[THIN] Article: Virtualization startup Propero thinks big
- From: "Jim Kenzig http://Kenzig.com" <jkenzig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Thinnews <thinnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, virtualize <virtualize@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 15:43:39 -0700 (PDT)
Virtualization startup Propero thinks big
http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/10/24/HNpropero_1.html?source=NLC-NET2005-10-25Desktop
virtualization vendor to release workSpace 5.0
By China Martens, IDG News Service
October 24, 2005
Desktop virtualization startup Propero is due to release version 5.0 of its
workSpace virtualization software Monday. The software enables users to access
any application from any computer in any location, according to Propero's
co-founders, helping companies to significantly lower their IT costs. The
startup is also to announce that European investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort
Wasserstein will roll out workSpace to 7,000 employes worldwide.
"We provide a single management point for a hybrid of applications," Steve
Peskin, Propero's co-founder and co-chief executive officer, said in an
interview Friday. The company doesn't believe corporations will virtualize all
their applications, but will instead maintain a mix of local, Web-based and
centralized software.
"Our strategy is to build a big software company," Peskin said. "Our biggest
competitor is buy versus build," meaning whether corporations opt for workSpace
or develop virtualization capabilities inhouse.
Peskin estimates that the average user costs their employer around $800
annually in what he terms "adds, moves and changes" in relation to their
computer, for instance, changing location and needing a new PC to be set up for
their specific needs. Using workSpace, users can log on to any machine and have
it automatically configured so it looks and acts like their own PC. Companies
can reduce the number of adds, moves and changes from four per year to one,
saving $600 per employee, he said.
Propero's workSpace software consists of three pieces -- Analyzer, Manager and
Server. The Analyzer component enables companies to determine what applications
their users are running and how they're deploying them as well as how those
applications behave, according to Peskin. The Manager piece virtualizes the
company's IT application infrastructure, delivers the applications to users
wherever they're located and configures the applications in a personalized way.
The Server piece enables the company's IT department to centralize all
operations, including security, management and load balancing. Propero uses a
subscription model for its software, with all three pieces of workSpace costing
around $20 per user per month, Peskin said.
Co-founders and Co-Chief Executive Officers Peskin and Robin Crewe established
Propero in late 2000 in the U.K. The company came about as a result of two
challenges Crewe received while deputy chief information officer at what was
then known as Dresdner Kleinwort Benson.
Crewe was asked to come up with a way to drastically reduce the amount of money
the investment bank was spending on IT as well as making the organization's
systems more manageable pending a merger, later abandoned, with Deutsche Bank,
Crewe said in an interview Friday. Meanwhile, Peskin was working at the company
he founded, Pontis Consulting, advising financial services companies on
integration projects or as he joked to his children "robbing banks for a
living." Crewe was one of Peskin's largest customers.
Crewe came up with a way to solve both of his problems with a plan to create
desktop virtualization software that would provide organizations with a single
management point for applications while enabling users to access applications
securely from any machine, anywhere. He went to Dresdner management with the
plan and asked for £20 million ($35.3 million) to develop the software. They
said they'd give him £2 million pounds to come up with a proof of concept.
Crewe left the investment bank to found Propero with Peskin who'd sold off his
consulting business.
Dresdner worked on the proof of concept to develop its own inhouse product, but
it has now abandoned that effort in favor of Propero's workSpace, according to
Crewe, as the bank concentrates on its core business, not developing software
infrastructure. Dresdner's New York operation will go live with workSpace in
February 2006 with 1,500 users, Peskin said, with the software being rolled out
over the coming year to all 7,000 users.
Back in 2000, Crewe and Peskin took the virtualization software idea to 3i
Group, the largest early startup venture capitalist in Europe, and to Catalyst
Fund Management & Research, a U.K. VC focused on the financial sector. The
companies funded what became Propero, a Latin verb meaning to accelerate. To
date, Propero has received £11 million in funding from 3i and Catalyst.
Last month, Propero opened its U.S. headquarters in New York. "We are
potentially looking at U.S. investors," Peskin said. "When we gain traction in
the U.S. market and we start to scale rapidly, we'll begin to look at financing
options." The company currently employs 35 people, with seven in the U.S.
Peskin expects headcount to double over the next 12 to 15 months with all the
growth taking place in the U.S. "The U.S. represents 60 to 70 percent of the
potential market for us," he added.
The startup already has a strong partner in IBM (Profile, Products, Articles).
The IT giant is also a workSpace customer, having deployed it to 4,000 staff in
Europe, the Middle East and Africa. IBM (Profile, Products, Articles) is in the
process of setting up what it terms a "human grid" across its Integrated
Development Centers, according to Peskin, so that any employee can support any
customer.
Propero has seven customers to date, with the other publicly named firms being
H.J. Heinz Co. with 5,000 workSpace users in 23 European sites, and American
Express Co. with 6,000 workSpace users in Europe.
Looking ahead, Propero is investigating how best to provide virtualization to
facilitate access from non-PC devices including PDAs (personal digital
assistants) and mobile phones, according to Peskin. The company also intends to
make a P-to-P (peer-to-peer) announcement next year, Crewe said.
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