Citrix Systems added a measure of versatility to its virtual desktop product offering Aug. 10 with the acquisition of Mountain View, Calif.-based RingCube, which makes user personalization software for VDI systems.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

RingCube's product, vDesk, is a high-performance enterprise workspace virtualization package that makes more efficient the rollout of VDI deployments across an organization. It controls various levels of security and file access and allows credentialed employees to use various types of mobile devices to access a VDI system.

Desktop virtualization can provide significant benefits to an enterprise, allowing IT to host user desktops and apps securely in the data center -- rather than as a standard client-server model -- and deliver them as a more cost-effective centralized service.

Virtual desktop implementations often need degrees of personalization when deployed at various levels of an enterprise's staff and with part-time and contract employees, who require different levels of security and file access. vDesk enables organizations to provide VDI to all employees in a quick, efficient manner.

RingCube's differentiator from other VI providers is that it creates a so-called "personal vDisk" for each employee that contains only the apps, data and settings that are unique to that user. All the images that each user has in common -- including the operating system (usually Windows) and all common corporate apps -- are stored one time in the data center.

As a result, each user gets his/her own unique personal desktop each time they log in, while IT gets all the cost advantages of centrally managing a single instance of the operating system and each corporate application for all users.

Using RingCube technology with Citrix's XenDesktop can significantly reduce storage costs versus standard dedicated VDI desktops, Citrix Group Vice President and General Manager Bob Schultz said.

"The acquisition of RingCube underscores our chief goal of enabling users to access their desktops and applications on any device, and making virtual desktops simple and affordable for IT," said Schultz.

"As customers take on enterprise-wide desktop transformation initiatives, Citrix is in the best position to provide a broad range of technology delivering multiple types of virtual desktops that satisfy every user in the enterprise. RingCube adds a significant capability to provide users and IT flexible, personal VDI desktops at a much lower cost."