Search results matching tag 'Dell'

Despite rumors to the contrary, Dell vWorkspace is alive and well with version 8. Here's a look at some of the new features.

Gabe Knuth — Fri, 03 May 2013 04:03:00 GMT

A few weeks ago, vWorkspace 8 was released, and while we used to be notified of such releases, things have apparently changed since Dell acquired Quest. I'm sure some of this has to do with Jon Roll's departure from the company to fill the CTO position at AppSense, especially since we had a good relationship with him (Jon even wrote the chapter for the sponsored version of The VDI Delusion). What I worry about, though, is that the once-approachable Quest is now part of a bigger, quieter Dell.

To be fair, there was a lot of talk about vWorkspace 8 on the Quest blogs, so it's not like there's something sinister happening, it's just that the flow of information is different these days. We've always counted vWorkspace among the top tier of desktop virtualization solutions, so to have the radio silence is frustrating (just ask the vWorkspace customers). We want the companies that are doing big things and creating new products based on new technology to come forward and share information. I want to help spread that word, too. This stuff is cool, so here's hoping the lines of communication both with us and the community continue to regrow.

That aside, let's take a look at the new features included in vWorkspace according to their documentation. With any luck, we'll get our tech buddies from the vWorkspace group to weigh in, too. Michel Roth, Patrick Rouse, and Rick Mack are all still closely associated with the product. Michel in particular put out out a series of blog posts highlighting new features that I encourage you to check out for more information.

One of the most important aspects of vWorkspace 8 is its support for Server 2012 and Windows 8. The Windows 8 support is probably just there because it should be, despite the fact that most shops are still using Windows 7. However, if the rumors that Windows 8 performs better than Windows 7 in an apples to apples comparison hold true, it could prove to be useful sooner than expected. Support for Server 2012 RDSH is significant because vWorkspace is the first top-tier solution to support the new platform. At this time, even XenApp doesn't on Server 2012. That means that if you want to use Server 2012 RDSH, you'll have to use Microsoft, Dell, 2X, or DesktopSites. I'm sure all that will change soon (we have Synergy coming up, after all, and many of us are hopeful that Citrix will announce something), but as of today that's how the landscape looks.

While we're on the topic of remote desktops, vWorkspace also includes changes to their EOP protocol enhancements for RemoteFX. We already know that Microsoft has all but reinvented RemoteFX for Server 2012/Windows 8, going so far as to effectively rename RDP 8 to RemoteFX. These enhancements alone are enough to give a performance boost in the protocol, but EOP still gives you the opportunity to streamline things using EOP Flash Acceleration, EOP Print, or EOP Xtream, among others. Dell says that there is an 80% improvement in bandwidth consumption with RDP 8. I'm curious to learn how much of that comes from RemoteFX's improvements vs. EOP's. My guess is that EOP is doing much less than it used to because RemoteFX is more capable of shouldering the load, which isn't necessarily a bad thing since it means Dell can focus on other things (or on improving RemoteFX even more).

Remote desktops aside, the support for Server 2012 also means that there is support for Hyper-V 3. vWorkspace's Catalyst features, dubbed HyperCache and HyperDeploy have been updated to work with the new version of Hyper-V. HyperCache is a tool used for decreasing IOPS on VDI environments by caching frequently used bits in memory, specifically creation and boot information. vWorkspace 8 now gives you the ability to use HyperCache for RDS workloads by essentially broadening the scope of what is actually cached. Now it simply watches what's being used and caches things that the system sees as being of a high priority. If something isn't accessed for a short period of time, it's purged from the cache to make room for something else.

HyperDeploy also has seen it's share of enhancements with this release. To refresh your memory, HyperDeploy is used as a way to provision VDI desktops by eliminating the need to store golden images on all your hosts (using local storage, of course) while speeding up provisioning time. This is done by starting the machine creation boot process before the golden image bits are finished copying. It sort of sounds like disk streaming, but I've never heard it called that.

vWorkspace 8 adds a feature to HyperDeploy that "allocates disk space for saving the memory state of each virtual machine. By optimizing the storage of these files, vWorkspace HyperDeploy can significantly reduce the amount of disk space required," according to the configuration screenshot in Michel's blog. Since I've yet to have a briefing, I'm not entirely sure how this works, but it appears to be somehow optimizing the way Hyper-V manages virtual machine memory on the disk.

Something brand new in vWorkspace 8 is called User Experience Monitoring. There appears to be enough here to merit an article all by itself, but the general overview of it is that it gives realtime analytics on the users' experience to help troubleshoot issues. This is based on the Foglight integration that has been steadily progressing over the last few versions, and the functionality that brings is starting to mature nicely. With the Foglight technology, admins are able to watch sessions in realtime and see available bandwidth, latency, and other metrics that affect performance, including information about the endpoint. User Experience Monitoring can also give you insight into the protocol, showing you which aspects of EOP are being used.

At first glance this release appeared to me as a relatively simple modernization of the platform for use with Server 2012. While it has certainly been modernized, the user experience monitoring aspect looks like it is a pretty cool feature, and the updates to Catalyst are nothing to laugh at. As I mentioned before, I'm curious to see what impact the changes Microsoft made with RemoteFX had on the protocol when compared to the EOP enhancements, but that information should come out in due time. I suspect I can get some good information that at BriForum London in a few weeks.

At the very least, this update should serve to calm the fears of vWorkspace shops that were beginning to pilot competing solutions due to the relative silence from what used to be a very talkative group. Late last year, then-VP Jon Rolls wrote a blog post talking about how Dell was committed to vWorkspace and the User Workspace Management group of products. This was warmly received to the relief of vWorkspace customers, but his departure combined with nothing more than a minor update didn't do much to relieve the concerns or stop the backup planning. vWorkspace 8 should be the confirmation their customers have been looking for. What remains to be seen, though, is how VMware and Citrix will react, or how Dell will position vWorkspace in relation to them. Both VMware and Citrix are key partners for Dell, so they still have a lot to figure out.

Parallels jumps into Mac management via SCCM arena, plus they add hypervisor and VM management

Gabe Knuth — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 04:03:00 GMT

Last week I had a call with Parallels, which was my first briefing with them in quite a while. I'm a Parallels Desktop user on my Mac, but besides that Parallels rarely comes up in the desktop virtualization space outside of that (other than a few "what if" scenarios from time to time). What I learned was that earlier this year they released a product called Parallels Management Suite for Microsoft System Center, the main feature of which is to allow you to manage Mac endpoints via Microsoft SCCM.

The product works by installing an agent on the Mac endpoint that is either deployed manually or via a network discovery install. In the latter scenario, SCCM is directed to discover macs on the network, establish an SSH connection to them with predefined admin credentials, and install the software. After the agent is installed, admins are able to deploy software and scripts, inventory software and hardware, and take advantage of SCCM's native reporting functionality. Many of the tasks available to Windows admins are also available to Mac admins.

The only caveat to application deployments that I was made aware of is that the application must support silent installs. I'm not sure how many applications this eliminates from consideration, but I did confirm that you can package Automator scripts that can be used to automatically install applications that require user interaction.

This sounds great, but it isn't the only product on the market that integrates Macs into SCCM. In fact, it's not even the only product from a vendor in our coverage area. When Dell acquired Quest, they also acquired QMX, which is as close to the same product as possible. There are some key advantages that QMX has at the moment, though. First, QMX can deploy OS images to the endpoints. Second, QMX also features management extensions that support iOS and Android devices. Both of these features are on the road map for Parallels Manage Suite, but are not yet part of the product.

What sets it apart from QMX, though, is the ability to manage the hypervisor component and deploy virtual machines, too. I don't mean to imply that it's not possible for QMX to do this via scripts, but Parallels has specifically added functionality to manage Parallels Desktop Enterprise from SCCM (not the cheaper Parallels Desktop). This includes both managing the hypervisor configuration itself and deploying virtual machines. Parallels Management Suite also adds remote support, which I don't believe is a feature of QMX (although I could be wrong).

Still, the only way to de-provision a virtual machine is with scripts. That, combined with the fact that the management agent must live on the host (so the entire device is managed by SCCM) means that this is probably not a comprehensive BYOC solution yet. Future updates, I hope, will bring the ability to manage the hypervisor on machines that are not domain-joined, like contractor laptops. Parallels doesn't have a Windows client hypervisor product, so it would be welcoming to see that or to some other integration with VMware, VirtualBox, or Client Hyper-V, if only for the sake of VM portability.

Still, it's interesting to see some movement in this space beyond Dell QMX, and I think that centralized management of Macs has value in many organizations, especially when you combine that with centralized management of VMs. Prior to this product, you'd have to have multiple solutions (like MokaFive Suite + QMX), but Parallels is trying to bring it all together into one solution. You can argue that QMX + MokaFive gives you more features, but that also brings added complexity. Don't forget, too, that VMware is making waves in the Mac BYOC/Client Virtualization space with VMware Fusion Pro and Horizon Mirage, so I expect to see some back and forth here.

Parallels Management Suite is available today, and retails for $30/user. It works with System Center 2007 and 2012.

Dell has four different mobile device management (MDM) products. What’s their strategy here?

Jack Madden — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 05:08:00 GMT

Dell has been transforming itself into a software company over the last year, making a ton of acquisitions. The result is a tangle of overlapping products, leaving people to wonder which ones will be consolidated, killed, or promoted. This certainly rings true in the mobile device management (MDM) space, where by my count Dell now has four different solutions. I talked to Roger Bjork, Dell’s director of mobile solutions, and Ken Drachnik, product marketing director for the KACE group, to find out what Dell has in store for mobility, and if any of the products will evolve into mobile app management solutions.

Before we go any farther, let’s go over the lineup just to keep things straight:

KACE (Acquired back in 2010) The KACE 3000 is a new MDM product that comes as an on-premise appliance (virtual or physical). James Furbush covered its announcement in December over at SearchConsumerization.
Wyse (Acquired April 2012) Wyse’s Cloud Client Manager, known as Project Stratus during beta, was released last November. It’s cloud-based, and it combines management for mobile devices, thin clients, and software remote desktop clients all into one product. There’s more information in our article that covered the release.
Quest (Acquired July 2012) Quest Management Extensions (also known as QMX) are slightly less prominent—or at least I haven’t heard anybody at Dell mention them recently. QMX is an add-on for SCCM, rather than a freestanding product. For more, check out this video from the 2012 Microsoft Management Summit.
Credent (Acquired December 2012) The most recent of these acquisitions, they apparently have MDM, too. I’m not really very familiar with them.

So which one of these do you pick? Mostly it’s pretty simple—which one of these four divisions do you already have a relationship with? Great, pick that one! I was assured that none of these products are going away anytime soon, so that answers our first question about Dell and mobility, at least for now. If you’re comparing all of them from a fresh perspective, then the answer is to pick Wyse if you want cloud-based MDM that’ll also manage your thin clients, KACE if you want an on-premise appliance, or QMX if you want SCCM integration.

The next next big question for Dell’s MDM portfolio is if any of them are going to evolve into mobile application management solutions. (Sure, MDM can install and remove apps, and making an enterprise mobile app store is pretty easy, but the type of MAM I’m talking about is the type that involves close control of the actual apps and their behavior, with the eventual goal of being able to create an interconnected ecosystem of corporate mobile apps.)

So is MAM in the future for Dell? The answer I was given was “Yes”, but in a very general way—there’s nothing coming soon that they could tell me about, and no signs that give any hints. They point out that the KACE and Wyse products are both version 1.0 releases, and that their overall strategy is to “build for the long term.”

This doesn’t seem very exciting for right now, but it does make sense. Even though many MAM products came out in 2012, we’re still waiting to see how widespread the adoption will be. On the other hand, though, we’ve seen many other MDM vendors make this evolution.

Dell could get into MAM by making another acquisition while they have their checkbook out, or one of the existing products could expand into it. My best guess for that would be the Wyse group—Wyse has been edging around the idea of mobile file syncing with PocketCloud Explore and CloudBin, and more mobile app management for them doesn’t seem out of the question.

Regardless of what happens, it looks like Dell is going to multiple MDM solutions for the time being. This underscores the idea that MDM is a “feature,” not a “product.” However, it remains to be seen when and how Dell will come into mobile application management.

Android Mini-PC: A bit of thin client, a dash of Android apps, a whole lot of disappointment

Gabe Knuth — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 05:01:00 GMT

Dell Wyse Project Ophelia was still in the news this week, and it even came up in a Business Insider article that positions Ophelia as part of a philosophical change at Dell leading up to an expected leveraged buy-out by private investors (led by Michael Dell) who want to re-shape the company. They say that Ophelia is part of the future model of how we compute, and is a part of the future of IT services delivery.

That's a ways out yet, and so is Ophelia, for that matter. Still, I wanted to try the experience to see if my concerns were on point or not. You can read last week's article, but in essence I wrote that I don't think there is an actual use case for an Android device that plugs directly into a display's HDMI port but still requires a keyboard and mouse (or a touchscreen) to interact with. The applications aren't written for that experience, they're written for mobile. The device is built to do everything, which means it likely doesn't do anything all that well. For example, the experience with the apps won't be as good as a phone or tablet, and it won't connect to desktops as well as a thin client.

I wanted to like the device, though, and since it compares so well with the Android Mini PCs on the market, I thought I'd get one and give it a shot. Dell's VP of Cloud Operations (and former Wyse CEO) Tarkan Maner was quoted saying the price of Ophelia would start around $50, so I bought a $48 Android Mini PC from Amazon. What follows is my review of that device, but more importantly, my take on the use case challenges presented by it.

The Device

To set the playing field, the device I ordered was the Ug802 Mini PC advertised as running Android 4.0.4 (it arrived with 4.1.1). It's advertised as having quad-core graphics processing, a Cortex A9 dual-core processor running at 1.2 GHz, 1GB DDR3 memory, 4GB internal flash, support for a 32GB Micro SD card, and 802.11b/g/n wireless. The box I received had no N support, or at least it didn't recognize any of my N networks. I chose this device because it was more powerful than the next runner up at $38, and because the description didn't include phrases like "Full extension let you be like a tiger with wings added" in the description. That is not a joke.

Not quite the size of a USB stick (or a can of Diet Coke)

The first thing you notice with one of these is that it's hardly small. I mean, it fits in your pocket, but it's just about what you'd expect when you think about it as essentially a phone or tablet without the screen or battery. The guts are the same…just crammed into a different form factor. This isn't bad, but don't get your hopes up for something super tiny from Wyse. Will it be smaller? Probably, but not by much when looking at this side-by-side:

That's not a show-stopper, though. It's going to be larger, just don't let "USB stick-sized device" fool you.

Connectivity

Next up to look at is connectivity. The Android Mini PC I bought came with a standard male HDMI connector and a short extender for those with unforgiving displays or mounts. It also has a micro-SD card slot, a micro-USB port for power only (this device is not powered by MHL), and a USB 2.0 port for connecting a keyboard or other device. It can be used with a hub, so that's nice.

Once turned on, you can connect it to a WiFi network, but it only supports B or G networks, not N. That's a pity, because one of the use cases of this device is as a media center, and I think you really need N to pull that off. With this device it doesn't really matter, though, because the WiFi is so terrible you can't really do much anyway. How bad? 50kbps--that's a lower-case b.

In addition to missing 802.11N, this device is also missing Bluetooth. The Wyse device will include this, so that's already an improvement, but whether I have to plug in a USB dongle or not to get a wireless keyboard to work, I still have to lug a keyboard and mouse around with me to use it.

The Experience

This is really the entire point of getting the device, and my expectations were low. Having said that, I'm comfortable saying that every expectation I had was met in that the general experience really, truly…sucked. I don't mean a little, I mean a lot. I was actually somewhat surprised at first…the mouse pointer worked well, the keyboard seemed to be ok, but then I started digging into menus and trying to get applications.

Since this is Android, it's made for touch, and it's made for you to be able to swipe up or tap the screen to get to the home and back buttons. This UI is still there on the device, but you can't click on it and gestures don't work to make it appear. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. The only surefire way to navigate is to right click, which acts as a back button. If you're 10 menus deep and you want to go home, that's 10 right clicks. On top of that, the interface has been skinned with a 10ft UI, meaning everything is huge and most of the icons look like crap because they're blown up way beyond their nominal size.

That's certainly inconvenient, but workable, so I decided to try some apps. The first one I got was Wyse PocketCloud, because I figure this will be a staple of Project Ophelia and I use it regularly at home and for work. PocketCloud is my favorite remote desktop client for iOS since it works with everything I need it to (if I needed HDX support it would be different). Pocketcloud installed and ran fairly well, although the lack of touching and full mouse control meant that I couldn't use it. This was the same with all remote desktop apps I tried (2X's, plus a couple other random ones)…nothing was coded 100% for mouse input. If any of them accounted for right clicks the system appears to override that and interprets them as a back button click (which ends your session!).

So the remote desktop use case was a bust, but what about other applications? Essentially it was hit and miss. Some apps, like Flipboard, worked great. Others, like Flick Kick Football didn't. I'm certain it has to do with how the app interprets the input, whether it's gestures, or x,y coordinate taps, or something to that effect. The bottom line is that these applications were made to be used on tablets and phones, not in this form factor and not in this use case. Angry birds played, but you couldn't pinch zoom. Try playing it without zooming…stinks, right?

Speaking of tablets and phones, this device (or at least Google during setup) believes it's a tablet:

I tried watching videos on it, but the device wasn't able to keep up with anything over the network. I didn't have any MicroSD cards to try local execution. YouTube videos played in Chrome (the built-in FireFox doesn't have a Flash Player), but the terrible WiFi meant that I could only watch a few seconds at a time.

If this all sounds frustrating, you're right. There's one more thing that really messes up the use case for me for this device, though, and that is keyboard support. It's quite clear that this is per-manufacturer thing, since my Logitech Revue Google TV works just fine (never thought I'd say THAT!), but using the keyboard on this device is almost impossible. There are a few built-in apps like Firefox (or at least a browser with Firefox's logo) that work, but when I tried to use the native Android Chrome app, the Enter key wouldn't work. The number pad key would simply type a Z, while the carriage return would do nothing. That means that I have to bring up the soft keyboard (which comes up every time you go to a text field because it thinks it's a tablet) and click on the Enter key. And so it goes in this manner--something appears to work all right except for one maddening problem--until you finally give up.

At the end of the day, I can't think of a single reason to use this device. If certain things worked, I could see someone having use for it, be it for work apps or consuming content, but I already have devices that do that and don't require me to bring along a keyboard and mouse. As I said, I had low expectations of a $50 Android Mini PC, but I was really hoping to find a silver lining. I know I didn't get the top of the line FXI Cotton Candy, and I'd be happy to test that out if someone knows it will perform better, but I'm inclined to believe that if they can sell it for $200 that it's not the same as Dell Wyse's $50-$100 device. I could be wrong.

What does this all mean to us and to Dell Wyse?

Dell Wyse has a long way to go to take this kind of platform and make it good enough to use. I think they can do it, but I still don't know of the use case. None of my monitors are touch screen, and certainly none of my televisions are. That means I need to use a keyboard and a mouse or buy touchscreen displays. Plus, if I want to travel, that means I have to bring one of those things with me or hope that wherever I'm going has the proper hardware. From my desktop, this might be ok, but the problem still remains that the experience isn't as good as a thin client for remote desktops, and it isn't as good as a tablet or phone for Android applications.

While I'm certain Dell Wyse can make the experience top notch, they have a long, long way to go if they're starting from the same place as the device I used. Plus, as I wrote for SearchVirtualDesktop in an article about how I'm over Android thin clients, even if they do get it right, the applications are still being written for phones and tablets. If Dell Wyse is trying to change the way developers create their applications, making a device that can provide a decent experience is the least of their problems. What do you think--would you use it?

Dell Wyse surprises us with the announcement of an Android Mini-PC/thin client, but not in a good way...

Gabe Knuth — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 05:00:00 GMT

It appears the effects of the Dell acquisition have Wyse making an interesting turn towards the consumer side of the spectrum. Project Ophelia, which was announced at CES and covered fairly extensively around the interwebs, is an Android Jelly Bean device on a USB stick that converts just about any modern display into an Android device. The idea is that it can function as a work and personal device for both consumption and creation of information from just about anywhere, all managed by Wyse Cloud Client Manager.

Device support is fairly broad, working with any display that has an HDMI port and a USB port. (If the display has the new MHL standard, you only need the HDMI port. MHL, or Mobile High-Definition Link, is essentially USB over HDMI, so if your display doesn't support it then this Ophelia thing needs the USB port for power. I mention this because some coverage only mentions MHL, which makes it sound exotic when it really isn't. MHL adoption is growing, and can be found on a number of currently-for-sale TVs and monitors.)

Dell Wyse sees this as a device that organizations can hand out to employees for use on the road or at home. The user would plug it into a hotel TV, for instance, or their TV or monitor at home, and have access to their work environment via either native applications or remote desktop clients. They'd also have access to just about anything else that Android has to offer--kind of like a Google TV.

It sounds somewhat intriguing, but when you really look at it, this device is little more than the Android Mini-PCs that gained notoriety at CES 2012, with centralized management added. These Mini PCs run from $40 for knockoffs to $200 for name brand devices like the FXI Cotton Candy. The use cases for Android Mini-PCs are niche at best, so it's interesting to see Dell Wyse going down this path. It seems the only difference in use case (we don't know functionality yet) is that Wyse Ophelia devices have the management bits included in them so that they can be managed by Wyse Cloud Client Manager. Even that isn't much of a difference, though, because you can simply install the agent bits on one of the other Android Mini-PCs, just like you would a phone or tablet.

I like Wyse, and I really want to like something like this, but I'm having a hard time coming up with a legitimate use case. First, unless you're using a touch screen display, you'll need a bluetooth keyboard and mouse to control it. So 99% of the people that use this will also be buying a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. If I'm bringing a keyboard and mouse with me, why the hell don't I just bring a laptop that does more than what this device can do, can be managed and secured, and doesn't monopolize the TV or monitor? This, for the record, is the one of the arguments we had against the Motorola Atrix thin client phone. Another thing to mention here is that you have to sit relatively close to a TV or monitor in order to use it for work applications, especially reading. It's not like you can kick back in the hotel bed and start working on the TV that's ten feet away.

Second, especially for the travel scenario, is that now you're relying on wherever you're going to have an HDMI/USB or MHL-enabled port, and that you can get access to it (sorry, people with the TV hanging on the wall), and that you can actually switch to that input (sorry, just about anyone at a hotel). Sure, this works for monitors or for free-standing TV's, but the each one of these scenarios takes chunks out of the use case for devices like this.

For the third issue, let's say none of the first two problems exist. We have access to the ports, the displays are modern and support everything, and they're touch screen. We plug our device in, start it up, connect to our work desktop and... what? Do we start poking the screen to type on it? I still have the same problems I had using remote desktops on my tablet, except now my arms are sticking out in front of me and they're really, really heavy. Plus, I can't necessarily sit (at least not comfortably) to use the app that I want since I have to touch the screen to use it.

Maybe people aren't working in that scenario. Let's just consume information. I still have to stand there and manipulate the screen to get to what I want. That will lead to HAS: Heavy Arm Syndrome.

To be fair, I talked to people from Dell Wyse, and they said they have concentrated on the form factor to this point and are still working on things like this. For instance, you'll probably be able to use your phone or tablet to interface with the device in the future. The bottom line, though, is that simply owning a device like this doesn't really do anything for you because the use cases are so niche. If I had this, I'd still bring my laptop, tablet, and/or phone, and I'd much rather use any of those to do things than something like this. Anyone with a Google TV knows that Android apps on something other than a mobile touch screen aren't worth using.

Both Brian and I have written about Android thin clients and how they might be awesome. The problem is that was back in 2009. The world has changed, and I'm no longer in that boat. Running Android as a thin client OS makes about as much sense as running Windows on a phone (*cough*), at least as long as you're trying to use the same applications. Plus, even if this comes in under $100 ("sub $100" is what I was told), the experience as a thin client wouldn't hold a candle to Wyse's actual thin clients, and it would be equal to the phone that's already in your pocket.

I'm not sure if Dell Wyse has bigger plans for this than we can anticipate, but I sure hope so. Otherwise this might not get off the ground. While I'm sure some gadget people are in love with the idea, I'm fearful that it's just another device that will get lost in the mess of all the other funky gadgets.

They could be on to something as a portable gaming solution, maybe bundling this with a controller or something, but the fact of the matter is that these exist already too—and as dedicated devices. Wyse also thinks there could be a use case with telcos who could bundle a device like this to customers to help sell internet services. To me that sounds like the WebTV mentality from 1997, at a time when people didn't have internet access everywhere. That hardly seems like a problem today.

So I honestly have no idea what Dell Wyse is going to do with this thing. I can't think of a single use case where this would be the go-to solution for me, and I can't think of any enterprise-wide situations where it would be all that useful either. Perhaps if a company has developed an in-house Android app, this could be used as a deployment platform to give users access to it and to remote Windows applications, but as far as the work and play device, I'm just not seeing it. With a launch sometime in the first half of this year (I'm betting by Synergy), there's still time to see this in a new light, though. We'll see what happens.

Hey Dell: While you have your checkbook open, how about buying MokaFive?

Brian Madden — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 09:10:00 GMT

Dell's been on tear recently within our industry, having acquired both Wyse and Quest Software. One of the first things they did with Quest, by the way, was to rename the desktop virtualization product back to "vWorkspace." Quest had switched the product's name to "Quest Workspace Desktop Virtualization" about a month before the Dell acquisition, but since Dell already had a product with the initials WDV, they had to change it back. (Hearing that story reminds me of Seinfeld's "sounds like he runs real tight ship" referring to the fact that George's boss Mr. Kruger wouldn't let two employees both have the name Koko. I love thinking of Michael Dell himself enforcing this policy.)

ANYWAY, so now Dell has Quest vWorkspace and Wyse's complete hardware and software stack. They've also got a lot of other components, some desktop virtualization-related (KACE), and some just plain cool. (Sonicwall, Force10)

But one of the major pieces missing from Quest (well, and now Dell) is the ability to run, manage, package, and deliver an instance of Windows that runs locally on a laptop. Citrix added this capability by buying Virtual Computer, and VMware added it by buying Wanova. Quest Software, rather than buying this capability, instead OEM'ed it from MokaFive. (The rumor is that Quest tried to buy them, but MokaFive wanted too much money, so they went for the OEM deal instead.)

But now that Dell has their checkbook open, why not complete the trifecta and pickup MokaFive too?

Why I like MokaFive

I've always sort of grouped Virtual Computer, Wanova, and MokaFive into the same bucket. One of the really cool things about these three companies is that they all take completely different approached to the same problem—the management of Windows on laptops.

Virtual Computer—meh, it's fine. I don't *love* the idea of using a Type 1 hypervisor on a laptop, mainly because it requires the IT department to "own" (or "pwn") the laptop, so it's not a great BYO or contractor solution. It also means there's no good solution for Macs and the HCL is somewhat narrow.

Wanova—I like them a lot, and I love that they handle all the management from within Windows, so if you have Windows, you can have Wanova. Brilliant! Of course you still have to figure out how to get Windows to the laptop which can be an issue if you want to manage a different Windows instance than whatever's natively installed on the laptop. But in general, I love Wanova and think it's brilliant. I'd buy Wanova way before I bought Virtual Computer. (Which sucks because I'd buy XenDesktop way before I'd buy View. Damn you corporate consolidation!)

When it comes to MokaFive, I love them for having the perfect (well, let's call it "current best") answer to BYOD. MokaFive is ideal for the true BYOD scenario where you don't need the "benefits" (read: "expense") of VDI. (Because those who claim VDI is great for BYO, I mean yeah, but talk about killing an ant with a sledgehammer! Plus then you have to deal with all performance issues, no offline, etc, etc.

Why Dell needs MokaFive

If Dell is serious about bringing an end-to-end desktop virtualization or delivery product to the market, then they have to something for local/offline use cases. And simply OEMing a solution doesn't leave a good feeling. That makes use feel like they bought Quest for their back end management stuff and Wyse for their thin clients. Both fine moves, but if Dell wants to truly evolve their business into an enterprise solutions company, they need to embrace the Windows delivery side of things too.

Why MokaFive needs Dell

On the flipside, I would actually think that MokaFive needs Dell more than Dell needs them. (Or at least as much?) I mean what's MokaFive's other option? Picked up by Lenovo? HP couldn't really take them.. doesn't make sense, and if HP buys anyone it should be Citrix. Cisco? MokaFive certainly can't survive on their own now that all their competition is being bought up by huge companies.

At the end of the day, is there any other option for either company?

New Dell Wyse Teradici clients support quad displays, but at a price

Brian Madden — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 04:43:00 GMT

At VMworld last month, Dell Wyse announced two new clients based on Teradici's hardware PCoIP chips. First, they old P20 model is being replaced by the P25. The Wyse P25 is basically the same as the old one except the Teradici chip in it can support higher resolutions, (now 2560x1600 for a single display or 1920x1200 for dual displays). They also announced the Wyse P45 which has a more powerful Teradici chip in it. The P45 can drive quad displays at 1920x1200 or dual displays at 2560x1600.

By prepared for some price shock though. The street price of the P25 is about $400 while the P45 is a whopping $845! (Yeah yeah, I know it's not all about price, and I know $845 is good for something that can drive four displays, but just keep in mind if you want four 1920x1200 displays on you're desk, you're not talking about some $200 thin client.)

I had a conversation with Dell's Kiran Rao about the P25 and P45. Specifically I asked him, "Why Dell?" If these are just based on Teradici's chips, why not buy them from EVGA or whomever the cheapest maker is? He said flat out and yeah, these are the same. The reason for buying from Dell is just because you can buy everything else from Dell too. It's not likely that all your users will use PCoIP with VMware View. So with Dell, you can buy your more traditional thin clients, laptops, etc. Also, even though these things are sold as "zero" clients, they're not really zero in that they have firmware on them. If you buy them from Dell, then you can use the same Wyse management software across the board.

Here's the video from VMworld of my conversation with Dell's Kiran Rao about these new clients. Also, if you haven't seen it, check out the video we shot in Teradici's booth which covers the rest of their VMworld PCoIP announcements.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Look out Citrix/VMware/Ericom: Dell-Wyse joins the HTML5 RDP client club with Project Freezer

Brian Madden — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 04:40:00 GMT

One of the surprises of VMworld was that Wyse (now "Dell Wyse") is building their own HTML5 RDP. The benefit of HTML5 clients is that you don't have to install anything on your actual client device. You just visit a web page and you're immediately able to access a remote Windows desktop or application. So far Ericom seems to have the most widely available client HTML5 client, (check out my in-depth review from January), though Citrix has recently released one for Chrome and Firefox, and VMware has shown some technology demonstrations but has not yet released anything.

I got a demo of Dell Wyse's HTML5 client from Ken Coley. They're saying that it's a "less than zero" client, or "sub zero." (The project name is "Project Freezer." Tada!!)

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Why's Dell Wyse getting into this market? Ken said that it's part of Dell's desire to provide connections to users anywhere, anytime, from any device. Project Freezer will come out in beta soon with the goal of it going on sale by the end of the year.

BriForum 2012 Chicago DEMO Lab videos now up!

jrm125 — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 04:01:00 GMT

BriForum 2012 Chicago took place last week, and we recorded videos of all the booth demos of every vendor from our DEMO Lab. You can click on any of the logos to see that vendor's demo.

Dell-Wyse DEMO Lab Video, from BriForum 2012 Chicago

jrm125 — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 19:10:00 GMT

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Mike Rice, Sales Engineer