Since announcing NxTop in September, we’ve been saying that our solution will change the face of PC management.  While there are a number of solutions for managing desktops, NxTop is unique in its ability to apply desktop virtualization to both stationary desktop PCs and laptop PCs to dramatically improve their manageability, reliability, and security.

We continue to talk with the press and IT community about NxTop, the technology behind NxTop and our mission to use the latest in virtualization technology (a type 1, bare metal client hypervisor) to make PC lifecycle management easier than ever, including for the laptop PCs that present so many headaches to IT professionals today.

One of our more recent discussions was with Enterprise Management Quarterly. Virtual Computer CEO Dan McCall provided his perspective on the challenges faced by IT staffs in managing laptops, how managing laptops differs from managing traditional desktops, security implications, the limitation of agents and more.

Here are a few quick excerpts:

IT Managers have begun to find that the same virtualization technologies that have revolutionized the way IT data centers are managed can improve the manageability, reliability and security of desktop operating system environments.  Right now, most desktop management is done using software agents within the operating system.  This approach has reached its limit in terms of both functionality and usability.

When time comes for an IT Manager to apply a patch to the desktop operating system, they need only apply the patch to the master virtual machine running on NxTop Center.  Once the patch is applied, NxTop Center seamlessly publishes the blocks of data that have changed to all NxTop Engines subscribed to that virtual machine.

Our most significant technology innovation is our patent pending approach for isolating the four main components of the PC: hardware, operating system, applications and user data.  Allowing each of these components to be managed independently is what enables us to give IT Managers scalable one-to-many desktop management without taking the “personal” out of personal computers the way that other desktop virtualization products have.

Read the full article at Enterprise Management Quarterly and if you have any questions on NxTop, Dan’s article or Virtual Computer, let us know in the comments below or on our forums.

Desktop virtualization offers so much potential to reinvent the way that PC management is done.  The biggest challenge for us at times is determining where to focus next.  We are interested in understanding what your biggest PC management pain points are, particularly when it comes to those pesky laptop PCs.  New device deployment?  Patching?  Backup?  Data security and encryption? Tell us where it hurts.  We can help.  If you are a LinkedIn user, you can respond to the question I posted there: What are the biggest headaches that IT professionals face with managing laptop PCs?

If you don’t use LinkedIn, feel free to post a comment here on the blog.

The person with the best response will win one of our limited edition Virtual Computer bowling shirts, as featured at VMworld last week.  I will post a summary of the results on the blog once the LinkedIn question closes (7 days from now).

Also, if you haven’t yet joined the Virtual Computer LinkedIn Group, what are you waiting for?