Mandriva Corporate Desktop 4.0 Released

Mandriva is proud to announce the release of Corporate Desktop 4.0, the brand new version of its enterprise-dedicated work station.

Ergonomically designed, secure, comprehensive, easy to use and to administer: by consulting its corporate clients and building on its own expertise in the desktop area, Mandriva developed Corporate Desktop 4.0, a distribution that can be installed in less than 15 minutes and extensively customized thanks to a new post-installation tool.

"Corporate Desktop 4.0 is the result of several years of work on integrating the best open source technologies into a unified product dedicated to the enterprise desktop. Robust, secure, and designed for large companies who want to deploy a quality open source desktop, this distribution benefits from Mandriva's experience in ergonomics and ease of use," says Anne-Laure Nicolas, Director of Engineering of Mandriva.

Corporate Desktop 4.0 focuses on the key points for business: directory administration and integration, mobility, security and ergonomics.

* Directory administration and integration: to complement directory-based authentication, Corporate Desktop 4.0 includes a new tool to set KDE user rights from an LDAP directory.

* Mobility: Corporate Desktop 4.0 features simplified configuration of secure remote access (DrakVPN) and simplified configuration of 3G data cards in order to remain efficient wherever you are. Mandriva also plans in future to release Corporate Desktop 4.0 on a secured USB key, in order for you to be able to access your data and your work environment anywhere at any time.

* Security: Corporate Desktop 4.0 includes support for data encryption, high security authentication (including smart cards and fingerprint readers), secure connections and an interactive firewall.

* Ergonomics: Corporate Desktop 4.0 boasts a completely new design for the desktop, integration of the latest 3D technologies (Xgl, AIGLX and Metisse), and the ease of use and accessibility you expect from a Mandriva desktop. Extensive hardware and certified software support

Mandriva also takes advantage of its partnerships with many hardware vendors and software publishers to offer extensive hardware compatibility and a complete range of ISV software. With the support of these companies, Corporate Desktop 4.0 features certified compatibility with Intel, HP and NVIDIA hardware, and integrates software from Arkeia, BitDefender, VMware and many more.

Corporate Desktop 4 is built on a proven base system which includes support for a wide range of current and future hardware platforms. The provided kernel already includes support for many new hardware platforms expected to be released during 2007 and 2008. Thanks to the close links between Mandriva and large hardware manufacturers, Corporate Desktop 4 supports the latest technologies, including:

* a large range of disk controllers - especially JMicron IDE and SiS 966 / 968 SATA;
* many laptop SD card readers;
* Attansic L1 ethernet controllers;
* USB UVC-compliant video devices;
* Ralink RT2571W/RT2671-based wireless devices.

"Mandriva Corporate Desktop 4 benefits greatly from the results of the strategic alliance between Intel and Mandriva. For the last two years, engineers from the two companies have worked together daily on the implementation of Linux support for the next generation of hardware," explains Anne-Laure Nicolas.

Like every Mandriva product, Corporate Desktop 4.0 comes with an extensive range of services: long term security and bugfix maintenance lifespan (five years), Web support, professional phone support, and expert consulting services to develop particular projects and help you migrate to Linux.

Corporate Desktop 4.0 works perfectly in a mixed Linux / Microsoft Windows®environment and will blend easily into your network with its support for common authentication systems, access to shared data, and support for collaborative work solutions.

Learn more about Corporate Desktop 4.0 at:
http://www.mandriva.com/en/linux/corporate/desktop