Citrix and Microsoft join forces against VMware...at VMworld!

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At VMworld 2007 today, Citrix and Microsoft made an announcement that all of their virtualization products will use Microsoft's VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) file format. Great! So what does it mean?
Written by:
Gabe Knuth
Publication Date:
September 12, 2007
Doc #Id: 5544


This morning at VMworld, Microsoft and Citrix flipped a bird to VMware at their own conference and announced that they will be standardizing their platform virtualization efforts on Microsoft's VHD disk image file format.  In the same announcment, Microsoft said that they would base future versions of their SoftGrid application virtualization product on VHD files, and Citrix said they would be integrating the VHD format into Citrix Desktop Server.

So, what does this mean?  Regarding platform virtualization, Citrix and Microsoft have essentially united in a Beta vs. VHS battle with VMware.  This is probably good news for the industry, since it will probably lead to a feature war.  I imagine it will also work to drive prices down for the enterprise versions of these products. 

Regarding Citrix Desktop Server integration, this is likely to include Citrix's Ardence OS streaming product, at least in part.  What I picture is a broad solution where a VHD-based virtual machine can be streamed via Ardence, loaded via XenSource or Viridian, or delivered via Citrix Desktop Server.  In a model such as this, servers or workstations can be provisioned based on various needs, including hardware capabilities or connection type.

In regards to Softgrid integration, I'm having a difficult time trying to find a good fit for VHD integration.  Could the VHD format be adapted and used as the delivery mechanism for SoftGrid applications?  Maybe there will be a way to edit post-sequenced applications by mounting the VHD and editing the files directly.  I'm hoping there's some SoftGrid experts (tim?) out there that can throw out a few ideas.

Read the full contents of the press release here.

Reader Comments
It's all about management
Wednesday, September 12, 2007 12:52:58 AM
What this mean is that SoftGrid, Windows Server 2008 Virtualization, Citrix Desktop Server have something in common, there  architecture of storing information. That means that with System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) a various type of vendor solutions (who know what will be added ..) can be managed from different point of views. Microsoft has SCCM, maybe Citrix will buy a Client Management solution or extend their management solution(s).. great times!
Re: It's all about management
Tuesday, October 09, 2007 4:33:56 AM

Guest
What this also means is that generic desktops (with Softgrid Client installed as part of the build) can be streamed via Ardence and then applications provisioned on a user basis through Softgrid.
Unsorted thoughts ;-)
Wednesday, September 12, 2007 12:58:08 AM
SoftGrid uses a virtual filesystem in the SFT and for the cache file. I don't really see the benefit of making this a VHD other than reducing the number of different tools/approaches to do managament of the complete environment. Or maybe we'll be streaming Ardence images over RTSP, or SoftGrid streams over Ardence's streaming protocol. Or being able to cache Ardence streamed images in a hypervisor for offline usage, like laptops. Now that I think of it... I believe this step will be great.
Re: Unsorted thoughts ;-)
Wednesday, September 12, 2007 4:46:02 AM

There are limitations of this SFT filesystem. That's why for example the maximum package size is 4Gb, that's also why x64 isn't so easy to support. System Center includes alot of solutions that will fit together (in the near future). Maybe Citrix and/or others can integrate there solutions within System Center. Or maybe this is the second signal that MS wil buy Citrix ;-)