VMware snaps up Desktone as Gelsinger sets out tech vision

Vendor claims acquisition of desktop-as-a-service player Desktone further propels its end-user computing strategy

VMware has said its service provider partners will be the key beneficiaries of its buyout of desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) player Desktone.

At the virtualisation giant's VMworld event in Barcelona, the firm announced it is set to acquire the US-based firm in an effort to bolster its end-user computing offering.

Desktone offers virtual desktops designed to enable the deployment of Windows desktops and apps from the cloud to any user, anywhere, and VMware's executive vice president for end-user computing Sanjay Poonen said the technology is a "game changer" as he unveiled the news.

"This is a company that has been just like us - an innovator and a pioneer when cloud computing meets the desktop," he said. Poonen added the firm - which has about 50 global reseller and service provider partners - will complement VMware's offering to partners.

"By bringing Desktone's innovative platform in-house, VMware can accelerate the delivery of DaaS through [our] network of more than 11,000 VMware service provider partners while helping to shape and lead the future of the industry," he said.

Looking ahead

The announcement during the firm's address to more than 8,500 partners and customers in Barcelona came after VMware boss Pat Gelsinger (pictured) set out his tech vision for the firm which he joined just over a year ago.

He reiterated the firm's commitment to the software-defined datacentre, end-user computing and the hybrid cloud, and announced a flurry of technology updates to its products including its Horizon Suite and Virtual SAN offerings.

Gelsinger said he and his firm are on a mission to encourage customers to invest further in innovative technologies, and cited Gartner research claiming only 30 per cent of IT spending goes on innovation, while the remaining 70 per cent goes on keeping the lights on.

"We're spending too much on today's [IT] stuff," he said. "The reason for this [limited spend on innovative products] is the applications are hard, [there are] silos in IT, the infrastructure is riddled and heavy and management is slow and hard.

"But VMware customers... are better than that - over a third better, with more than 40 per cent [of IT budgets] being spent on innovation today. Our goal is for 50:50 or maybe even beyond."

Gelsinger finished his address by thanking partners and customers for their continued support of his firm.

"We're in awe that we are standing in front of the most disruptive force in our industry today," he said. "You have rewired IT - the scalability, the cost savings, the agility.

"VMworld is your show because you have done incredible things. You are just getting started; you are poised to disrupt, to transform and to rewire IT again and again. The mobile cloud era is in front of you, and as the masters, the champions of virtualisation, you are set to change IT yet again."