Sun adds virtual desktop entry 7 September, 2008 By Paul Weinberg

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The new product is based on Sun's xVM VirtualBox open source hypervisor and supports the Mac OS X, Linux, Windows, Solaris and OpenSolaris operating systems.

Both the physical PC and the virtual PCs under VirtualBox can be based on any of these featured operating systems.

A desktop user can, for instance, work on a physical Apple Macintosh machine but deal with a Microsoft Windows application on a virtual PC sitting on top, stated Andy Hall, senior product manager for xVM VirtualBox at Sun Microsystems. "It is multiple platforms on the same computer at the same time."

"It is a neat idea, I wouldn't say it is a novel idea, I mean Microsoft and VMware have had equivalent types of technologies out in the market for a while, stated Michael Rose, a research analyst for IDC's Enterprise Virtualization Software program.

What is more significant is that Sun is seeking to gain some "mindshare on the desktop", he explained.

"This will be the first step in what will be a bigger strategy particularly around virtual desktop infrastructure and some other desktop virtualization models."

VirtualBox is freely available as a download for individual users; while there is an annual $30 charge per user for an enterprise support subscription linked to 24/7 support.

Furthermore, VirtualBox is "an entry point" for the Sun's xVM series of virtualization products for the workstation, server, virtual desktop infrastructure and overall management of the virtual environment, stated Hall.

He added that VirtualBox is not to be confused with any VDI product which helps system administrators from a security and efficiency perspective centrally manage applications that are accessed on thin clients on office desks.

Earlier this year, Sun had completed the acquisition of Innotek, the German company that had developed VirtualBox. The product has had 6.7 million downloads, Hall estimated.

This offering is all about Sun finding a niche in a hot virtualization market, stated Jonathan Eunice, principal IT advisor at Illuminata.

"Every major IT provider has a virtualization strategy these days. It's both mandatory and desirable. Virtualized, on-demand IT is what customers want. Indeed, I don't think there's ever been as rapid or aggressive a technology uptake as with virtualization. The only real contender might be the World Wide Web, but that was as much about individuals and consumers as back-end infrastructures."

Potential VirtualBox customers, explains Eunice, include software developers, IT administrators, and other power users who want to run multiple operating system images on their local systems for test and evaluation purposes.

Among the "nice touches" in VirtualBox, he continued, is "easy file sharing with the host OS," and "built-in remote desktop support, via RDP," as well as such added features in the version 2.0, as "support for 64-bit OSs, better performance and networking, and better integration with Mac OS X and Solaris."

Unlike VDI which is built for specific purposes, Sun's VirtualBox is not easily slotted which gives it some appeal, Michael Rose suggested.

"Virtualization on the end point device has to be more of a patch work of interesting and cool things."

VirtualBox is ideal, for instance, for companies that want to give temporary access to contract workers and consultants to data on corporate applications, he added.