If there is any doubt that vendors want to poke desktop virtualization into the psyche of corporate IT then last week's rash of vendor announcements should put all that to rest.

Microsoft, Red Hat, HP, Sun all moved to improve their standing in terms of enterprise desktop virtualization software.

Microsoft in a move to shore up its ongoing virtualized desktop story, announced that App-V 4.5 has been completed and that it will be included in the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) 2008 R2, which is set for release in a few weeks.

App-V (formerly Softgrid) lets users package applications up into "containers," store them on a server where they can be centrally managed, and then stream those containers to desktops, devices or shared PCs.

Microsoft has been pushing what it calls the Optimized Desktop, which addresses centralized management and deployment of physical and virtual resources.

With App-V 4.5, which is the first version developed under the company's Trustworthy Computing and Secure by Default guidelines, Microsoft introduced integration with System Center management tools, including the System Center Operations Manager 2007 Management Pack for App-V 4.5 servers. The software also features Dynamic Suite Composition (DSC), which lets virtualized applications share middleware resources; support for 11 languages; and a service-provider license option called Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 Hosting for Desktops.

Microsoft also announced that Citrix is releasing a version of Citrix XenDesktop that will integrate with System Center Virtual Machine Manager when that software ships later this month. 

Red Hat rounds up

Meanwhile, Red Hat extended its virtualization wares to the desktop by acquiring vendor Qumranet, which develops a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) platform called SolidICE.

The technology is based on a Linux kernel technology called Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), which Qumranet wrote and then took open source.

SolidICE provides IT with centralized desktop and image management, high availability, and provisioning for any desktop operating system.

Red Hat said the privately held Qumranet's development, test and support staff, including those that lead the KVM project, will join Red Hat.