Citrix has acquired RingCube, a vendor of software for personalising desktops within virtual desktop infrastructures (VDI), the companies announced. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
RingCube’s software “will make it easier for IT to give each and every user a personalised desktop,” said John Fanelli, Citrix VPt of enterprise desktop and applications. Citrix plans to pair RingCube’s technology with its own VDI offering, XenDesktop.
RingCube’s software will allow users to choose wallpapers, define their printers, install department applications and create their own areas for storing data, the company said.
VDI deployments virtualise desktop operating systems, so they can be stored on a server and streamed to the user when needed. Typically, in order for a user to customise his or her VDI-based desktop, the organisation will need to store an image of the entire operating system and all of the user’s data. In order to save storage space, many operations, such as help call centers, instead use a single copy of an operating system for everyone, depriving users of personalisation.
RingCube’s technology saves all the customisation data in a separate file, which can be paired with the operating system when it is requested. “This approach can greatly reduce the amount of storage needed, since duplicates of the OS are not required,” Fanelli explained.
Fanelli did not disclose how RingCube’s technology will be packaged with, or integrated into, XenDesktop. Citrix has sold more than 7 million licenses of XenDesktop, including sales to 50 customers with 10,000 seats or more, according to reports.
Based in Mountain View, California, “RingCube launched its VDI customisation product in May and has 20 patent applications under consideration,” Fanelli said. “RingCube’s personnel will be assigned to the enterprise desktop and application division of Citrix,” he concluded.
