NVIDIA announced that it is unleashing the full graphics potential of enterprise desktop virtualization through NVIDIA GRID vGPU, which is integrated into Citrix XenDesktop 7.
NVIDIA GRID vGPU technology addresses the entire bring your own device (BYOD) trend that has been taking place over the past several years, with businesses encouraging employees to bring their own notebooks and mobile devices to work rather than using traditional workstations such as desktop PCs. These workers now rely on desktop virtualization technologies for anytime access from mobile devices to computing resources, which were initially used for enterprise applications. Performance and compatibility constraints had made it difficult for applications such as building information management (BIM), product-lifestyle management (PLM) and video and photo editing, which require large amounts of processing power that mobile devices did not have.
Hardware-based graphics replaced software emulation two decades ago, and desktop virtualization solutions stood alone as the only modern computing form without dedicated graphics hardware. The virtualized CPU, which was already burdened, limited performance and software emulation and also limited application compatibility, until the non-virtualized GPU in Citrix XenServer. However, efficiency was still limited because each user still needed their own GPU.
With the introduction of new HDX GPU sharing and deep compression techniques in XenDesktop 7, NVIDIA and Citrix customers can take advantage of the hosted-shared form of desktop virtualization to deliver rich, graphics-intensive applications. The Microsoft Windows Server RDSH and XenDesktop 7 platform also enable the sharing of GPUs across multiple user sessions. The combination of Citrix XenServer and NVIDIA GRID vGPU also allows businesses to address a broader set of users across a spectrum of verticals. These people include architects, engineers and contractors using computer-aded design (CAD) tools, like Autodesk BIM; manufacturing businesses that want to automate the connection between the product design and operations using PLM tools such as Enovia 3DLive, PTC Windchill PLM Connector and SIEMENS TeamCenter software; digital content creation workers using video and photo editing tools like Adobe PhotoShop; and health care specialists using picture archiving and communication system (PACS) software, such as GE Centricity EMR.
Citrix CEO and President Mark Templeton introduced XenDesktop 7 with NVIDIA GRID vGPU technology today in his opening keynote address at the Citrix Synergy 2013 user conference. “With NVIDIA GRID vGPU, even the most intensive graphics applications can be delivered by XenDesktop 7,” said Bob Schultz, vice president and general manager, Desktops and Applications Group at Citrix. “Now businesses can provide their users with the performance that they expect and need for engineering, design and video applications, while centrally securing and managing valuable intellectual property and sensitive information.”
“For the first time, NVIDIA GRID vGPU gives users of virtualized desktops the performance, stability and compatibility of hardware-accelerated graphics,” said Jeff Brown, vice president and general manager of the GRID business unit at NVIDIA. “Millions of those involved in everything from product design to manufacturing to supply chain management can now enjoy the benefits of desktop and application virtualization with NVIDIA GRID vGPU technology.”
M7 Global Partners, which is a consortium of the top nine Citrix platinum-level IT providers in the US, announced its support for the NVIDIA GRID vGPU technology. The group reaches thousands of clients around the world. M7 customers are looking to deploy visually rich applications in businesses, healthcare settings and schools who have expressed interest in the capabilities of the NVIDIA GRID vGPU technology.
“I’ve been selling desktop virtualization solutions for 18 years and the single greatest source of pain in that time has been customers who want to centralize the delivery of graphics-intensive applications,” said Mike Strohl, CEO of Entisys Solutions, Inc., Agile360 and founding partner of M7 Global Partners. “The NVIDIA GRID vGPU is a game changer. At Entisys and across M7 we look forward to not only holding the spear, but to being at the tip of it as we bring to market this amazing technology, which our customers have truly been asking for.”
NVIDIA GRID vGPU technology is being shown in NVIDIA’s booth 303 and in the XenServer demonstration area at Citrix Synergy in Anaheim, California, through May 24. General availability is expected later this year. For more information, please check out NVIDIA GRID at www.nvidia.com/object/grid-boards.html.