Desktop Virtualization Acquisitions

Hold on to your hat, the desktop virtualization market is heating up and all the major vendors are gearing up. In the last 12 months the following acquisitions have already taken place showing us that they are rigging their gear and dropping their lines in the water ready to reel in the next trophy catch.

• April 2007, VMware acquires Propero
• August 2007, Citrix acquires XenSource
• September 2007, VMware acquires Dunes
• January 2008, VMware acquires Thinstall and Foedus
• February 2008, Sun acquires innotek
• March 2008, Microsoft acquires Kidaro
• April 2008, Symantec acquires AppStream

….and there are a pile of startups: Pano Logic, NComputing, MokaFive, Stoneware…..

What’s all the hype?

The efficiencies and benefits of server virtualization are impacting hundreds and even thousands of servers in some cases, but the potential impact of desktop virtualization is in the tens of thousands. It is true that server virtualization is still in its infancy and I see desktop virtualization primarily being deployed in highly regulated environments for its security advantages. However, with Web 2.0, SOA and SaaS becoming popular architectures, the desktop environment as we know it today will be undergoing considerable changes in the coming years. The fun part is seeing who the winners will be in this fishing tournament!