Make sure you check out the exciting work that we are doing this morning with the Virtual Desktop Alliance which goes beyond just designing and implementing great virtual computing environments. It reminds me of a favorite quote from John Wooden who said, “You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.”

STAMFORD, Conn., May 12, 2011 — MTM Technologies, Inc. announced today that it is providing a comprehensive solution including services with the Desktop Virtualization Cisco Validated Design (CVD) for Yorkville Food Pantry.

Instead of just responding to a request for a desktop refresh from the Yorkville Food Pantry and their partner ING Commercial Banking in New York, MTM asked to meet with the customer to understand their requirements.  During the discovery process, MTM uncovered Yorkville Food Pantry’s desire for an end to end virtualization solution.  Yorkville Food Pantry needed to create a cost effective, scalable and high performance solution for securing and optimizing the delivery of virtual desktops and applications.  The perfect solution exists in the form of the Desktop Virtualization Cisco Validated Design (CVD) from Cisco, Citrix, Netapp and MTM.  This architecture combines the Cisco Unified Computing System, Citrix desktop virtualization technologies including FlexCast™ and HDX™ technologies and NetApp unified storage.  MTM built a server and desktop virtualization platform that was able to support their business needs efficiently.  MTM provides, as part of their Virtual Desktop Alliance solution, all of the components required for their desktops and servers on a simple flexible infrastructure.

MTM was very pleased to partner with ING Commercial Banking and work with Yorkville Food Pantry to pull together the products needed and to design and plan the solution implementation.  The plan included all the necessary details, including the physical rack and stack tasks, configuration of Netapp storage options, the Citrix XenServer, XenApp and XenDesktop configuration, the Microsoft Active Directory configuration, testing, rollout and knowledge transfer.

Several manufacturer partners were involved to make this project a reality for New York City’s largest community based food pantry.  YPC’s Yorkville Food Pantry Program is designed to meet the needs of families by providing culturally appropriate and nutritionally-balanced food.  MTM could not have done this without the support of its partners – Cisco, Citrix, Netapp, Microsoft, Wyse, Appsense and Trend Micro.  Working with this group of World Class manufacturers allowed MTM to pull together this solution and donate it to an outstanding and worthy cause, Yorkville Food Pantry.

Elaine Clark, Managing Director of Corporate Communications for ING, and who also serves on the Board of Directors for YCP, said, “The Yorkville Common Pantry serves a vitally important function for thousands of New Yorkers and ING is extremely pleased to have been able to facilitate MTM’s generous donation of computer equipment and services that will help to enhance the organization’s operational efficiency.”

“MTM’s donation is reflective of our goal to be responsible corporate citizens and supportive of important charitable causes,” said Steven Stringer, President and CEO of MTM Technologies. “The Yorkville Common Pantry is dedicated to improving the lives of New Yorkers and we are proud that our technology and services will help further their important goal.”

About MTM Technologies

MTM Technologies is a leading national provider of innovative IT solutions and services to Global 2000 and mid-size companies. Partnered with the top-tier technology providers and with offices from coast to coast, our unique solution-based methodology, combined with our experience and expertise, has enabled thousands of industry-leading organizations to effectively address their business needs, optimize the returns on their IT investments, mitigate risk, and focus on growth and profitability. Additional information is available at http://www.mtm.com.

About the Yorkville Common Pantry

The Yorkville Common Pantry (YCP) is dedicated to reducing hunger while promoting dignity and self-sufficiency. YCP champions the cause of the hungry through food pantry and meal distribution programs, nutrition education, basic hygiene services, homeless support, and related services. YCP’s community based programs focus on East Harlem and other underserved communities throughout New York City. More information is available at http://www.ycp.org.

Adoption of Citrix XenDesktop 4 has been robust. Many companies are interested in implementing a centralized solution for desktop management, particularly since the control it brings solves a number of IT support challenges, from software deployment to malware prevention. Operational efficiency gains are salient post-implementation, and the TCO and ROI cases are clear. Aside from these high-level benefits, though, there are a number of granular reasons to move to Citrix XenDesktop. Here are the top three:

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In a best-of-breed virtual desktop infrastructure, where do you turn for help? At the enterprise level, there’s rarely one vendor involved, which means a variety of skills – and team members – may e involved in resolving a particular problem. For your IT managers, this can be frustrating. End users need support, and the IT manager’s reputation is on the line. Time spent hunting for the right people trims what’s available for remediation within standing SLAs.

To make the different virtualization layers work together, a variety of solutions may be necessary. The result is a streamlined infrastructure and improved business user experience, but it can create complications when something goes awry. This is the case when any environment relies on integrated systems for disparate technology vendors, and there are measures you can implement to protect your company.

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How can virtualizing your server infrastructure help your business development team? Sure, there are clear business benefits to server virtualization, but to draw a straight line to sales and client activity may not seem possible. Step back for a moment and consider how your clients interact with your business, though, and it doesn’t take long to understand how your servers can make a profound difference in your top line.

In just about every business, it’s your existing clients that have the greatest potential for new revenue. New client acquisition is extremely valuable, but it’s also hard-won and far more expensive than engaging your existing client base for new business opportunities. So, if you can deliver a superior experience to your clients, especially if they interact directly or indirectly (e.g., through a call center) with your systems, the IT department has a profound opportunity to influence overall business performance.

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Windows 7 has arrived, is popular and is coming to an enterprise near you. Soon. Microsoft has already sold 175 million licenses, according to VentureBeat, making it the company’s fastest selling operating system in history. Many IT departments are already planning their migrations, a process that is likely to be long, time-consuming and packed with risk. Smooth out this operating system migration, and you can lower the total cost of ownership while easing the pressure on your department.

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The most recent Citrix Synergy event is now behind us. If you weren’t among the 4,500 people in attendance, don’t worry: you can still catch up on all the action that took place in San Francisco. Citrix has made recordings of the top three Synergy sessions available on demand. Click the links below to see first-hand the information provided on desktop virtualization, optimal XenApp farm design (2010 edition) and Citrix and Microsoft Windows 2008 R2.

SYN303: Desktop virtualization for the real world >>

SYN308: From A to XenApp: the comprehensive technical guide to optimal XenApp farm design (2010 Edition) >>

SYN310: Top 10 reasons you (still) want Citrix with Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 >>

Citrix has announced a new NetScaler VPX virtual appliance that will add extensive support for business-critical Microsoft datacenter and infrastructure solutions, including Hyper-V, Microsoft System Center and other applications like SharePoint 2010 and Exchange Server 2010. Since this is a native Windows-based Solution, NetScaler VPX also includes the intuitive capabilities of Citrix AppExpert Policy Manager, offering pre-built and customizable templates designed for popular enterprise applications. You can now get AppExpert templates for Exchange Server 2010 and SharePoint 2010, as well.

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From the floor at Citrix Synergy …

Citrix has announced the first public release of XenClient. This is a new client-side virtualization solution that was developed in collaboration with Intel. XenClient allows centrally managed virtual desktops to run directly on corporate laptops and PCs, even when they are disconnected from the network and is designed to provide the highest levels of performance, security and isolation through its bare metal architecture and integration with Intel vPro hardware virtualization technologies.

XenClient Express, a free trial and evaluation kit that lets IT professionals begin experiencing the benefits of desktop virtualization for their mobile users, is available for immediate download beginning today.

Key facts and highlights are below:

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Now is the time to upgrade! Whether you move to Citrix XenApp 6 or “trade up” to XenDesktop 4, the opportunities are substantial. It can be tough to give up what you know, but the pricing available on XenApp 6 and XenDesktop 4 is favorable, and the new features offered will accelerate your path to ROI.

For XenApp 6, here are seven reasons to make the move now:

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A new collaboration agreement between Citrix and Microsoft has led to Citrix support for the upcoming Microsoft RemoteFX platform. This newly announced platform will be made available in a future release of Windows Server 2008 R2 service pack 1. It will allow all virtual desktops on a single Windows Server or Hyper-V server to share the power of graphics acceleration hardware built into server and end user devices.

Under the new collaboration agreement, Citrix XenDesktop™ will expand its high-definition HDX™ technology to further enhance the capabilities of RemoteFX and extend them to a broader range of use cases and locations. By addressing the most demanding rich graphics environments, Citrix and Microsoft will continue working together to advance the state-of-the-art in desktop virtualization technology, making virtual desktops a rich, high-definition experience for all users, regardless of their device, location or role.

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