Going on business trips or taking unexpected days off doesn’t mean you have to leave your office behind anymore. Marina Ricci gives the latest USA perspective
The virtual desktop enables users to access their work desktops, including any software programs, hard drive files or e-mails from any computer or laptop with an internet connection.
A user can access the desktop across a network using remote protocol such as RDP, ICA, VNC and others. This is called the desktop access session and users can bring up their customised desktops and hard drive files instantly at the click of a mouse without having to carry around any physical hardware such as hard drives, pen drives or other separate storage devices.
No limits
There is no limit to the type of device that can access a virtual desktop, all that is required is that the device contain similar characteristics as the original storage system and is able to have access over a network connection. Such devices include notebooks, PDAs and even mobile phones.
Categories
These virtual desktops can be divided into four categories: Single Remote Desktop, Shared Desktops, Virtual Machine Desktops and Physical PC Blade Desktops.
The Single Remote Desktop is the most common, easiest and least intricate way to make a network connection to the home PC, requiring the user to use software accessed through the web to access their desktop. Such software includes PCAnywhere, GoToMyPC, WebEx, Windows Remote Desktop, LogMeIn and others.
Shared Desktops require a host such as Citrix or Terminal Services to be used to allow for up to hundreds of multi-users to access their desktop by sharing a PC desktop environment. This requires the use of powerful server hardware.
The third type of virtual desktop is the Virtual Machine Desktop which hosts multiple single-user desktop PC operating systems such as Windows XP or Linux by using server hardware.
Finally, Physical PC Blade Desktops allow multiple independent user sessions to run on their own physical PC blade. This allows for hosting as many users as the physical PC blade has the power, data center and physical rack space to contain. ClearCube Technology is one company that provides the hardware needed to run this type of virtual desktop.
Virtual desktop
There are also added benefits in using a virtual desktop as data security can be increased through the use of a centralised centre. Data management is also enhanced as hard files can be modified for all users and updates can be performed on whole systems without causing time consuming interruptions to personal work stations.
Virtual Desktops are a great solution for those businesses that require heavy telecommuting in order to service clients or for the occasional business traveler that needs access to all files, e-mails and software programs on his office computer. Therefore, this is becoming a growing market and has become essential to businesses that rely on its convenience and flexibility to conform to any business environment.
