Microsoft Corp. has explained its expanded role for virtualisation as a key enabler of its Dynamic IT vision and outlined a company-wide strategy to help accelerate the broad adoption of virtualisation.

To help drive its strategy, the company has also announced the acquisition of Calista Technologies Inc. This will improve the end-user experience for virtualised desktops and applications, expand the alliance with Citrix Systems Inc. in the areas of client and server virtualisation, generate more flexible licensing options for virtualisation using Windows Vista and create new tools that provide best practices to deploy Microsoft virtualisation software.

Very few customers are able to reap the benefits of virtualisation today with an estimation of less than five per cent of companies using virtualisation technology because it is simply too cost-prohibitive and complex. Microsoft’s comprehensive approach – from desktop to data centre – is unique to the industry by delivering solutions that address virtualisation at the hardware, application and management levels.

This approach is not only one of the most comprehensive in the market today, but also one of the most economical. This combination brings a big strategic advantage and cost savings to customers.

Microsoft and Citrix will co-market a broad portfolio of new client computing offerings so that customers have simple, flexible and low-cost client computing options. These offerings will be based on Windows Server 2008 and Windows Optimised Desktop solutions, extended with Citrix’s XenDesktop and Presentation Server products and managed by System Centre. Microsoft and Citrix will work together to help ensure the Citrix XenDesktop connection broker works well with Windows Optimised Desktop solutions. More details on this and other areas in which Microsoft and Citrix have expanded their alliance are available at http://www.microsoft.com