected from the network removing the need to build out expensive server farms. Parris said that his company is seriously considering a centrally managed development environment which would enable their software development team to have common configurations and be able to work securely on the road or at home. Kidaro’s TrimTransfer technology incorporates advanced de-duplication and image management capabilities which help to enable the efficient transportation of virtual machine images to thousands of desktops over the network. Using cryptographic fingerprinting to determine what data elements already exist on the target machines, Kidaro only has to send the incremental bytes that are required to complete the virtual machine image. And so far, Smartronix seems to be impressed with the speed in which changes can be centrally deployed.Security is a major concern for IT departments, and Kidaro believes they can address that concern. The Kidaro platform builds in strong security for corporate applications and data, including: AES-256 data at rest encryption for the entire virtual machine image, including hard drive and USB copies; integrated VM firewall; data leak prevention features; granular centralized auditing; application white-listing; and isolation of corporate data from malware running on the host machine. When asked about his specific experiences in this matter, Parris said that Kidaro allows them to control outbound data flow via printers or removable devices, and they can even lock down the ability to allow cut and paste. Because of their experience with Kidaro’s impressive focus on security, Smartronix is in the process of recommending the product as an enterprise solution to several of their DoD customers.In a recent InfoWorld TestCenter article, Kidaro was highlighted as one of the leaders in a “virtual two-horse race” for the desktop virtualization market. When asked what benefits have been personally achieved with the product, Parris said that streamlined IT control, centralized corporate application configurations and customized VPN configurations were quick wins for Smartronix. They have several corporate applications for accounting, HR, and payroll that are preconfigured with the correct application settings, and they have managed to get their complex VPN environment under control.You can find out more information about Kidaro’s products, here. Software Development