VARs urged to jump on VDI wagon

Former Wyse boss John Kish hunts for forward-thinking VARs to back new ‘zero-client' venture, Pano Logic

Out with the old - Pano Logic claims virtual machines are the way forward

The former boss of Wyse has urged resellers to waste no time in skilling up for the anticipated virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) boom, as he launches his new firm into the UK channel.

John Kish joined virtual desktop startup Pano Logic in 2008 a year after leaving thin-client giant Wyse.

The vendor, which provides a ‘zero-client’ device for VDI deployments, has appointed STL Technologies as its first UK distributor. It will launch a local office next month.

According to Kish, Pano Logic has been used in 225 of the 300-400 VDI deployments across the globe so far.

Research houses such as Gartner and IDC have forecast that virtual desktops will account for 30 per cent to 50 per cent of the PC install base by 2013, and Kish claimed Pano Logic’s technology trumps his former firm.

“We have a unique approach. The end point we sell contains no processor, operating system or software,” he said. “This makes us different from thin clients or PCs -­ everyone else is trying to retro-fit existing technologies.”

Kish said Pano Logic seeks 10-15 UK resellers with experience of VMware, Citrix or Microsoft environments.

“VARs willing to commit and invest in understanding VDI are the ones that will profit from a market that will grow extremely rapidly in 2010 and 2011,” he said.
Bob Tarzey, analyst at market watcher Quocirca, said VDI would be a growth hotspot over the next decade.

“If VARs are looking to help customers consolidate in the datacentre and reduce the cost of managing IT, they need to look at products like this,” he said.

According to Gartner, the hosted virtual desktop market will be worth $1.3bn-$1.5bn (£818m to £944m) this year, but will grow to $65.7bn by 2013. This will equate to 40 per cent of the global professional PC market.

Kish said private equity-backed Pano Logic will open offices in any country where server virtualisation penetration exceeds 20 per cent.

“At this point people begin to get interested in desktop virtualisation and we are looking to stay ahead of the curve,” he explained.