Leostream expands Connection Broker 6.3 for Xen and Sun VDI

Companies are spending millions of dollars right now to try and convince customers that hosted virtual desktops (HVDs) or virtual desktop infrastructures (VDIs) are the way to go. Unfortunately, along with that messaging comes a great deal of confusion, and once you get beyond the confusion (or at least think you have), the next step is to clear the complexity hurdles that await you.

But there must be a light at the end of the HVD tunnel as more and more vendors are jumping into the water to offer their own solution, and analysts have been predicting that this market is rapidly expanding.

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According to Brian Gammage, vice president and Gartner fellow, “HVD adoption is likely to be rapid during the next three to five years, particularly in mature markets where existing data center and network infrastructures will be used to offset the cost of entry.” Gartner predicts that the worldwide HVD market will accelerate through the year 2013 to reach 49 million units and $65.7 billion in revenue — no wonder people are jumping into the water to provide a solution.

Leostream, a household name in the desktop virtualization market, has been operating in this industry for quite some time, pioneering virtualization applications as far back as 2002. Today, the company prides itself on HVD software — specifically, its Connection Broker technology.

To answer the challenge of complexity, Leostream announced a new version of its Connection Broker, 6.3. While the version number is but a minor dot release, the company has packed in quite a bit of new features and functionality, expanding management capabilities and offering significant integrations with partner technologies.  Some of the new additions include:

• A Web client is being offered so that end-users can now access desktops and applications via the Web. It also provides simultaneous access to the Connection Broker Administrator Web interface based on the user’s roles and permissions
• Optimizing the end-user experience:
  • Protocol Plans make HVD “protocol-aware,” offering granular control of remote viewing sessions in multiple protocol environments. Plans specify exactly which protocols to try and in which order to take the guess work out.  As an example, you can set different protocols for Power or Non-Power users.
  • Registry Plans provide location-based tuning of the end user’s experience. Registry keys can be set on the remote desktop based on the client device from which the user logs in.
  • Dynamic CD and DVD drive redirection in RDP. Drives are automatically redirected regardless of the drive letter or client.  Dynamic tags specify which drives should be redirected to a user’s remote desktop.
• Expanding roles and permissions: End users can now restart and release their desktops and can also manage other user’s sessions.
• Adding additional integration and support for partner technologies:
  • Connection Broker can now integrate Xen.org centers and the Leostream Java Agent now provides inventory and power control for open source Xen virtual machines.
  • Extends support for Hardware PCoIP to provide Quad Monitor support and seamless single sign-on.
  • Supports Sun Secure Global Desktop (SSGD), which provides secure Web access to Sun environments from any client device.
  • Adds Ericom’s Blaze RDP Acceleration and Compression to the portfolio of supported protocols.

With Connection Broker 6.3, Leostream is continuing to expand on the idea and its belief that large-scale HVD deployments will want a vendor-neutral approach that can incorporate best-of-breed technologies.

This story, “Leostream expands Connection Broker 6.3 for Xen and Sun VDI,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in virtualization at InfoWorld.com.