Citrix plans 'bare metal' desktop hypervisor

IDG News Service - Citrix Systems Inc. said today that it is working with Intel Corp. to develop a "bare-metal" hypervisor for desktop and laptop PCs, a move that is aimed at broadening the use of desktop virtualization tools by overcoming some of the technology's current shortcomings.

Citrix plans to deliver the hypervisor in the second half of the year, as part of a new product offering code-named "Project Independence." The hypervisor will be based on the open-source Xen virtualization software and optimized to run on PCs that include Intel's Core 2 and Centrino 2 processors and the chip maker's vPro technology, according to today's announcement.

Citrix, which acquired Xen vendor XenSource Inc. in 2007, and Intel said that the bare-metal hypervisor will make it easier to create and centrally manage virtual desktop images for PCs used in the workplace.

The companies also said that the new offering should improve on current desktop virtualization technologies by providing stronger security because the hypervisor will be able to run independently of the client operating system. They also said it will better performance for end users because it will enable applications to run locally instead of on a remote server.

"What this product will do at a high level is address some of the core challenges and core barriers that have kept client virtualization solutions and usage models from being broadly adopted in the past," Gregory Bryant, vice president and general manager of Intel's digital office platform division, said during a conference call with reporters and analysts on Friday. The announcement was embargoed by Citrix and Intel until today.

A hypervisor is the layer of software that manages interactions between a virtual machine and the underlying hardware. Most of the client-level products sold now are so-called Type 2 hypervisors, which are installed within a PC's host operating system. Type 1 hypervisors, such as the one planned by Citrix, are installed with the firmware beneath the operating system level, thus earning them the bare metal tag.

The new hypervisor is designed to help Citrix keep pace with virtualization market leader VMware Inc., which announced its own Type 1 hypervisor at its VMworld user conference last September. VMware's product is also due in the second half of this year, a spokeswoman for that company said this week.

Virtualization has been widely adopted on servers, but its use on desktops has been limited. Although proponents say desktop virtualization can generate big savings for IT departments by enabling them to centrally manage desktop images, existing products have drawbacks.

For example, in one approach, supported by Citrix's XenDesktop software and VMware's View, desktop images are stored in virtual containers on a server and streamed to end users. That model can create performance problems for the users, since data is constantly being shuttled back and forth over a network. It also doesn't allow them to work offline.