VMware View 4, Certified HCL Tripples in Size

In the past month, the number of hardware Thin and Zero clients certified for VMware View 4.0 has nearly trippled. It only seemed fitting to update our list to further showcase the current state of the View "certified" HCL for "hardware" thin clients. The "ThreadX" OS variants include hardware from Teradici (TC1100) to accelerate the PCoIP protocol. 

As of January 26, 2010, the following hardware clients (average price of $526/unit) are "officially" on VMware's HCL:

OEM	Model	OS	Supports	Unit Cost	New Since
		Variant	PcoIP	(Est. $)	Dec-09
Amulet Hotkey	DXR4-iP	ThreadX	Y (quad-head video)	TBD	Y
Astec Technology Co.	A3520	Linux Embedded for Thin Client b1106	Y	TBD	Y
Astec Technology Co.	A3580	Windows XPe SP2	Y	TBD	Y
ClearCube	C7420	ThreadX	Y	$1,160	Y
ClearCube	I9420	ThreadX	Y	TBD	Y
DELL	OptiPlex FX160	Windows XPe SP2	Y	$512	N
DevonIT	TC10	ThreadX	Y	$342	Y
DevonIT	TC5	Windows Embedded Standard 2009	Y	$299	N
HP	GT7720	Windows Embedded Standard	Y	$799	N
HP	t5545	HP ThinPro	Y	$296	Y
HP	t5630	Windows XPe SP3	Y	$632	N
HP	t5630W	Windows Embedded Standard	Y	$440	N
HP	t5720	Windows XPe SP3	Y	$410 (refurbished)	N
HP	t5730	Windows XPe SP3	Y	$349	N
HP	t5730W	Windows Embedded Standard	Y	$550	N
HP	t5740	Windows Embedded Standard	Y	$429	N
HP	vc4820t	Windows Embedded Standard	Y	N/A	Y
IGEL	UD2-420 ES	Windows Embedded Standard	N	$436	Y
IGEL	UD2-420 LX	IGEL Linux 4.02.500	N	$292	Y
IGEL	UD3-420 ES	Windows Embedded Standard	Y	$561	Y
IGEL	UD3-420 LX	IGEL Linux 4.02.500	Y	$412	Y
IGEL	UD3-720 ES	Windows Embedded Standard	Y	$561	Y
IGEL	UD3-720 LX	IGEL Linux 4.02.500	Y	$436	Y
IGEL	UD5-420 ES	Windows Embedded Standard	Y	$627	Y
IGEL	UD5-420 LX	IGEL Linux 4.02.500	Y	$579	Y
IGEL	UD5-720 ES	Windows Embedded Standard	Y	$653	Y
IGEL	UD5-720 LX	IGEL Linux 4.02.500	Y	$605	Y
IGEL	UD7-720 ES	Windows Embedded Standard	Y	$1,042	Y
IGEL	UD7-720 LX	IGEL Linux 4.02.500	Y	$925	Y
IGEL	UD9-720 ES	Windows Embedded Standard	Y	$953	Y
Leadtek Research Inc.	WinFast VP200 P	ThreadX	Y	$715	Y
Praim	XP-6700	Windows XPe SP3	Y	TBD	Y
Praim	XP940-I	Windows XPe SP3	N	TBD	Y
Praim	XP9400-U	Windows XPe SP3	Y	TBD	Y
Praim	XT900-I	ThinOX 8.01.14	N	TBD	Y
Samsung	SyncMaster NC190	ThreadX	Y	$467	Y
Samsung	SyncMaster NC240	ThreadX	Y	$524	Y
Wyse	C90LEW	Windows Embedded Standard 2009	Y	$498	N
Wyse	P20	ThreadX	Y	$585	Y
Wyse	R50L	SUSE Linux Enterprise TC 10	Y	$481	Y
Wyse	R50LE	SUSE Linux Enterprise TC 10	Y	$442	Y
Wyse	R90LEW	Windows Embedded Standard 2009	Y	$640	N
Wyse	R90LW	Windows Embedded Standard 2009	Y	$593	N
Wyse	S10	WTOS 6.5	N	$252	N
Wyse	V10L	WTOS 6.5	N	$315	N
Wyse	V10L Dual DVI	WTOS 6.5	N	$447	N
Wyse	X50L	SUSE Linux Enterprise TC 10	Y	$671	Y

 SOLORI's NOTE: The Samsung NC190 and NC240 include integrated 19" and 24" monitors, respectively. This combination makes them the most cost and energy efficient PCoIP solutions on the market. If all-in-one products meet your deployment profile, the Samsung units are worth a serious look.

Devices not on this list may "work" with VMware View 4.0 but may not support all of View 4's features. VMware addresses certified and compatible as follows:

Certified and Compatible Thin Clients:
Certified - A thin client device listed against a particular VMware View release in the Certified For column has been tested by the thin client manufacturer against that specific VMware View release and includes a minimum set of features supported in that VMware View version.

Compatible - A thin client device certified against a specific VMware View release is compatible with previous and subsequent VMware View releases according to the compatibility guarantees published as part of that specific VMware View release (typically two major releases in both directions). However, a compatible thin client may not include all of the features of the newer VMware View release. Please refer to your VMware View Client documentation to determine which features are included.

Unlisted thin clients may embed VMware's "software client" along with a more general purpose operating system to deliver View 4 compatibility. Support for this class of device may be restricted to the device vendor only. Likewise, thin clients that are compatible with earlier versions of View may support only a subset of View 4's features. When in doubt, contact the thin client manufacturer before deploying with View 4.

VMware View 4, Current Certified HCL

Given the recent release of VMware View 4.0, we though it would be handy to showcase the current state of the View "certified" HCL for "hardware" thin clients. As of November 30, 2009, the following hardware thin clients are "officially" on VMware's HCL:

OEM	Model	OS Variant	Certified For	Compatible With	Supports PcoIP	Unit Cost (Est. $)
DELL	OptiPlex FX160	Windows XPe SP2	View 4.0	View 3.1, View 3.0, VDM 2.1, VDM 2.0	Y	$512
DevonIT	TC5	Windows Embedded Standard 2009	View 4.0, View 3.1	View 3.0, VDM 2.1, VDM 2.0	Y	$299
HP	GT7720	Windows Embedded Standard	View 4.0	View 3.1, View 3.0, VDM 2.1, VDM 2.0	Y	$799
HP	t5630	Windows XPe SP3	View 4.0, View 3.1	View 3.0, VDM 2.1, VDM 2.0	Y	$632
HP	t5630W	Windows Embedded Standard	View 4.0	View 3.1, View 3.0, VDM 2.1, VDM 2.0	Y	$440
HP	t5720	Windows XPe SP3	View 4.0, View 3.1	View 3.0, VDM 2.1, VDM 2.0	Y	$410 (refurbished)
HP	t5730	Windows XPe SP3	View 4.0, View 3.1	View 3.0, VDM 2.1, VDM 2.0	Y	$349
HP	t5730W	Windows Embedded Standard	View 4.0	View 3.1, View 3.0, VDM 2.1, VDM 2.0	Y	$550
HP	t5740	Windows Embedded Standard	View 4.0	View 3.1, View 3.0, VDM 2.1, VDM 2.0	Y	$429
HP	vc4820t	Windows Embedded Standard	View 4.0	View 3.1, View 3.0, VDM 2.1, VDM 2.0	Y	N/A
Wyse	C90LEW	Windows Embedded Standard 2009	View 4.0	View 3.1, View 3.0, VDM 2.1, VDM 2.0	Y	$498
Wyse	R90LEW	Windows Embedded Standard 2009	View 4.0	View 3.1, View 3.0, VDM 2.1, VDM 2.0	Y	$640
Wyse	R90LW	Windows Embedded Standard 2009	View 4.0	View 3.1, View 3.0, VDM 2.1, VDM 2.0	Y	$593
Wyse	S10	WTOS 6.5	View 4.0	View 3.1, View 3.0, VDM 2.1, VDM 2.0	N	$252
Wyse	V10L	WTOS 6.5	View 4.0	View 3.1, View 3.0, VDM 2.1, VDM 2.0	N	$315
Wyse	V10L Dual DVI	WTOS 6.5	View 4.0	View 3.1, View 3.0, VDM 2.1, VDM 2.0	N	$447

Devices not on this list may "work" with VMware View 4.0 but may not support all of View 4's features. VMware addresses certified and compatible as follows:

Certified and Compatible Thin Clients:
Certified - A thin client device listed against a particular VMware View release in the Certified For column has been tested by the thin client manufacturer against that specific VMware View release and includes a minimum set of features supported in that VMware View version.

Compatible - A thin client device certified against a specific VMware View release is compatible with previous and subsequent VMware View releases according to the compatibility guarantees published as part of that specific VMware View release (typically two major releases in both directions). However, a compatible thin client may not include all of the features of the newer VMware View release. Please refer to your VMware View Client documentation to determine which features are included.

Unlisted thin clients may embed VMware's "software client" along with a more general purpose operating system to deliver View 4 compatibility. Support for this class of device may be restricted to the device vendor only. Likewise, thin clients that are compatible with earlier versions of View may support only a subset of View 4's features. When in doubt, contact the thin client manufacturer before deploying with View 4.

Updated: 1-December-2009 -  added price reference for listed thin clients.

Quick-Take: VMworld 2009 Wrap-Up

VMworld 2009 in San Franciso started off with a crash and a fist fight, but ended without further incident. If you're looking for what happened, it would be hard to beat Duncan Epping's link-summary of the San Francisco VMworld 2009 at Yellow-Bricks, so we won't even try. Likewise, Chad Sakacc has some great EMC view point on his Virtualgeek blog, and - fresh from his new book release - Scott Lowe has some great detail about the VMworld keynotes, events and sessions he attended.

There is a great no-spin commentary on VMworld's "softer underbelly" on Jon William Toigo's Drunken Data blog - especially the post about Xsigo's participation in VMworld 2009. Also, Brian Madden has a great wrap-up video of of interviews from the VMworld floor including VMware's Client Virtualization Platform (CVP) and the software implementation of Teradici's PC-over-IP.

AMD's IOMMU was on display using a test mule with two 12-core 6100 processors and a SR5690 chipset. The targets were a FirePro graphics card and a Solarflare 10GE NIC. For IOMMU-based virtualization to have broad appeal, hardware device segmentation must be supported in a manner compatible with vMotion (live migration.) No segmentation was hinted at in AMD's demo (for FirePro), but the fact that vSphere+IOMMU+Magny-Cours equated to enough stability to be openly demonstrating the technology says a lot about the maturity of AMD's upcoming chips and chipsets. On the other hand, Solarflare's demonstration previewed - in 10GE - what could be possible in a future version of IOV for GPU's:

"The flexible vNIC demonstration will highlight the Solarstorm server adapter’s scalable, virtualized architecture, supporting 100s of virtual machines and 1000s of vNICs. The Solarstorm vNIC architecture provides flexible mapping of vNICs, so that each guest OS can have its own vNIC, as well as traffic management, enabling prioritization and isolation of IP flows between vNICs."

- Solarflare Press Release

SOLORI's Take: The controversy surrounding VMware's "focus" on the VMware "sphere" of products was a non-starter. The name VMworld does not stand for "Virtualization World" - it stands for "VMware World" and denying competitor's "marketing access" to that venue seems like a reasonable restriction. While it may seem like a strong-arm tactic to some, insisting that vendors/partners are there "for VMworld only" - and hence restricting cross-marketing efforts in and around the venue - makes it more difficult for direct competitors to play the "NASCAR-style marketing" (as Toigo calls it) game.

VMworld is a showcase for technologies driving the virtualization eco-system as seen from VMware's perspective. While there are a growing number of competitors for virtualization mind-share, VMware's pace and vision - to date - has been driven by careful observation of use-case more so than innovation for innovation's sake. It is this attention to business need that has made VMware successful and what defines VMworld's focus - and it is in that light that VMworld 2009 looks like a great success.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/090309-vmworld-vmware-roundup.html