VMware’s latest version of its VDI offering will be released to customers next week.   Among some of the features being released in this version are support for Windows 7 Service Pack 1, enhanced USB  device compatibility, and most importantly, PC over IP tunneling.  PC over IP tunneling will allow users to connect via the View Security Gateway, thus negating the need for users to connect back to the datacenter via VPN.

Glaringly missing in this version is user profile management support via RTO software.   It appears that issues with RTO and Windows 7 still exist, and VMware has decided to not include this feature in this version.   View implementations will need to rely on third party vendors such as AppSense or RES Software, or attempt to perform user profile management by using VMware Composer or linked clones.  The latter strategy however doesn’t scale as well as the third party products would.  Furthermore, those products offer more features than just profile management, and are worth exploring as a potential option in any Windows 7 (either VDI or traditional) deployment.

 Customers current on their VMware subscriptions  can upgrade to View free of charge.  The product can be downloaded from here.

Microsoft recently announced that the service packs for Windows 7  and Windows Server 2008 R2 have been released to OEM partners, and will be released to customers on February 22^nd.

Here is a list of interesting updates within each service pack:

Windows 7 - Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 is essentially a cumulative update of all previously released security updates for the operating system.   Along with these updates, this service pack introduces client side support for RemoteFX and Dynamic Memory, two features being introduced in the Server 2008 R2 service pack.

The key item to note here is that with the release of this service pack, the clock starts ticking on the end of support for pre-SP1 Windows 7 implementations.    After 24 months, Microsoft will discontinue security fixes for Pre-SP1 Windows 7.   Simplegrid’s desktop engineering team has been busy assisting clients with Windows 7 design and deployment initiatives, and hasn’t encountered any major issues in terms of stability or performance during these projects.  We expect that the service pack 1 implementation for Windows 7 will go smoothly as well.

Windows 2008 – The buzz around the service pack for 2008 R2 revolve around two newly introduced features and their impact on Hyper-V:

Dynamic Memory – This feature, which is a direct response to VMware’s Memory Overcommit feature, claims to bring a 40% increase in density from 2008 R2 to 2008 R2 SP1 in VDI environments.  This increase in density also doesn’t compromise the system’s security as Dynamic Memory doesn’t require the disabling of Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), as VMware recommends.

RemoteFX – Another response to one of VMware’s technologies, this time PC-over-IP, RemoteFX is essentially an enhancement to RDP’s graphics remoting capabilities. RemoteFX will bring the same full display desktop experience to VDI clients, including multiple display, Aero and multimedia support.  This is accomplished via host-based rendering, which essentially means that the display is first rendered on the host, and then compressed and sent to the client.

There are two key items to note about RemoteFX.  First, RemoteFX is an enhancement of RDP’s graphics capabilities; it is not a replacement of RDP.  This means that all the other features of RDP (ports, printing, client drive mappings, encryption) are the same.  Second, RemoteFX will only work on a Windows 7 Service Pack 1 client connecting to a Windows 2008 R2 SP1 Hyper-V virtual machine.  RemoteFX will not in any other technology, primarily because Microsoft isn’t allowing it.

It remains to be seen how these features will work in production environments, but both service packs are well worth implementing into your environments as soon as possible.

Microsoft has annouced the release for the successor to Office Communications Server 2007 R2, named Microsoft Lync.

Lync Server provides enhanced versions of the communications capabilities provided by Office Communications Server 2007 R2—presence, instant messaging, robust conferencing, and enterprise voice—as well as improvements in topology, deployment, and management tools. 

Improve productivity Rich presence information helps employees find each other and choose the most effective way to communicate at a given time. Instead of e-mailing documents back and forth for approval, workers can rely on real-time collaboration through enhanced conferencing with desktop, application, and virtual whiteboard sharing—or contact a collaborator from within Microsoft Office or other applications. The unified Microsoft Lync 2010 client provides access to enterprise voice, enterprise messaging, and conferencing from one simplified interface.

Support the mobile workforce Mobile workers get access to rich Unified Communications tools from practically anywhere with an Internet connection, no VPN needed. An updated Lync Mobile client makes joining and managing conferences, searching the Global Address List, and viewing presence information easy. Rich presence in Lync Server 2010 has been updated with mobile location information, making on-the-go workers easier to find and contact. A single user experience across PC, phone, mobile phone, and browser gives workers more ways to stay in touch.

Gain operational efficiencies By integrating Unified Communications and rich presence into business workflows, latency and delays can be reduced or eliminated. For geographically dispersed teams, group chat can enable efficient, topic-specific, multi-party discussions that persist over time.

Be more responsive to customers, partners, and employees Enhanced delegation through Lync 2010, one-click call routing and management features in Microsoft Lync 2010 Attendant for receptionists, and rich presence information in both help ensure that opportunities are routed to the right person at the right time.

Maintain regulatory compliance Built-in security, encryption, archiving, and call detail records help meet regulatory requirements. By using your own servers and network, you maintain control over sensitive data that would otherwise be transmitted over public telephone networks and third-party conferencing platforms.

http://lync.microsoft.com/en-us/launch/Pages/launch.aspx

We are excited to finally have the production code for View 4.5, and with it, a second supported and viable VDI platform for Windows 7 desktops.  The download is available below.

http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/desktop_downloads/vmware_view/4_5

VMware claims to deliver rich, personalized virtual desktops as a managed service from a virtualization platform built to deliver the entire desktop, including the operating system, applications and data. With VMware View 4.5, desktop administrators virtualize the operating system, applications, and user data and deliver modern desktops to end-users. Get centralized automated management of these components for increased control and cost savings. Improve business agility while providing a flexible high performance desktop experience for end-users, across a variety of network conditions.

• Deliver desktops as a managed service to reduce costs and gain better reliability, efficiency and security
• Get ready for Windows 7 by virtualizing your desktops and applications now
• Deliver desktops to remote and branch offices to accelerate provisioning while retaining control

Microsoft announced the release of its Windows 7 SP1 public beta today at their Worldwide Partner Conference.  There are no feature enhancements in this service pack; instead it is just a roll up of previous released updates for the OS.

Although most firms usually wait for the first service pack to be release before deploying a new Operating System, there has been a significant effort by Microsoft to push companies to deploy Windows 7 before the final service pack released (which is scheduled to be released in the first half of 2011).  Various industry experts have recommended that customers not wait for SP1 as well.

Simplegrid’s Desktop Engineering Practice concurs with these recommendations.  We’ve designed and implemented a few Windows 7 environments ranging from 50 to 3,000 seats, and have not experienced any instability or performance issues that would require customers to wait for Microsoft to address in a service pack.  With that said, customers must still partake in significant planning to deploy a new desktop environment, and must also do their due diligence in ensuring that their applications are compatible with Windows 7 before deploying the OS.   

You can download the SP1 public beta here.

More information on features and updates being released in this service pack can be found on Microsoft’s SP1 beta overview page.