Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) is Microsoft’s new product offering for so-called local virtualization or client based virtualization. The solution itself originates from Kidaro that was acquired by Microsoft last year.
With local desktop virtualization a complete OS is executed on top of the operating system that is installed on the users physical device. Using a client based virtualization solution such as MED-V can help with application compatibility issues when migrating to a new operating system. With MED-V you can continue providing applications to your users in a seamless way without having the user notice that that application runs on another virtualized OS.
One very interesting scenario that is being shown in the demo is the following: Assume you plan to migrate to Windows 7 that comes with Internet Explorer 8, but you have a business critical application that would only run on Internet Explorer 6. With MED-V you can provide IE6 to your end users running on Windows XP.
Find out more about MED-V from the links provided below:
MED-V Power Point Presentation
Microsoft Desktop Virtualization on Microsoft Virtualization
MED-V Demo
Client-Hosted Virtualization with Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization product introduction
WindowsIT Pro Magazine MED-V article
Windows Springboard Series: Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V)