Rackspace announces Hosted Virtual Desktop platform

Hosting firm Rackspace is getting into the virtual desktop business with a new service that delivers the infrastructure, while reseller partners provide the know-how to build a solution that can meet each customer's requirements.

Available immediately, the Rackspace Hosted Virtual Desktop (HVD) platform provides customers in EMEA with dedicated servers backed by NetApp storage hardware and Rackspace's service level guarantees, tailored for operating virtual client machines.

"It's all about offering a platform and making sure it doesn't go down. We'll provide the infrastructure and network capacity, but the key is working with the right companies that can deliver the solution to customers," said Fabio Torlini, Rackspace marketing director for EMEA.

Rackspace HVD is designed with Citrix XenDesktop in mind, Torlini said, but customers are free to choose a different platform if they wish. The company also has a roadmap to support other virtual desktop stacks in the future, he added.

The list of virtualisation specialists Rackspace has partnered with to deliver a complete solution includes Infosys, Point to Point, Centralis and Intrinsic Technology.

Customers will typically see their virtual desktop infrastructure deployed across dedicated servers, but Rackspace said that it can offer a hybrid solution, allowing customers already using its cloud infrastructure to use this if they need to scale up.

"Dedicated infrastructure is the default, because of the quality of storage it offers, but the scalability is still there and both options allow you to trade capital expenditure for operational expenditure for your desktops," said Torlini.

Pricing will vary depending on customer requirements, but a typical figure is £50 to £60 per head all-in, according to the firm.