Michael and I met with Colin Steele (www.searchservervirtualization.com) to discuss the new joint offering from Citrix and Microsoft; XenApp 6 Service Provider Automation Pack. This new effort on the VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) front is meant to bring the virtual desktop to SMBs as DaaS for VARs. This new concept follows in the innovation and industry leadership that we have come to expect from Citrix. It’s a basic concept, provide a virtual solution to SMB’s that only Enterprise Datacenters to date can only enjoy because of the infrastructure cost overhead. Now SMBs that may not have the enjoyment to plan for a 7 year ROI for a self-managed VDI solution can rely on VARs to host their VDI for them under this DaaS model.

Microsoft is working with Citrix in ensuring the virtual desktop using a Microsoft client side operating system meets the demand even for the little guy (SMB) even in today’s economy. There are still a few questions left to be answered at this time that still need to be clarified in the future….

• What is the licensing model; from a Citrix and Microsoft?
  
• How does this integrate and scale in hosting VAR’s current infrastructure?
  
• Will VMware answer with their own solution, or take their wait and see stand point?
  

One thing is for sure; Citrix has once again fulfilled one of their goals of extending the Microsoft desktop to any user, and device, anywhere, and now any business size.

For further details and insight follow @servervirt_tt, @jonspallone, and @mletschin