One company worth checking out if you’re heading to the show is
Redwood City-based MokaFive. They
specialize in mobile desktop virtualization - meaning, you can both
virtualize your desktop and take it on the road with you, loaded onto
an
iPod or USB stick.
If you’re like me and tired of scurrying to whip out your laptop to
get through airport security, MokaFive offers free software to create
virtual desktops - they call them LivePCs - that separates your
computer operating system from your hardware. This means you can port
your desktop on a variety of different machines - including mobile
devices.
According to Purnima Padmanabhan, VP of Product Management at
MokaFive, LivePCs work online or offline - you don’t need a constant
network connection, and your data is automatically backed up to the
cloud. “No one is chained to their desktop these days. You shouldn’t
be chained to your virtualized desktop either,” she said. The
user can even remotely destroy their virtual desktop if the device is
lost.
For all you
iPhone junkies, MokaFive will be moving onto mobile phones
soon, and is offering a free software prototype, called iPhone
Sentinel, allowing a portion of the flash storage on an iPhone to
essentially function as a removable drive for Windows and
Mac OS
users.
The company has plans to introduce additional smartphone
prototypes in the future. For now, you can download the iPhone
Sentinel here.
As virtualization fanatics gear up for VMworld this week in Las Vegas,
desktop virtualization will no doubt be among the hottest topics. In
the last few months, everyone seems to want a piece of the pie -Sun,
HP, Dell, Microsoft are jumping in as desktop virtualization brings in
a new technical variable to the quietly reigniting war for desktop
domination. Red Hat bought Qumranet this past week for $107 million
and immediately
went after VMWare.