NVIDIA GRID 2.0 Launches With Broad Industry Support

NVIDIA launched NVIDIA GRID 2.0 with broad industry support for its ability to deliver even the most graphics-intensive applications to any connected device virtually. NVIDIA has worked closely with Citrix and VMware to bring a rich graphics experience to end-users on the industry's leading virtualization platforms. 

NVIDIA GRID 2.0 delivers unprecedented performance, efficiency and flexibility improvements for virtualized graphics in enterprise workflows. Employees can work from almost anywhere without delays in downloading files, increasing their productivity. IT departments can equip workers with instant access to powerful applications, improving resource allocation. And data can be stored more securely by residing in a central server rather than individual systems.

The ability to virtualize enterprise workflows from the data center has not been possible until now due to low performance, poor user experience and limited server and application support. NVIDIA GRID 2.0 integrates the GPU into the data center and clears away these barriers by offering:

• Doubled user density: NVIDIA GRID 2.0 doubles user density over the previous version, introduced last year, allowing up to 128 users per server. This enables enterprises to scale more cost effectively, expanding service to more employees at a lower cost per user.
• Doubled application performance: Using the latest version of NVIDIA's award-winning Maxwell GPU architecture, NVIDIA GRID 2.0 delivers twice the application performance as before -- exceeding the performance of many native clients.
• Blade server support: Enterprises can now run GRID-enabled virtual desktops on blade servers -- not simply rack servers -- from leading blade server providers.
• Linux support: No longer limited to the Windows operating system, NVIDIA GRID 2.0 now enables enterprises in industries that depend on Linux applications and workflows to take advantage of graphics-accelerated virtualization.

Positive Feedback on NVIDIA GRID 2.0 
More than a dozen enterprises in a wide range of industries have been piloting NVIDIA GRID 2.0 and are reporting direct business benefits in terms of user productivity, IT efficiency and security improvements.

"With NVIDIA GRID, our engineers are able to run a wide range of engineering design and analysis applications. It's led to increased productivity by streamlining our use of data and eliminating the need to replicate data to our remote production facilities," says Fred Devoir, senior architect and IT infrastructure manager, Textron. "With the latest 2.0 release, we've been able to double the number of concurrent users per GPU or increase the maximum amount of video memory which allows a greater array of applications to be used without a compromise in performance. I am excited about the potential of enabling these capabilities for even more design and manufacturing engineers."

"NVIDIA GRID 2.0 with VMware Horizon marks the next phase of innovation in enterprise-wide virtual desktop deployments," said Sanjay Poonen, executive vice president and general manager, End-User Computing, VMware. "VMware End-User Computing solutions have transformed the way organizations empower their workforces, with technologies that are simple to use, and are secure. Our close alignment with NVIDIA continues to bring forth powerful capabilities to customers, and is one of the key reasons for our gaining market-share in the desktop virtualization market."

"In 2013, Citrix and NVIDIA released the first joint vGPU solution to enable multiple virtual desktops to share a single GPU and deliver an uncompromised experience that scales easily," said Calvin Hsu, vice president, product marketing, Windows App Delivery, Citrix. "NVIDIA GRID 2.0 with Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop app and desktop delivery now allows more users to take advantage of rich applications on any device."

"The ability of our newest desktop product, ArcGIS Pro, to deliver a great user experience in virtual environments with GRID is extremely important to Esri," said John Meza, performance engineering lead, Esri. "It allows our users to continue their great work in whatever environment, physical or virtualized, they choose."

"With GRID 2.0 we can provide our customers a powerful, secure and reliable blade server configuration, giving them more options to virtualize all their graphics-accelerated workflows," said Neil MacDonald, vice president and general manager, HP BladeSystem. "GRID technology allows HP to provide the highest density virtualized graphics offering on the market today so that our customers easily scale to accommodate the highest possible number of users."

"Dell has a long history of being first to market with innovative solutions that help customers address their IT challenges," said Brian Payne, executive director, Server Solutions, Dell. "We've worked closely with NVIDIA to be the first to enable our server ecosystem to improve productivity, security and efficiency through enterprise GPU solutions."

Experience NVIDIA GRID
Users are encouraged to experience NVIDIA GRID for themselves through the NVIDIA GRID Test Drive. This experience gives users instant access to hours of NVIDIA GRID vGPU acceleration on a Windows desktop with 2D and 3D industry-leading applications such as:

• Autodesk AutoCAD
• Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS
• Esri ArcGIS Pro
• Siemens NX

NVIDIA GRID 2.0 is available worldwide starting Sept.15, 2015. Read here to learn more or sign up for a 90-day evaluation.