Dan McCall, our CEO, contributed a guest post that appeared on David Marshall’s VMblog today.  In it, he explores some of the key questions that IT managers should consider when evaluating desktop virtualization approaches:

1. What are the real business drivers for desktop virtualization?
2. Do virtual desktops need to run on a server?
3. What about PC-hosted desktop solutions that already exist?
4. What will a mainstream desktop virtualization solution look like?
5. Will the end-users be happy with the solution?

Full post is here. It is an interesting read if you would like to understand more about what drives us here at Virtual Computer.

Last week, we were asked via Twitter to describe NxTop. Immediately, we thought: “No problem. We can talk about NxTop all day.” Of course, on Twitter, you don’t have all day. You have 140 characters. Here’s what we came up with:

Centralized 1-to-many mgmt of virtual desktops, local execution on bare metal client hypervisor, including laptops

That gives a nice overview of NxTop in just 115 characters. I think the one addition is that NxTop does what it does in a unique way. NxTop separates the main components of a PC: the hardware, the operating systems, user data and applications.

The limit on Twitter was useful to us. Since we can talk about NxTop in detail for as long as you’ll give us, it’s nice to be able to step back and provide a clear, concise overview. Twitter really is the new elevator pitch.

If you have a question for us, you can ask it here on the blog, via Twitter or on our forums. We’d be glad to answer it in 140 characters or less.

I recently wrote an article for Virtualization Journal. In the article I give an overview of virtualization but quickly move into the area of desktop virtualization, why companies will be embracing virtual desktops very soon, the differences between types of desktop virtualization (type 1 vs. type 2, which I also discuss here and, most importantly, I discuss how desktop virtualization with a type 1 hypervisor (bare-metal) is going to really change the way PCs are managed.

The model of directly executing multiple virtual environments on the same physical PC in full isolation from each other enables many important PC management functions, including but not limited to:

• System updates
• Backup
• Recovery from errors
• Root-kit detection
• Malware and software virus detection
• Machine lockdown
• Full support for mobility and disconnect use

These capabilities are provided for all desktop operating environments running on PC architecture, while remaining protected from each other and their security vulnerabilities. This model of desktop virtualization is suitable for devices that are always connected to the network, such as stationary desktop PCs connected via a persistent network connection, and mobile notebooks that can be occasionally disconnected from the corporate networks.

Go to Virtualization Journal for the full article and check out what we are doing with NxTop to make virtual desktops a reality.

On the heels of Alex’s “Why Bare is Better” post last week, Yi-Jian Ngo of Microsoft is highlighting how “bare metal” client virtualization technology may be the key to driving mass adoption of desktop virtualization. Yi-Jian is the guy who takes startups like us by the hand and helps them navigate the waters at Microsoft, and it was great to finally meet him in person last week at VMworld. Yi Jian is discussing what he calls Desktop Virtualization 2.0 on his Core Infrastructure blog. In the post he discusses the two current definitions of desktop virtualization.

The first is what he calls “the model of virtual machines running in the bowels of the datacenter/cloud and projected out to users” – this is traditional desktop virtualization, or VDI. The second is where Virtual Computer’s NxTop is: running virtual desktops on the bare metal of a PC. Three use cases are mentioned:

The use cases for bare metal client virtualization are still emerging, though there are at least three that come to mind. One is the ability to deploy a locked-down workspace for corporate use side-by-side with a second workspace that end-users can modify but is walled off from certain resources, simultaneously maintaining ease of management while allowing some degree of end-user flexibility. Second is the quick deployment of policy-compliant workspaces to clients used by temporary or guest workers. And third is the offloading of certain utilities, particularly desktop security software, onto a separate virtual machine – possibly portending the arrival of desktop virtual appliances.

Absolutely right. We’ve been talking with hundreds of IT administrators responsible for PC management and find these to be among the top use cases for NxTop. It boils down to this: NxTop needs to make overall laptop and desktop management easier, more secure and quick to deploy. For the end-user, it needs to offer everything they’ve come to expect from a desktop experience.

My presentation from VMworld is up for anybody who wasn’t able to make it out to Vegas:

Let me know if you have any questions.