Unidesk offers Microsoft partners a VDI leg-up

CEO Don Bulens says his firm can help Microsoft resellers compete with VMware and Citrix in VDI space

Unidesk, a US-based vendor whose goal is to cut complexity in virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) deployments, is making overtures to UK Microsoft partners as it bolsters its local presence.

Massachusetts-based Unidesk claims to have invented "layering", a method of Windows application delivery designed to reduce complexity in desktop virtualisation. One of its key competitors, Cloud Volumes, was snapped up by VMware last year.

Talking to CRN, Unidesk chief executive Don Bulens said his firm will invest "ahead of the curve" in marketing funding available to UK and European channel partners after hiring a regional director in the form of Roger Baskerville.

Unidesk provides scalability to Microsoft VDI at a combined price that is half that of the equivalent VMware or Citrix solution, Bulens claimed.

"In collaboration, we are really bringing Microsoft forward as a strong alternative in the desktop virtualisation market," he said.

"Part of our expansion into the UK is centred on trying to attract the Microsoft channel to participate in VDI in a way they perhaps have not been able to. In the past, as solution providers will know, Microsoft said its VDI didn't scale beyond 500 desktops. Now, with us, that limitation is lifted and Microsoft VDI can scale to many thousands of – even 10,000 – users."

Some of the largest of Unidesk's 1,200 global customers are based in the UK, Bulens stressed, with UK partners such as Novosco, Nugensis, Proact and EssentialNET serving a local client comprised largely of NHS trusts, local councils and education institutions.

"We have a small number of highly engaged, terrific partners," he said. "We want them to continue to be incredibly successful but we also think there is a much larger opportunity and are hoping to slowly and steadily expand our channel to serve more customers."

Bulens said his firm's raison d'être is to eliminate the complexity of VDI deployments, which he said had been one of the two key barriers to its adoption, alongside cost.

"The hyper-converged infrastructure players have created innovations that are driving down the cost of infrastructure for VDI," he said. "Our focus has been on eliminating the complexity of application delivery and Windows image management."