• Build on the vSphere ESXi hypervisor architecture
• vSphere Auto Deploy combining host profiles, Image Builder and PXE
• Unified CLI framework, allowing consistency of authentication, roles and auditing.
• Support for up to 1 TB of memory
• Support for 32 vCPU’s per VM
• Nonhardware accelerated 3D graphics for Windows Aero support
• USB 3.0 device support
• UEFI virtual BIOS
• Host UEFI boot support
• New GUI to configure multicore vCPUs
• Client-connected USB devices
• Smart card reader support for VMs
• Apple Mac OS X Server 10.6 (Snow Leopard) guest OS support
• Support for up to 512 VMs
• Support for up to 160 Logical CPUs and 2 TB or RAM
• Improved SNMP support
• Storage driven storage delivery based on the VMware-Aware Storage APIs
• Improved version of the Cluster File System, VMFS5
• Accelerator for specific use with View (VDI) workloads, providing a read cache optimized for recognizing, handling and deduplicating VDI client images.
• iSCSI user interface support
• Storage APIs – Array Integration: Thin Provisioning enabling reclaiming blocks of a thin provisioned LUN on the array when a virtual disk is deleted
• Swap to SSD
• 2TB+ LUN support
• Storage vMotion snapshot support
• vNetwork Distributed Switch improvements providing improved visibility in VM traffic
• ESXi Firewall protecting the ESXi 5.0 management interface
• A browser-based, fully-extensible, platform-independent implementation of the vSphere Client based on Adobe Flex.
• vCenter Server Appliance
• Inventory Extensibility: providing a manager to monitor partner extensions.
• vCenter Solutions Manager, providing a consistent interface to configure and monitor vCenter-integrated solutions developed by VMware and third parties.
• System message logging enhancements
• Revamped VMware High Availability (HA) with Fault Domain Manager
• All hosts in cluster can be primary nodes
• Cluster also uses shared storage as a channel for heartbeat detection

I am curious to see how the Adobe Flex Web front-end will fair compared to the web based interface, it can definitely only be better!

Market-leading Virtual Desktop Solution Adds Breakthrough Simplification, Brilliant User Experience and Support for a New Generation of Devices and Apps.

Today at Citrix Synergy™ in Berlin, the conference where virtualization, networking and cloud computing meet, Citrix Systems unveiled a major new release of Citrix XenDesktop®, the company’s market-leading solution for desktop virtualization. The new XenDesktop 5 brings unprecedented levels of simplicity and power to virtual desktops for both users and IT. It supports a wide range of new consumer devices, thousands of new third-party products and an entirely new generation of web and software-as-a-service (SaaS) apps. XenDesktop 5 also extends the benefits of desktop virtualization to millions of laptop users for the first time ever, giving them virtual desktops “to go” with the new Citrix XenClient™ hypervisor. To support the new XenDesktop 5 release, Citrix also unveiled an extensive new initiative to help customers move from the “wow” of desktop virtualization to the “how” of successful implementation, leveraging the collective wisdom of thousands of customers who have already successfully transformed their enterprise desktop strategies by “going virtual”.

Key Facts and Highlights:

·         Faster, Simpler, More Powerful – XenDesktop 5 makes it easier than ever to get started with desktop virtualization. Customers can now achieve “10 minutes to Xen”(1), completing a new installation in just 10 minutes. Once up and running, managing virtual desktops with XenDesktop 5 also becomes faster and simpler than ever before with new role-based features. The new Desktop Studio™ console makes it easy for administrators to centrally design and manage virtual desktops, setting up new employees in seconds. XenDesktop 5 customers can also take advantage of the new Desktop Director™ console, giving helpdesk administrators a powerful way to monitor, troubleshoot and support virtual desktops for thousands of users across a large, distributed enterprise, with real-time information on usage, status and service levels. XenDesktop 5 also supports Microsoft System Center, making it easy for customers to manage applications on physical and virtual desktops with a familiar set of tools and processes. In addition, XenDesktop 5 introduces a comprehensive new SDK that enables customers and partners to integrate and automate the solution with third-party systems management tools.

·         Taking User Experience to a New Level – XenDesktop users have always enjoyed the best, high-definition user experience with their virtual desktops and apps thanks to Citrix HDX™ technology. XenDesktop 5 adds powerful new HDX enhancements that dramatically improve performance for resource intensive tasks like audio and video collaboration and large-file printing, even over low bandwidth connections. XenDesktop 5 also features a lush and captivating new end user experience. From new welcome screens inviting first-time users to their new virtual desktop, to an entirely redesigned virtual desktop viewer, every detail of the XenDesktop 5 user interface is designed to make each user’s workspace feel familiar and inviting.

·         Stunning Touch-Enabled Support for New Consumer Devices – By leveraging the Citrix Receiver™ universal software client, XenDesktop 5 makes it easy to deliver business desktops and apps to the rapidly growing number of new devices flooding the workforce, including PCs, Macs, laptops, tablets and smartphones. XenDesktop 5 adds support for a long list of new devices, along with extensive user experience enhancements such as the ability to instantly “touch-enable” existing enterprise apps that were never designed to run on new touch-screen tablets such as the Apple iPad or BlackBerry PlayBook. (See today’s related announcement.)

·         Connecting Virtual Desktops to a New Generation of Apps – XenDesktop 4 changed the game last year by fully integrating the capabilities of Citrix XenApp™, giving customers one product to deliver both Windows desktops and apps as an on-demand service. By leveraging the new Citrix Receiver, XenDesktop 5 changes the game again, making it easy to deliver one-click, single sign-on access to an entirely new generation of applications, including externally-hosted web, cloud and SaaS apps. This integration makes it easy for IT to deliver a rich array of Windows, web and SaaS apps to each user with a simple, unified experience, regardless of what type of app it is, or where it is actually running. (See today’s related announcement.)

·         Beyond VDI with Virtual Desktops “To Go” – Last year, XenDesktop 4 introduced a breakthrough new technology called FlexCast™ that gave customers the flexibility to deliver a range of virtual desktop technologies from a single product – from personalized VDI-based desktops ideal for office workers, to shared desktops optimized for task workers. XenDesktop 5 takes the FlexCast technology one step further, enabling IT to deliver virtual desktops “to go” that run directly on each user’s PC or laptop. This approach, which leverages the new XenClient hypervisor, is ideal for millions of corporate laptop users, providing IT with all the central management and security benefits of hosted virtual desktops, while giving mobile workers the flexibility to work connected or disconnected.

·         Secure BYOC with Citrix XenVault – An increasing number of users are bringing their own devices to work as outside contractors or via employee bring your own computer (BYOC) programs. In these scenarios, IT needs to provide access to corporate applications and secure any confidential data, but does not want the hassles of installing applications or managing personal laptops. XenDesktop 5 addresses this scenario in the simplest way possible by delivering corporate apps as an on-demand service, then automatically encrypting any documents created by those apps and saving them transparently in an encrypted folder on the user’s laptop. This is made possible through an innovative new data security technology called XenVault™. In addition to ensuring corporate data is secure at all times on non-corporate owned devices, XenVault also enables IT to securely wipe any corporate data remotely when a contract is over, an employee terminates, or the laptop is lost or stolen.

·         Support for 15,000 Verified Third-Party Products – Through the Citrix Ready® verification program, XenDesktop has now been verified to work with more than 15,000 third-party products, ranging from servers, hypervisors and storage systems, to client devices, printers, webcams and USB peripherals. With new verified products being added every day, customers can be assured that they can move to virtual desktops at their own pace, leveraging their existing IT investments, and choosing whatever partners they like for new investments. Customers can view a full list of supported third-party products on the Citrix Ready Open Desktop Virtualization program page.

·         Taking Virtual Desktops from “Wow to How” – Citrix, along with key partners and global systems integrators, also announced a new program to help organizations move from the “wow” of desktop virtualization, to the “how” of implementation success. The new Desktop Transformation Model makes it easy to assess each customer’s unique business priorities and translate them to a practical, step-by-step, customized roadmap for adopting and scaling desktop virtualization initiatives. The program makes it easy for customers new to desktop virtualization to take advantage of tips and best practices learned by thousands of customers who have already successfully deployed millions of virtual desktops and applications. (See today’s related announcement.)

·         Availability – XenDesktop 5 will be generally available in Q4 2010. Suggested pricing starts at $95 per user or device for the VDI-only edition. Comprehensive desktop and application virtualization is available in the Enterprise or Platinum editions, priced at $225 and $350. 

VMworld will stage more than 18,000 lab seats and conduct up to 480 simultaneous Lab sessions during the four-day event. To build out this environment, we have committed 75,000+ man-hours in Lab creation and development to produce 30 Lab topics – all powered by vSphere Hypervisor, formerly vSphere ESXi. The Labs will cover everything from virtualized desktop infrastructure, through the vSphere-powered data center and into the VMware-powered cloud. With easy access to more than 100 VMware Subject Matter Experts on hand to answer questions and explore options, you’ll get one-on-one attention when you need it, and still have the flexibility to move at your own pace. Forget pre-registration. With over 40 hours of available Lab time throughout the conference, you’re free to experience the latest in VMware offerings on your own schedule.

I will update you all as to how the even is going and if i learn any juicy information, of course if I am not able to share it, I definitely will not post about it!

-NS