vDesk

February 2, 2009 by leah

Virtualization, which has saved enterprises millions in the datacenter, is now moving to the desktop. However, the deployment of existing virtual desktop solutions have been hampered by poor performance, provisioning difficulties, skyrocketing storage costs and operating system licensing hassles.

RingCube’s vDesk solution delivers enterprise desktop virtualization that increases user productivity, lowers desktop management costs and eliminates the performance and resource overhead of legacy virtualization technologies. Users can run their virtual desktop at the office or on unmanaged PCs – at home, or at a client site. When users start their vDesk workspace, it transforms any PC into their own familiar and personalized workspace where users can access their files, applications, settings and entire desktop, just as if they were on their own PC.

vDesk Advantages:

* No second operating system to license or manage
* High-performance virtualization technology
* Flexible deployment options:
PC, USB Drive, Network, VDI
* MobileSync provides offline synchronization
* No need for data center build out

Now your desktop can go with you…anywhere

vDesk’s virtualization technology, with 24 virtualization patents pending, separates the user’s desktop environment, including applications, data, settings and system resources from the operating system and encapsulates it into a secure container. Administrators use the vDesk Administration Server to create and deploy vDesk workspaces, assign security and isolation policies and provision updates to existing workspaces. To access vDesk workspaces, users login to the vDesk Client Portal, which automatically launches the vDesk Client. The vDesk Client provides users with a list of available workspace masters from which users can create their own personalized workspace instances. vDesk has the flexibility to deliver virtual desktops to users wherever they are through a variety of deployment options, including:
* vDesk on a PC – vDesk is stored and run locally on the internal hard drive
* vDesk on a Drive – vDesk is stored on USB drive, iPod or other removable media and run locally
* vDesk over the Network – vDesk is stored on a network file share and run locally
* vDesk over VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) – vDesk is stored and run centrally but accessed remotely using VDI

vDesk MobileSync

vDesk MobileSync enables users to synchronize their vDesk Workspace between any of the four vDesk deployment options and work offline. While Offline, users become truly mobile by being able to access their virtual workspace anytime, anywhere.

For example, a user can access their vDesk through VDI while in the office and check out their vDesk workspace to a laptop or portable drive for a business trip or to work at home.

When they come back to the office, they are prompted automatically to check in and synchronize their vDesk Workspace to the network. Once checked in, the user can access their vDesk workspace through VDI and have all the changes that were made offline reflected in their online vDesk workspace.

vDesk Components

vDesk Workspace
The vDesk Workspace separates the user's desktop environment, including applications, data, and settings, from the operating system. Users can personalize their workspaces and access them anytime, anywhere via the four different deployment methods. The vDesk architecture allows the vDesk Workspace to run at 99.8% of the host PC's performance providing a seamless user experience. Different vDesk Workspaces can be created for individual users or user groups and can be updated and centrally provisioned via the vDesk Administration server.

vDesk Client
The vDesk Client provides a single interface for users to download, create, launch and manage vDesk Workspaces. vDesk Client downloads using a signed Java applet plug-in through the vDesk Client Portal. Using vDesk MobileSync, the vDesk Client allows users to effortlessly checkout and check in their workspaces for offline mobility.

vDesk Administration Server
The vDesk Administration Server makes creating, deploying and managing virtual desktop environments easy and less costly for enterprises. When administrators need to provision new applications, update existing applications or deliver data to the users' workspace, they simply make the change in the master workspace, apply the new version of the master to the user or group, and a differential update is automatically pushed to the user at their next login. IT administrators can also manage the following policies at a user, group, workspace or global level:

* Authentication and access control
(Active Directory Integration)
* Pre-login host security scan
* Isolation and data leakage prevention
* Revocation of workspaces

What does vDesk have that other desktop virtualization solutions don’t?

The vDesk solution offers a host of benefits that aren’t found with other desktop virtualization solutions. Perhaps one reason is that vDesk is architected specifically to address the unique challenges of desktop virtualization, not retrofitted using technology originally designed for another purpose. The result is a fully featured, enterprise solution with benefits that include:
No changes to existing infrastructure

You don’t need to install a large central server farm to use vDesk. To use vDesk on the network, you can start with a simple Windows file share, or even deploy personalized desktops on hard drives or USB keys.
Deploy as needed, from one desktop to thousands

With vDesk, you can deploy exactly what you require, whether it is virtualization for a department or a single class of user or your entire global enterprise.
Make the most of your existing investment in Virtual Desktop Infrastructures

If you’ve already got an investment in VDI – and many enterprises do – vDesk can help you to make that deployment run more quickly, with minimal storage space. Even for non-persistent pool deployments, your users will get their own personalized desktop, enabled via single sign on.
Get your personalized desktop online or offline

A big issue with virtual desktops can be that when the user goes offline, the virtual desktop disappears. Not so with vDesk. Users can synch their desktop, work offline, then synch their desktop when they go back online, all with no loss of data, apps or resources.

Screenshots: 

Permalink