VMware Forms Virtualization Alliance

Banding together with companies such as IBM, HP, Hitachi and Sun, VMware announced Monday the creation of the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Alliance. The group will help VMware promote its virtualization solutions, and the company will work with each partner to build joint offerings.

VMware's Virtual Desktop Infrastructure is designed to enable businesses to deploy thin-clients instead of full desktop workstations, which would use remote desktop capabilities linked to virtual machines. "Just as the Web has transformed many applications into a hosted service, virtualization is transforming the entire desktop into a server hosted environment that is always on, dynamically scalable and centrally secured and managed," said Brian Byun, VMware's vice president of products and alliances.