Ulteo Open Virtual Desktop 2.5 Features: an open and secure application delivery solution

IMPORTANT READ FOR OVD! the new OVD 3.0 Release Candidate is now available for download and tests. You can find it here: http://www.ulteo.com/home/ovdi/openvirtualdesktop/3.0_rc

With Ulteo's Open Virtual Desktop (OVD) technology, corporations are able to quickly install and deploy an OVD Session Manager with one or more Application Servers. After defining users and creating a “publication”, employees can access the applications provided by Open Virtual Desktop in two available modes: traditional Desktop Mode or the new Application Portal mode. Linux and/or Windows applications are delivered seamlessly to user's desktops using a web browser. Linux applications are served from the OVD Application Server(s), while Windows applications are delivered via Terminal Services from Windows servers. Download the PDF product sheet. Ulteo OVD v2.5 brings scalability to address IT departments need to manage much larger desktop deployments and application delivery projects.

[ Key benefits | Screenshots | Key features | Global infrastructure ]

Key benefits for IT

• Ease of use, ease of deployment and management: Clients need only a Java enabled web browser.
• Interoperability: Full integration with existing infrastructures including Microsoft environments (Windows authentication, Windows applications, Active Directory, File server).
• Customizable: Ulteo is using Open Source software(1). Ulteo code is covered by GPL v2 software licensing terms.
• Lower cost than any comparable commercial products
• Secure, reliable, scalable
(1) some applications that ship with Ulteo OVD may not be Open Source, including Java web plugin, Skype and Adobe Flash player. Please check application licensing terms.

Key benefits for end-users

• Easy to use: Applications are delivered as a complete desktop or from a web-portal -- all in the user's web browser(1). Ulteo OVD provides its own web portal, but corporations are free to integrate Ulteo services into their own web portals.
• Extensive application portfolio: Access any Linux and/or Windows applications seamlessly on a virtual desktop(2)
• User friendly: Both Linux and Windows applications from a browser in Windows, Linux or MacOS platforms!
(1) native client support for thin clients will be available on early 2010 (2) needs Windows server 2003 or 2008 Terminal Services. XP/Vista/7 VDI images will be available on early 2010

Screenshots

New OVD portal mode.	Microsoft Excel running in portal mode.
Running a desktop session for a user. The menu offers only published (authorized) applications for this user.	Running desktop session for a user. Both Windows and Linux applications are available on the same desktop!
Playing a video in the web portal filemanager.	User directory configuration.
Application publication wizard for a group of users.	Server load balancing configuration.
Application Servers self-declare to the Session Manager, and are monitored on the fly.	Customizable logging capabilities are available for both Windows and Linux application servers.

Infrastructure overview & Ulteo OVD final vision

Supports: Any application and architecture Any type of network Any type of client machine

SBC VDI

A typical Ulteo OVD 2.x network architecture

Key Features

Windows and/or Linux Application delivery

Ulteo's Open Virtual Desktop delivers applications that are hosted on Linux servers or via Windows Terminal Services to any Java-enabled web browser, to any desktop (Windows, MacOS, Linux, thin client), anywhere (WAN-enable).
Windows applications are served from Windows Server 2003 or 2008 servers.

The provided “base” set of Linux applications include the OpenOffice productivity suite, Firefox web browser, Thunderbird email client, Pidgin instant messaging client, and more. Thousands of additional Linux applications may be installed and deployed by the system administrator.

End-user Web Interface

Applications are delivered to users by way of:

• A user-friendly desktop – Users log into a full-featured desktop to access applications “published” by the administrator, or
• Through a web-portal – The application portal provides a file manager for basic file system manipulation, and icons for launching applications in individual web browser windows

Scalability

OVD has been designed to serve applications to thousands of users at the same time. Comprehensive tests and tuning have been performed to ensure excellent Linux & Windows® application servers load handling and directory management up to 50,000 users and more.

Sound and video

Complete sound support will be added in the next version of Ulteo OVD. Currently, OVD v2.5 web portal mode offers an embedded MP3 & FLV video player that lets users play multimedia files located in their home directory.

Easy and centrally managed Administrator Web console

A full-featured administrator web console is provided for configuring server settings, managing users, publishing applications, and for monitoring servers.
An easy to use wizard walks the administrator through the process of publishing applications. New applications may be conveniently installed from within the OVD administration console.
The administration console also offers administration delegation so that specified users may administer the system.

Collaboration for users and IT support

Users can easily collaborate with each other in real time, each having a view of the same desktop. IT administrators can control software applications to provide hands-on end-user support. Application sharing is also available within the web portal.

Microsoft Windows integration

Open Virtual Desktop delivers Linux and/or Windows-based applications to Windows and/or Linux desktops in a Java-enabled web browser. Cut, copy, paste and printing are all enabled.

Microsoft Active Directory and authentication

User authentication may be facilitated with Windows Active Directory and also with any LDAP server.
CAS support has been added for authentication against CAS servers.

Microsoft or Linux file servers

• Windows or Linux (Samba) fileservers
• WebDAV embedded fileserver

Bandwidth usage improvement

New settings are available to reduce bandwidth usage. A clean 8-bit mode is now available for bandwidth usage down to 40kbps per client for common office tasks.

Monitoring, logging, reporting, load-balancing

Detailed monitoring, logging and reporting of Windows and Linux application servers are provided to the OVD administrator.
Customizable load-balancing is available for Applications Servers.

Security & remote acess

Open Virtual Desktop uses SSH-tunneling to secure the entire communication process. Full documentation is now available for configuring the system to use HTTPS for user session sign-ons.
WAN access has been simplified with documentation that details how to use Ulteo Open Virtual Desktop with VPN access.

And many others!

Other features include:

• Compatibility with Amazon's EC2 virtualization infrastructure
• Session recovery/reconnection
• Support for many languages and keymaps
• The OVD Application Server and Session Manager may be installed on a single server by using a dedicated DVD ISO image
• SSO-ready through our API

Fast installation

The Open Virtual Desktop is easy to get up-and-running with a fully automated installation process. A demonstration system may be deployed quickly and easily with the DVD ISO image which provides both the host operating system and Ulteo's OVD Session Manager and Application System.

System recommendation

• OVD Application servers: Pentium class x86 servers w/multi-core or quad CPU. 1GB or more RAM per 15 concurrent end-users. Supported Host OS: Ubuntu 8.04.*, RHEL 5.2,5.3, Centos 5.2+, Fedora 10, OpenSuSE 11.2, generic Linux install.
• Servers for Windows applications: Windows 2003 or 2008 Server + Active Directory and Terminal Services on any hardware.
• Servers for OVD Session Manager: any Pentium class x86 server w/512MB or more RAM. Host OS: Ubuntu 8.04.*, RHEL 5.2, 5.3, Centos 5.2+, Fedora 10, OpenSuSE 11.2, generic Linux install.
• Note about OVD ApS and SM servers: It is possible to install both OVD components on one PC for evaluation purposes. This configuration is not recommended for production environments
• Client: Sun Java 1.5/1.6 enabled browser: Firefox 2+, Internet Explorer 7+, any platform. Safari on MacOS. Adobe Flash player version 9 or above is needed to play MP3 audio and FLV video files in the web-portal filemanager.
• Network: 100Mbps or more LAN
• User directory servers: Active Directory on Windows Server and LDAP server are currently supported.
• Fileservers: CIFS, embedded WebDAV server

Note: Ulteo's Open Virtual Desktop may be deployed for a test drive without any connection to external authentication sources or file servers.
Want to give it a try? Download and install now!