Virtual Computer Releases NxTop 1.1 with System Workbench

New Management Features Include File System Layering, Enhanced Performance and
Increased Scalability
WESTFORD, Mass.--(Business Wire)--
Virtual Computer Inc., the company redefining PC lifecycle management through
virtualization, today announced the availability of NxTop 1.1. Since it was
first released for sale in April 2009, NxTop has differentiated itself with its
ability to deploy a single, centrally managed Windows desktop environment to all
users while maintaining user-specific personalization on each PC. Release 1.1
brings further innovation in this area by introducing System Workbench. This new
element of NxTop`s award-winning management system employs file system layering
to isolate elements of the system to improve backup performance, retain end-user
installed programs and settings and provide desktop IT managers with tools to
manipulate the file system and registry. NxTop 1.1 is available immediately
through the company`s NxTop Now! program which provides early adopters access to
the product prior to general availability.

"Adoption of desktop virtualization is hampered if the IT department cost
savings come at the expense of end-user flexibility and convenience," said Dan
McCall, president and CEO, Virtual Computer. "Techniques such as virtual disk
segmentation, user profile virtualization, and file system layering are the
preferred methods to overcoming this challenge. With the release of System
Workbench, Virtual Computer leads the market in retaining end-user
personalization in shared virtual images."

Shared Image Management

Since its inception, NxTop has allowed IT administrators to build a single,
Windows virtual image that can be shared across their entire organization.
Updates to this shared image are performed centrally on the NxTop Center
management console. At boot time, NxTop presents a Windows desktop to the
end-user that is a composite of the latest shared system image, user-specific
profiles and settings, and any non-permanent PC data such as caches and index
files.

With System Workbench, IT administrators can now control which aspects of their
"gold" operating system image may be customized and retained by the end-user.
Through a policy-based interface with a simple XML-based authoring language,
System Workbench provides powerful new capabilities, such as:

* A framework for whitelisting applications that can be installed into a shared
image by an end-user into a persistent layer that survives a self-cleaning
reboot or IT-generated system update.
* Granular, policy-based control to map files and directories onto different
layers of the virtual file system. This allows, for example, the ability to
exclude large but non-essential user files such as Outlook OST cache files and
Windows index files from being included in NxTop`s automated user data backups.
It also allows the system to retain customized user settings for poorly designed
programs that store such information in system folders instead of the user`s
profile area.
* Manipulation of programs, data files and settings for system features such as
offline folders, file sharing, and antivirus databases to survive patching of
shared operating system images.

In addition to System Workbench, the NxTop 1.1 release includes:

* NxTop Engine performance enhancements, including near-native network speed via
paravirtualized networking.
* Simplified Microsoft Active Directory configuration and testing, making
integration into Microsoft environments a snap.
* Enhanced user backup capabilities, including optimized data transfer,
management of restore points, and compression of virtual hard disks to improve
performance and disk utilization.
* Improved wireless support, including WPA/WPA2 Personal across all major
wireless chip sets.
* Improved scalability and performance in NxTop Center, including background
task processing and a 50 percent reduction in image preparation time.

"While client-side hypervisor technology has become one of the hottest IT topics
of 2009, true adoption will only occur once management solutions begin using
client hypervisors to enable new use cases for IT administrators and PC
end-users," said Michael Rose, industry analyst, enterprise virtualization
software, IDC. "NxTop was the first to deliver on this promise, and version 1.1
provides an ever broader set of capabilities aimed at reducing PC management
costs."

About Virtual Computer, Inc.

Virtual Computer, Inc. is redefining PC lifecycle management by making it as
easy to manage a thousand PCs as it is to manage one. NxTop, the company`s
flagship PC management product, combines a bare-metal client virtualization
platform with a powerful central management system to dramatically reduce PC
management costs, while improving reliability, security, and the end-user
experience. NxTop uses advanced virtualization technology to isolate the main
components of a PC: the hardware, operating system, applications, and user data,
allowing each to be managed independently. Founded in 2007, Virtual Computer is
privately held and headquartered in Westford, MA. For more information visit us
at http://www.virtualcomputer.com.

Virtual Computer, Inc.
Kyla Kenney, 978-399-1510
Kyla.kenney@virtualcomputer.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009