Citrix Buys RingCube For Virtual Desktop Technologies

Citrix Systems has added a measure of versatility to its virtual desktop product offering with the acquisition of California-based RingCube, which makes user personalisation software for Virtual Desktop Infrastructures (VDIs. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

RingCube’s product, vDesk, is a high-performance enterprise workspace virtualisation package that makes the rollout of VDI deployments across an organisation more efficient. It controls various levels of security and file access and allows accredited employees to use various types of mobile devices to access a VDI system.

Cost-effective Desktop Centralisation

Desktop virtualisation can provide significant benefits to an enterprise, allowing IT to host user desktops and apps securely in the data centre – rather than as a standard client-server model – and deliver them as a more cost-effective centralised service.

Virtual desktop implementations often need degrees of personalisation when deployed at various levels of an enterprise’s staff and with part-time and contract employees, who require different levels of security and file access. vDesk enables organisations to provide VDI to all employees in a quick, efficient manner.

RingCube’s differentiator from other VI providers is that it creates a so-called “personal vDisk” for each employee that contains only the apps, data and settings that are unique to that user. All the images that each user has in common – including the operating system (usually Windows) and all common corporate apps – are stored one time in the data centre.

As a result, each user gets his/her own unique personal desktop each time they log in, while IT gets all the cost advantages of centrally managing a single instance of the operating system and each corporate application for all users.

Using RingCube technology with Citrix’s XenDesktop can significantly reduce storage costs versus standard dedicated VDI desktops, Citrix group vice president and general manager Bob Schultz said.

“The acquisition of RingCube underscores our chief goal of enabling users to access their desktops and applications on any device, and making virtual desktops simple and affordable for IT,” said Schultz.

“As customers take on enterprise-wide desktop transformation initiatives, Citrix is in the best position to provide a broad range of technology delivering multiple types of virtual desktops that satisfy every user in the enterprise. RingCube adds a significant capability to provide users and IT flexible, personal VDI desktops at a much lower cost.”