Opher Dubrovsky talks about Ceedo, a company specialised in virtualisation technology.

Q:Tell us a bit about Ceedo.
A: Ceedo develops application virtualisation software and solutions. The company’s core virtualisation technology has been in development since 2000. Over the last few years, our virtualisation technology has been thoroughly field tested with over 4 million clients deployed in the field through our OEM relationships and through direct sales.

Q:Last month at the Virtualisation Conference in New York, Ceedo presented a session on “Workspace Virtualisation.” Can you explain what this is?
A: Workspace virtualisation is an evolution of application virtualisation. It takes a suite of standard off-the-shelf Windows® applications and virtualises them, creating a complete managed virtual workspace. One benefit of a workspace beyond regular application virtualisation is that applications can interact with each other. The result is a user experience that is the same as if the applications were actually installed on the PC.

Q:The interaction issue was definitely an obstacle for application virtualisation. Are there other differences?
A: Another issue with application virtualisation is the manner in which applications are virtualised. To virtualise applications, you usually have to go through a packaging process which is time consuming and difficult in many cases, and requires special knowledge to perform. After an application is virtualised, you cannot add additional plug-ins or even update it without going through the packaging process again. This limits the usefulness of the technology and necessitates central control.

Q:Does workspace virtualisation tackle the problem differently?
A: The virtual workspace practically acts as a real PC does. Using it allows you to make changes to it on the fly. You can add and remove applications, plug-ins and even update applications as if you were installing them directly to a PC. This means that you can have central IT control over it if you wish, but it is not required. IT can grant some end users control over their workspace, allowing them to add the plug-ins ActiveX controls and even applications that they need.

Q:Sounds like quite an interesting technology. Where would it actually be used in an enterprise?
A: Virtualisation allows you great flexibility in application usage within the enterprise as well as beyond its boundaries. In a matter of minutes, you can deploy a full application workspace to an employee on a corporate PC, or to a sub-contractor, consultant or vendor’s PC, all from the same system and using the same technology. Something that traditionally would have taken hours may now be done within minutes. It is also very useful for reclaiming unused and expensive software licenses.

Q:These are all IT benefits. Does the end-user enjoy any benefits?
A: The main benefit for end-users is the quick recovery from PC failures. With workspace virtualisation, you can simply copy a backup of the user environment to a new PC and have the end user working within minutes, including all their applications and settings. Normally this would have taken hours or even days to do.

Q:Is it easy to implement/deploy?
A: The Ceedo implementation is unique in its simple and automated virtualisation process. Virtualising applications is a simple process of running their setup through the setup virtualisation engine. Ceedo also includes a management system, which makes deployment across an organisation simple. As a result, implementation and deployment are fairly straightforward and can be easily mastered by any IT person.

Q:Can you give me an example of how you used Workspace Virtualisation to solve actual problems for your customers?
A: One of our customers is Alvecon, a German insurance agency. They employ hundreds of brokers all over Germany who prepare financial proposals and issue insurance policies for several insurance companies. They have about 50 software applications that have to run on their brokers’ PCs. Before using the Ceedo solution, installing and configuring a new laptop for a broker took about 3 days. Using Ceedo’s workspace virtualisation technology, the IT department prepared a single workspace image on a portable encrypted hard drive, with all the applications pre-installed and configured in the virtual environment. Deployment is now done through an overnight delivery service like FedEx. The broker receives the encrypted portable hard drive, plugs it into his laptop, types in the decryption pin and is ready to go. Once in the field, all applications are remotely updated through the management system over the Web.
The Ceedo workspace is also used for failure recovery; if a laptop is broken, which occasionally happens, the broker simply gets a new laptop, plugs in the encrypted portable drive and gets back to work.
We have received very good feedback from both the Alvecon IT department and from the brokers themselves on using Ceedo.