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Dec
31
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Well thanks to an article by Alessandro at virtualization.info I have become aware of a company called iCore Software that appear to be heading down the virtualization path similar to Parallels in that it is OS based Virtualization.
iCore brings OS virtualization to the clients, selling its containers, called Virtual Accounts, as different user personalities for working, gaming, browsing, etc.
At the moment the company offers its product for free on Windows XP only and claims just 1-2% overhead.
So I popped over and reviewed the details on Parallels, and it appears to me that their Desktop and Workstation products are more like a Hardware Hypervisor product – but it’s the Virtuozzo Containers product that is the OS virtualization product (see diagram below) – and from what I can see this is clearly focused around the Server and Enterprise space
(Please feel free to correct me if I’m mistaken on this?)
The two diagrams below show the hypervisor or hardware virtualization technology in comparison to OS virtualization.
So why is this new entrant so interesting? well it appears to be clearly focused at the desktop level in that the free download is all set to help you create as many multiple Virtual Accounts as you want based on XP Pro’s Smart Switching so this can initially be very useful even for the home PC.
So, given that it’s already set to work nicely with XP Pro in an OS Virtualization model, it almost begs the question of how well this might work as a mechanism for providing VDI?
Surely this has the potential to really shake things up in the VDI world? Without even testing the product I’d have to be thinking that this might actually be able to deliver a better video or graphics experience than ESX (or hypervisor) hosted Desktops seeing as it is “calling” for Graphics resources via the underlying OS as opposed to through a hypervisor call?
So as soon as I get back from the holidays in Perth I can see my Home rig might have to be redone with this in mind and I’ll update this as I progress? I was halfway considering looking at instigating SteadyState to keep the home unit stable, but now I think I’ll check this out first.
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:11 am
Cool.
It can be interesting solution for VDI market.
January 13th, 2009 at 3:17 am
Just a couple of concerns…
First, I’m not certain how this will ‘shake things up’ in the VDI world. Depending on your number of users, you may still have several PCs to manage and contend with. You would also need a broker for a large number of users. Smaller shops with less than 50 users might see a benefit, but clearly not shaking up the VDI world.
Secondly, why would the graphics be better with this solution? Regardless of whether its a direct call to the hardware or via the Hypervisor, the issue is with RDP. If I have 10 virtual accounts configured, only one user would be able to access via the console – the other 9 users would still have to use some other device like a Thin Client with something like RDP or VNC.
I’d like to know the Microsoft licensing issues with this solution. Unless you have an ELA with Microsoft, I’d think the cost would increase due to having to upgrade your XP to the VECD (Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop) and possibly purchasing licenses for every user. I would much rather see a solution that does VDI with LINUX – similar to Virtuozzo, but designed for VDI with LINUX.
January 14th, 2009 at 6:51 am
VMware’s new pass-through technology will take care of passing hardware assist to graphics processing tasks inside of the VM, and Teradici will handle passing the (remote) graphics to the end users eyes.
The 800lb gorrilla is here to stay. Deal with it.
January 14th, 2009 at 7:10 am
Mmm, not too sure about the last comment, but everyone’s entitled to an opinion?
Anyway, I’m not suggesting that this is ready for deployment at all, but given that there is no early leaks from either VMware or Citrix so far regarding any availability of a Graphics or GPU hypervisor module then for those looking to expand on VDI this may offer a way out?
Cheers,
Dave
January 15th, 2009 at 5:41 am
if iCore will release version for server…mmm…
OS virtualization has little overhead. It means you can start more virtual desktop then if you use hyper VM.
For example: 70′s iCore Virtual desktops vs 10′s VMware Virtual Desktops
And OS virtualization is needed less administrative work.
January 28th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Great! Thank you very much!
I always wanted to write in my blog something like that. Can I take part of your post to my site?
Of course, I will add backlink?
Sincerely, Reader
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June 8th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Hi ,
Sir
I am cillian from xtreaming technology.
Our VHD CMS(centralized management software)?diskless solution?Enterprise/professiona Edition 2009 is available now, which are a high performance diskless software, also it works far more better than any other diskless software, even than Citrix PVS. which is account based management , very suitable for Enterprise. the main function is that user can login on different PC but having it’s own virtual hard disk from network. Also the professional edition is very suitable for Internet cafe and educational market.
The most attractive point is that is a high spec software, Support Win7 already, let your investment safe. We also support client OS, including Windows XP/2003/Vista/2008/Win7 32/64bit /SUSE, also all the linux distribution 32/64/SUSE
It’s a good chance for you to dominate the IT market demand. Please contact with me too.
My number:+86-15195935131 . skype: Cillian33 E-mail: Cillian@vhdsoft.com.cn
if you have any problem , please let me know
Regards
Cillian
July 22nd, 2009 at 8:54 am
So, did you every play around with this solution. Just curious, because we are going to deploy it in the near future (Parallels VDI, Quest vWorkspace & EOP).