Virtual Computer

Virtual Computer Inc., established in November 2007 by founders Alex Vasilevsky and Dan McCall, was a venture-backed software company that specialized in desktop virtualization. The firm secured $20 million in funding from prominent venture capital firms Highland Capital Partners and Flybridge Capital Partners, which fueled its product development and market entry. The company's trajectory culminated in its acquisition by Citrix Systems in May 2012.

Operating in the systems and information management industry, Virtual Computer's business centered on PC life cycle management through virtualization. The company's core product, NxTop Enterprise, was a desktop virtualization solution that combined centralized management with local execution on a PC-based hypervisor. This approach enabled IT departments to manage user desktops centrally without the significant server, storage, and networking infrastructure typically required for server-hosted Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). By separating the operating system, applications, and user data from the underlying hardware, NxTop allowed for independent management of each component. A key milestone was the release of NxTop 4 Enterprise in August 2011, which enhanced its Xen-based client hypervisor to support a mix of local desktops, remote VDI sessions, and cloud-based applications.

The company's revenue model was based on selling licenses for its NxTop Enterprise software. Its clientele consisted of businesses seeking to streamline IT management, reduce hardware costs, and improve control over their end-user computing environments. A notable strategic partnership was formed with Lenovo in March 2011 to optimize the NxTop solution on select ThinkCentre desktops and ThinkPad laptops. Following the acquisition, the technology developed by Virtual Computer was integrated into Citrix's XenClient Enterprise edition, continuing its influence on the evolution of desktop virtualization.

Keywords: desktop virtualization, client hypervisor, PC life cycle management, centralized management, VDI, NxTop Enterprise, Alex Vasilevsky, endpoint management, virtual machine, Xen-based hypervisor, IT infrastructure management, application virtualization, Citrix acquisition, Highland Capital Partners, Flybridge Capital Partners, enterprise software, remote desktop, systems management, bare-metal hypervisor, client-side virtualization