Virtualization Track at Cloud Expo

Pano Logic, the desktop virtualization start-up with indulgent backers, has picked up a $20 million C round led by the Mayfield Fund, which took a flyer on Compaq, SGI and Citrix. That makes $44 million altogether, a handsome figure indeed these days of tight VC pocketbooks, and should get it to breakeven.

Aside from development, the company apparently spent its $18 million B round tripling sales last year to 24,000 units selling $5 million worth of its so-called zero client platform, which is supposed to redefine the economics of endpoint computing, knocking PCs and thin clients for a loop in the process.

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The new money is for development and global expansion.

So far Pano's been concentrating on the mid-market, going direct and signing 200 resellers. What helped persuade Pano's backers, which include Foundation Capital and Goldman Sachs, to reach for their wallets is the start-up's imminent push into the top tier OEM channel, which should see a move into large accounts. It'll be moving from a daisy-chained back end to a federated one for that. It's also going to add Hyper-V and probably Xen to its VMware skills.

VDI is also supposed to reach an inflection point this year or next and really pick up steam.

For $319 or $329 a seat, Pano strips the user of 100% of his processing power leaving him with only his screen, keyboard and mouse and a little black or silver cube.

The company - which is now run by John Kish who once upon a time ran Wyse, one of Pano's enemy thin client competitiors - likes to say that that little widget contains no processor, no operating system, no memory, no drivers, no software and no moving parts.

To prove it, Pano has just published its Zero Client Reference Architecture, opening up the specs to prove there's nothing in there to support or maintain - it merely connects the end user to a server back in the data center that can reportedly support 40 or 50 desktops and provides a familiar PC-like Windows experience.

The technology, described as the "first step toward true cloud-based computing," is supposed to reduce TCO by as much as 67% by eliminating endpoint device management, support and obsolescence.

Pano Logic means to license its patent-pending Pano Direct and Pano Management software and connection broker technology to OEMs to bring to market new zero client solutions based on its reference architecture.

The Zero Client Reference Architecture documentation is at http://www.panologic.com/zero.