Visualising victory

IT giant VMware has revealed its latest weapon in the fight to maintain its dominant market share.

On the back of GITEX Technology Week, the server visualisation vendor has released its VClient initiative in the Middle East.

Operating on the premise that global companies require global solutions, the package lets users access their set of desktop applications - hosted in a datacentre - from any device, anywhere.

VMware is kicking off the initiative with a set of products called VMware View, which give users a single desktop view regardless of what device they use.

"Users in the region want a desktop that follows them wherever they go," explains Reza Malekzadeh, senior director of product and marketing, VMware. "Users will be able to view their desktop running remotely in the datacenter or running locally on any device. At the same time, IT administrators can manage these desktops centrally."

VMware controls the lion's share of the world's server visualisation market. However, a recent report from analyst firm IDC warned Microsoft is making renewed efforts to snatch a percentage of the vendor's market share with its Hyper-V product.

The report also noted a global slowdown in the server visualisation market, when compared to previous year-on-year growth. VMware, however, has remained bullish, drafting in a host of big brands to support its latest VMware View package.

"The experience with first joint customers of VMware and Fujitsu Siemens Computer shows that IT organisations can dramatically increase the quality of service to their PC users," says Dr. Joseph Reger, chief technology officer, Fujitsu Siemens Computers.

"Customers are increasingly using virtualisation to deliver lower costs and reduced risks to the business," agrees Roberto Moctezuma, vice president, desktop solutions organisation, HP.

Despite a market downturn, the industry is moving from a tactical technology to a transformation strategy, Moctezuma adds. "Customers realise the value of VMware virtualisation [in helping them] accelerate the growth of their businesses."