virtualization.info

After trying for years to impose its high-performance remote desktop, Remote Graphics Software (RGS), the company has finally given up and will phase it out by the end of this year.

virtualization.info has learned from very trusted sources that HP will not only drop RGS but it will also exit the VDI market completely, stopping the development of its connection broker Session Allocation Manager (SAM).

Starting 2010 the company will rely on third party offerings provided by Citrix, VMware and Microsoft. HP is especially looking at two protocols: the Citrix Prism/HDX and the software implementation of the PCoIP protocol that VMware and Teradici are developing.
Same story for the connection broker: HP is working to adopt Citrix XenDesktop and VMware View.
Of course HP will continue to develop thin clients/blade workstations for SBC/VDI environments where it has a serious profit.

The HP moves in the VDI market started to seem strange already in December 2008 when the company closed a major OEM deal with Quest/Provision Networks.
It will be interesting to see what Quest has to say about this radical change in the strategy.

The company is already informing its customers about the decision as confirmed by an anonymous comment we just received on another article:

I have heard that HP is cancelling the RGS product. Does anyone else have information about this? My information comes from a colleague who is the IT director at a company which is a large HP customer. They have been using RGS and are now politely being asked to look elsewhere.

Update: The HP public relations department promptly contacted virtualization.info to provide a completely different perspective. We are happy to republish it to demonstrate that there is no interest at all in discredit HP:

As a leader in thin client solutions and virtualization, HP is committed to the development of VDI technologies, as well as continued innovation in the client virtualization market.  We are also continuing ongoing development of HP RGS and SAM into 2009 and beyond, in addition to extending our long-standing relationships with industry partners with expanded support for their protocols and brokers. This broad support strategy will ensure that the HP client virtualization portfolio delivers the broadest customer choice as this market continues to mature. In addition, we offer a number of VDI infrastructure and solution services that enable customers to build a reliable desktop infrastructure that reduces total cost of ownership, increases security, simplifies technology management and readily adapts to new business requirements with improved flexibility. 

In its emails HP is suggesting that our article above is disseminating false information.
Unfortunately the official HP document that virtualization.info reviewed and the feedbacks received by several unconnected sources tell a completely different story. And we have the evidence to prove it.

If HP changed its strategy again and decided to continue the development of RGS and SAM for the years to come, we are happy about that.
Or, if the official HP document that we reviewed contained completely wrong information, then virtualization.info will promptly write a new post to clarify the whole thing, as soon as HP will provide an official explanation about the discrepancy.
Of course HP is also very welcome to comment directly on this post so that our audience will have the opportunity to read all the perspectives.

Meanwhile if any reader has further evidence of the story is welcome to write a comment like the anonymous that we quoted inside this article.