IBM launches a Linux-based virtual desktop

IBM announced that it has joined forces with Virtual Bridges and Canonical to offer a Linux-desktop solution designed to drive what it describes as “significant savings” compared with Microsoft desktop software. The virtual desktop package runs open-standards-based e-mail, word processing, spreadsheets, unified communication, social networking, and other software that is “Microsoft free.”

Compared with Microsoft desktop shops, IBM and its partners are claiming significant savings for companies with a large user base using their new bundle. Appealing to cost-constrained shops around the world, they claim that the virtual desktop will yield savings on licensing costs ($500 to $800 per user on Microsoft licensing), hardware (no need to upgrade), power consumption and IT services (90 percent savings of deskside PC support; 75 percent of security/user administration; 50 percent of help desk services such as password resets, and 50 percent for software installations).

The group’s virtual desktop looks like a traditional desktop but isn’t limited to a single physical computer. Instead, many virtual Linux desktops are hosted on a server. The package includes the virtual desktop client provided by Virtual Bridges called Virtual Enterprise Remote Desktop Environment (VERDE); Ubuntu, the Linux desktop operating system from Canonical; and IBM’s Open Collaboration Client Solution software (OCCS) based on IBM Lotus Symphony, IBM Lotus Notes and Lotus applications.

This latest move by IBM is also interesting from another perspective. It becomes the first of the big vendors to not only show full support for KVM virtualization but also by actively selling it as part of their IBM Global Technology Services.

IBM said standard pricing for a 1,000-user VERDE deployment would be $49 per user.

Watch for solutions such as this to become more of the norm in 2009 if the economy continues to decline and business organizations seek out cost-cutting alternatives.

“When we look back several years from now, I think we’ll see this time as an inflection point when the economic climate pushed the virtual Linux desktop from theory to practice,” said Inna Kuznetsova, director, IBM Linux Strategy. “The financial pressures on organizations are staggering and the management of PCs is unwieldy. Today’s virtual desktop is delivering superior collaborative software, an innovative delivery method, and an open-source operating system that is demanding clients’ consideration.”