McAfee and Citrix Systems have announced a strategic partnership and collaboration agreement to make virtual desktop security simpler and more scalable for large enterprise deployments. The collaboration between the two companies will enable Citrix XenDesktop customers to extend management of desktop security to virtual environments using the McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator platform. The partnership is the direct result of growing customer demand for integrated security management in large-scale enterprise deployments of desktop virtualization.
The companies will collaborate to develop security solutions for VDI-based virtual desktops that centralize all virus scanning and virus signature file updates, off-loading the processing intensive actions from the individual VMs. The goal of this solution is to enhance the security and scalability of virtual desktop deployments by reducing CPU, memory and storage requirements, and to simplify desktop security and lifecycle management. The results of the collaboration are planned for release late in the second half of 2010 and will be designed to secure XenDesktop deployments on any of the three leading hypervisors-Citrix XenServer, Microsoft Hyper-V or VMware ESX.
Chris Wolf, Senior Analyst, Burton Group said, "The technical nuances of the virtual desktop such as shared OS images make legacy endpoint security solutions impractical. Instead, open solutions that intelligently leverage hypervisor and guest-level resources as needed, while providing required insight into complex shared virtual infrastructures, are best positioned for long term success."
