[MLUG] For UBUNTU and IBM fans

[Leslie]

IBM and Business Partners Introduce a Linux-Based, Virtual Desktop


Customers Significantly Lower Costs by Combining the Power of IBM,
Virtual Bridges and Canonical for a Linux-Based, Security-Rich,
Microsoft-Desktop Alternative
December 04, 2008: 08:00 AM EST


IBM (NYSE: IBM), Virtual Bridges and Canonical today announced general
availability of a Linux-desktop solution designed to drive significant
savings compared with Microsoft-desktop software by amplifying Lotus
collaboration software and Ubuntu to a larger user base through
virtualization.

This solution runs open standards-based email, word processing,
spreadsheets, unified communication, social networking and other
software to any laptop, browser, or mobile device from a virtual desktop
login on a Linux-based server configuration.

A virtual desktop looks like a traditional desktop but is not limited to
a single physical computer. Instead, many virtual Linux desktops are
hosted on a server. The combined solution includes:


      * Virtual desktop provided by Virtual Bridges called Virtual
        Enterprise Remote Desktop Environment (VERDE); 
        
      * Ubuntu, the worldwide leading Linux desktop operating system,
        from Canonical; and
        
      * IBM Open Collaboration Client Solution software (OCCS) based on
        IBM Lotus Symphony, IBM Lotus Notes and Lotus applications. IBM
        Lotus Symphony is built on the Open Document Format (ODF).
        


Today's news builds on announcements throughout 2008 around delivering
Microsoft-alternative desktops in conjunction with our partners. This
solution is now a key component of IBM's financial services front office
transformation offering as well as part of the IBM public sector
industry solution framework.

"When we look back several years from now, I think we'll see this time
as an inflection point when the economic climate pushed the virtual
Linux desktop from theory to practice," said Inna Kuznetsova, director,
IBM Linux Strategy. "The financial pressures on organizations are
staggering and the management of PCs is unwieldy. Today's virtual
desktop is delivering superior collaborative software, an innovative
delivery method, and an open-source operating system that is demanding
clients' consideration."

Compared to Microsoft-based desktops, this virtual desktop solution,
including industry-leading components from IBM, Virtual Bridges and
Canonical, is estimated on average to deliver cost savings from:


      * Licensing: cost avoidance of $500 to $800 per user on software
        license for Microsoft Office, Windows and all related products
        (1); 
        
      * Hardware: cost avoidance of around $258 per user since there is
        no need to upgrade hardware to support Windows Vista and Office
        2007 (2); 
        
      * Power consumption: cost avoidance of $40 to $145 per user from
        reduced power to run the configuration and $20 to $73 per user
        from reduced air conditioning requirements from lower powered
        desktop devices annually (3); and 
        
      * IT services: 90 percent savings of deskside PC support; 75
        percent of security/user administration; 50 percent of help desk
        services such as password resets, and 50 percent for software
        installations, which are replaced by software publishing (4) 
        


"With the benefits of open standards over a proprietary platform come
the freedom to select software in a heterogeneous environment," said
Malcolm Yates, vice president, Canonical. "Combining Ubuntu with IBM's
Open Client software applications we can break out of Microsoft
dependencies completely and significantly reduce total cost of
ownership."

Two Views of the Virtual Desktop

>From the end user's point of view, the virtual desktop combining
solution from IBM, Virtual Bridges and Canonical looks like a
traditional desktop but is not limited to a single physical computer.
Instead of the software and data being saved on a user's desktop, the
hosted applications permit the user to access the screen data. That
means users can access their computers on any network-connected device
anywhere they happen to be. Software fixes are automatically inherited
to the user sessions without anyone having to visit the decentralized
access point. All the applications that a user might need -- such as
email, calendaring, word processing and team collaboration -- are
available.

>From the IT department's view, the difference between virtual and
physical desktop is significant. For this virtual system, all
administrative intervention is done on consolidated virtual machines in
the data center through deployment of standard images. When there is a
software update required, the IT manager can do it centrally. The IT
manager can run concurrent Linux desktop sessions from any x86 Linux
server, such as a blade server. Users can access their Linux desktop
sessions from not only endpoints running Linux, but Windows and Mac as
well, which is critical as users seek standard application environments
across heterogeneous physical desktops. The solution includes a seamless
remote printing capability without the need to maintain drivers.

"The wave of virtualization has hit the datacenter but bypassed the
front office," said Jim Curtin, president and CEO of Virtual Bridges.
"Protecting the security of each desktop individually is a Herculean
task for most organizations. Today, understaffed IT departments can't
afford deskside visits and the help desk requests that accompany
traditional desktop maintenance. With a virtual desktop, centralized
control means the loss or theft of a laptop is no longer a corporate
crisis. The IT staff can instead focus on ramping up capacity and
services as the business demands."

IBM Global Technology Services

IBM services can help roll out this offering, as well as other
customized virtual desktops. IBM Virtual Infrastructure Access service
helps customers transform their distributed IT architectures into
virtualized, open-standards-based frameworks. It provides centralized IT
services, and robust application and desktop delivery. It combines
hardware, software and services to connect customers' authorized users
to platform-independent, centrally managed applications and full client
images running in virtual machines.

The IBM Open Collaboration Client Solution

The Open Collaboration Client Solution provides email, calendaring, word
processing, spreadsheets, presentations, unified communication, social
networking, team collaboration and portals, based on IBM Lotus Notes 8
and IBM Lotus Symphony. The software is built on open standards, based
on the open-source Eclipse Rich Client Platform and supports Open
Document Format (ODF). For more information visit,
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/occs-overview/

Virtual Bridges' VERDE

VERDE is the first true Linux-only (host, guest and client) virtual
desktop infrastructure solution offering integrated connection broker,
robust KVM-based VM technology, multimedia and sound support, local
printing support and many other features typical only found in
Windows-based solutions. VERDE surpasses Windows-based VDI systems with
lower cost-of-ownership, ease-of-use, security, flexibility as well as
easier deployment and ongoing management.

Availability and Pricing

The virtual desktop is generally available now in most geographies and
many languages by contacting IBM or Virtual Bridges. Standard pricing
for a 1,000-user VERDE deployment is $49 per user. Additional volume
discounts are available by contacting Virtual Bridges at
sales at vbridges.com.

Footnotes:

(1) Comparison based on information and pricing as listed on
softarespectrum.com, office.microsoft.com and ibm.com as of announcement
date.

(2) Comparison based on information and pricing as listed on
bestbuy.com, as of announcement date.

(3) This is based on customer experience from delivering desktop
virtualization solutions. Estimates for this range are between a 10
hours/240 day year and a 24/7/365 day year. This is estimated at 50
percent of operating cost savings. Actuals may vary based on location,
weather and efficiency of cooling equipment. This does not include the
savings due to server consolidation on System z Linux.

(4) Based on IBM, market research and customer experience from
delivering desktop virtualization solutions.



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