by Playfuls Staff |
6th March 2007
VMware announced the public beta of VMware ACE 2
Enterprise edition.
VMware ACE is a breakthrough product that enables IT [more] desktop managers to create
a standard PC environment including operating system, data and applications,
wrap it with IT policies to protect the contents, package it into a virtual
machine and deploy it to any managed or unmanaged PC endpoint.
The second generation of VMware ACE is designed to deliver
the only controlled and easily managed enterprise-class virtualization product
for deploying desktops to any PC, providing a rich virtual desktop environment to
end users while maintaining the control required by the governing IT organization.
VMware ACE 2 Enterprise edition public beta includes a new
desktop mobility feature, Pocket ACE, which enables deployment of a
full-featured desktop virtual machine to a portable media device such as a USB
flash drive, portable hard drive or Apple iPod. End users can load a secure desktop
onto the media device, plug it into a licensed PC or laptop and access the
desktop from nearly anywhere with network connectivity.
The product also features the newly introduced VMware ACE
Management Server, which allows IT administrators to centrally track and manage
thousands of VMware ACE desktops and apply standard policies to them from a single
console. As the first production-ready VMware virtual appliance, the VMware ACE
Management Server is available pre-installed, pre-configured and ready to
deploy. In addition, VMware ACE 2 Enterprise
edition public beta utilizes the latest VMware virtualization platform,
enabling IT
administrators to use VMware Workstation 6 to create and
securely package VMware ACE virtual machines for deployment to end users who
then can run them on any licensed PC or laptop.
VMware ACE 2 Enterprise
edition public beta benefits include:
*Streamlined
enterprise desktop management. Supporting users on unmanaged hardware can
require IT administrators to create, test, provision and migrate a separate
desktop image for every flavor of PC hardware being supported. Administrators
now can create standard desktop images using VMware Workstation 6, then deploy
and manage them with the VMware ACE Management Server. This results in the
ability to easily manage numerous virtual machines while reducing the number of
images to create and enabling faster desktop deployments.
*Simplified policy
control. A single management interface provides centralized policy management
of desktop virtual machines deployed on existing PCs. The VMware ACE Management
Server supports dynamic updates of IT
policies and manages virtual machine expiration dates, device and network
access configurations and activation or deactivation of VMware ACE clients at
any time.
*Isolated
environments. IT administrators can create secure and isolated VMware ACE
desktop environments for use on existing PCs that are separate from the user's
personal settings. This allows administrators to manage and control the VMware
ACE desktop without infringing on the user's freedom to utilize PC features
that might be restricted within the VMware ACE environment.
*Easy backup and
recovery. IT administrators can take snapshots of stable virtual machine configurations and roll back to the previous
state quickly and easily.
*Expanded
operating system support. In addition to support for Windows Vista, VMware ACE
2 Enterprise
edition public beta offers Linux host operating system support for Mandriva,
Novell, Red Hat and Ubuntu.
*Increased
performance and memory support. VMware ACE 2 Enterprise edition public beta leverages the
latest virtualization platform from VMware, including support for USB 2.0, and
supports virtual machines of up to 8 GB in size.
VMware ACE 2 Enterprise edition is
currently in public beta for Linux and Windows users and is available for
download at http://www.vmware.com/products/beta/ace/ . The product is expected
to be generally available in the second quarter of 2007. Pricing will be
announced at the time of general availability.
