Managing desktops across a large business can be complex, Microsoft executives said. Issues such as application compatibility, mobility and business continuity can be addressed with virtual PC technologies, said Shanen Boettcher, general manager of Microsoft's Windows product management team. "Kidaro's seamless user interface and management capabilities allow enterprises to more easily use and manage virtual PCs," he added.

Aiding Vista Migrations

Kidaro's Managed Workspace product allows enterprise data and applications to run within a 'transparent virtual machine wrapper' built upon Microsoft Virtual PC, noted Patrick O'Rourke, senior product manager at Microsoft's Windows Server Group. "The wrapper provides enterprise-class management, deployment and a clean user experience," he said.

In addition to taking on Kidaro's three founders with the deal, Microsoft intends to retain Kidaro's overseas R&D team, which makes "sense since Microsoft already has an R&D center in Israel," O'Rourke said. Kidaro's products will be melded into future updates of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for software assurance "under the name Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization," O'Rourke added.

The acquired products are expected to enable Microsoft's software-assurance customers with enhanced subscription to accelerate Windows Vista migrations. Moreover, enterprise managers will be able to apply IT policies in a locked-down mode that still gives end users access to the underlying host operating system. In addition, companies will be able to reduce IT investments by delivering desktop PC virtual images that are independent of hardware or local desktop configurations, Microsoft said.

Future Opportunities

Despite Microsoft's announcement, Gartner Vice President Michael Silver said there hasn't been much adoption of PC virtualization in enterprises.

"Today, virtual machines are used by developers, help desk, and technical sales people, but not by the mainstream desktop user," Silver noted. On the other hand, virtual PC technology in the enterprise space "will be a factor going forward," he said.

Kidaro competes in several virtualization areas, Silver said. "The one where it would manage a virtual machine on a desktop is akin to VMWare's ACE product or Sentillion Vthere," he said. "It also has some features of portable personality."

Though Silver thinks Kidaro will be a good fit for Microsoft, Gartner remains "skeptical about how many organizations will really deploy this en masse to help with Vista compatibility." Longer term, there are some things Microsoft can do to make Kidaro's solutions server-based, Silver noted.

"Also, at this point it's slated to be available exclusively through the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack suite as an add-on for software-assurance customers, but eventually we think it will be of interest to a wider audience," Silver added.