HP is also rebranding its desktop virtualization suite as the HP Virtual Client Essentials, and adding Linux support for its broker software, called Session Allocation Manager, which runs only on Windows today, HP said.

Most of the updates concern HP's Virtual Desktop Infrastructure suite, which allows a company to run multiple images of a desktop OS in virtual containers on a server, instead of having to manage a separate OS on each employee's PC.

Virtualized desktops are catching on at some businesses but companies need to provide workers with an experience similar to what they'd expect from a standard desktop PC, and that hasn't always been the case with multimedia content, said industry analyst Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates.

HP said it has solved that problem by developing an enhanced version of Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol, which transfers presentation data between thin clients and Windows applications running on a virtualized server.

The existing RDP works fine for relaying basic on-screen data, such as keyboard strokes and mouse movements, but it's not good at carrying rich content such as a training video or webcast, said Manoj Malhotra, product marketing manager for HP's Client Virtualization group.