Today, Lanamark had the pleasure of exhibiting at interAct Partner Day and meeting with a number of channel partners delivering virtualization solutions. Mark Angelo, CEO of Lanamark, shared the stage with Rudi Lenaerts, CEO of interAct, who delivered the keynote in the afternoon. Mark Angelo also participated in the CEO roundtable and was interviewed by the IT Reseller magazine.

The event was very well organized and executed by a stellar interAct team. Other exhibitors at the event included AppSense, Citrix, DataCore, Endeavors Technologies, IGEL, RES Software and ScriptLogic. During his keynote, Scott Herren, Group Vice President and General Manager, Virtualization Systems at Citrix Systems announced XenDesktop 4.0.

Many thanks to everyone at interAct who worked tirelessly to put together the event and to all channel partners who took the time to participate.

Mark Angelo sharing the keynote with Rudi Lenaerts

Mark Angelo getting serious at the CEO Roundtable

Lanamark today announced a partnership with Avnet Technology Solutions, a leading distributor of enterprise computing products, software and services with locations in more than 30 countries. The partnership will enable value-added resellers, system integrators and system builders working with Avnet Technology Solutions to use Lanamark Suite to accelerate design and delivery of desktop virtualisation, server virtualisation and storage solutions to enterprises in EMEA.

The partnership between Avnet Technology Solutions and Lanamark allows IT solution providers to offer real options to customers across virtualization and hardware platforms, rather than limiting them to a fixed combination. Now VARs, system integrators and consultants can mix-and-match:

• Software from vendors such as Citrix, Microsoft, Oracle, Parallels, Quest and VMware
• Hardware from vendors such as EMC, HP, Hitachi, IBM, Fujitsu, IGEL, NetApp, Sun and Wyse

By doing so, solution providers can build solutions that are best for their customers and then purchase all the key components of these solutions from Avnet, all while shortening sales cycles and maintaining control of sales and services opportunities.

Over the weekend, VMware quietly released the latest version of VMware Capacity Planner. Here is a list of new features available:

• Desktop Virtualization. VDI assessments enable you to virtualize destops utilizing software profiles and base images.
• Software Profiles. Software profiles replace application profiles and can now be edited by partners. Software Profiles allow tags to describe the software. Software Profiles can represent applications and operating systems. They keep track of individual process utilization as well as system-wide use. More computing resource utilization dimensions are shown for each profile.
• Base Image Creation. System Software Cluster analysis is used to build a few images that maximize software usage.
• VM Template Sizing. You can create VM Templates, based on various base images, during an Optimization Scenario Analysis.

and more... In a nutshell, VMware Capacity Planner now enables planning for virtualized desktop and server infrastructure. This new release also shows that VMware is getting serious about desktop and application virtualization.

In contrast, Lanamark Suite enables solution providers to design desktop virtualization and server virtualization solutions, including the underlying storage infrastructure for virtualization platforms from all major vendors:

• Citrix
• Microsoft
• Parallels
• Virtual Iron (Oracle)
• VMware

Lanamark today announced availability of the Desktop Analysis Pack for Lanamark Suite. This new analysis pack is designed to help solution providers

• Efficiently analyze existing physical desktop infrastructure.
• Right-size virtual desktop infrastructure to avoid under- or over-provisioning.
• Help enterprises rationalize software licenses to reduce software costs and the risk of non-compliance.

The Desktop Analysis Pack for Lanamark Suite

• Distinguishes desktops from laptops to identify mobile users.
• Determines associations between workstations and external devices such as monitors, printers and scanners.
• Leverages Lanamark Software Intelligence (LSI) technology to recognize software applications installed versus ones actually used across the enterprise.

The combined information about desktop hardware and software enables solution providers to

• Identify desktops most suitable for virtualization
• Determine what type of thin client devices would be most appropriate for end users
• Recommend how software applications should be allocated to minimize licensing costs.