Gary Orenstein recently reported the state of the virtual desktop marketplace in his GigaOM blog, saying . . .

"There is a resurgence of activity taking place around virtual desktops - where enterprises take their desktop compute environments, and make them configurable, deployable and manageable from a central location. The idea has been hanging around the fringes of IT for years, but I think the time may be right for businesses to actually deploy virtual desktops, for a variety of reasons. And since I think the time is right, I've also taken a look at some of the smaller companies that will challenge Citrix and VMware in this emerging sector."

Including Leostream in his list of vendors, he says that the ". . . Connection Broker product leverages the infrastructure of virtualization providers like VMware, Citrix, Microsoft and IBM. Delivered as a virtual appliance, it manages the connection between end users and their virtual desktops and applications. Leostream also has a long customer list on its site."

Read the GigaOM Blog Post Here 

Bruce Hoard recently reviewed the release of Connection Broker 6.5 in his Virtualization Review blog, The Hoard Facts . . .

"Leostream solidified its VDI credentials and made it easier for IT managers to get the most out of their existing IT infrastructures--an absolute requirement these days--by integrating a variety of clients, back-end systems and viewers into Leostream Connection Broker 6.5. V6.5 enables the company to hammer home its positive VDI user experience message and maintain its position in a market that is being flooded with vendors trying to get the attention of customers with their unique desktop virtualization solutions.

In addition to helping users optimize their legacy infrastructures, V6.5 plugs and plays with existing network infrastructures without requiring changes to essential data systems, such as authentication services and SSL VPNs. The company says that once its connection broker is implemented, it offers a flexible set of policies for exact implementation of business rules for administrators, users and machines."

Read the Rest of Bruce Hoard's Post Here

Reporter Robert Mullins provides a good overview of the Connection Broker and the new features in 6.5, highlighting one in particular . . . our ability to provide policy-based, dynamic display management for virtual desktops.

 

". . . New in version 6.5 is the ability to match the virtual image to the display capabilities of a particular end user device. For example, if an employee uses a thin client attached to two monitors at the office, but is accessing the network from a laptop at home with only one screen, Connection Broker can instruct the virtual desktop to adapt to the correct environment.

 

That feature intrigued David Butcher, a network engineer at Collingwood General and Marine Hospital in Ontario, Canada. The hospital uses Connection Broker to manage its virtual desktop infrastructure for about 500 employees using 300 computers -- a combination of thin client devices, desktop and laptop computers -- in the hospital or remotely. Remote access is provided through a Juniper SSL VPN connection.

 

Connection Broker automates the process of delivering the virtual desktop image to a doctor working in his office, a clinician in a hospital lab, or a medical transcriptionist working from home, Butcher says."Transcriptionists use a particular application,  so we set up a pool of virtual desktops and assign those user accounts to that pool of computers. You don't have to hard code anything. You get remote access, based on your user account, and the broker figures out what you should be getting," he says . . . "

Read the Entire Network Computing Article Here

Allesandro Perilli, in his Virtualization.info blog post on 6.5 noted that we have ". . . set a pace of a new minor release every two months, each one coming with significant new additions . . ."  His observation is right on the mark, so be sure to watch for our next release at VMworld in San Francisco.

Check out Leostream's Press Coverage Here

Leostream CEO Mike Palin discusses the unique use cases for end user computing at pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and how VDI can benefit these industries.

"The pharmaceutical industry faces many unique challenges in its quest to secure FDA approvals and bring effective new drugs to market. Supporting these endeavors is technology that must meet equally demanding conditions, all while delivering reliable performance and cost and operational benefits that satisfy end users, IT and c-level decision-makers alike. 

The success of virtualization has piqued the interest of drug manufacturing and research organizations. However, concerns over adopting a new technology approach are only natural, particularly when there's the potential to impact pharmaceuticals that can sometimes take decades to develop. When it comes to virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) for this industry, the hurdles can be substantial, ranging from access issues for a distributed international workforce to protecting intellectual property to handling contamination concerns in sterile lab environments."

Read the Rest of the Virtual Strategy Magazine Feature Here

At Leostream, we've recently created a series of detailed implementation guides based on real-world use cases that we see with our customers. You can view the entire collection on the Leostream training page under "Tutorials." We'll present a different one every month for the next few months.

This month we guide you through a Connection Broker setup that explains how to set up your Connection Broker to deliver Linux VMs from VMware vCenter Server using the NoMachine NX protocol. Users are authenticated by an OpenLDAP server, and assigned to a persistent desktop. When the user logs out of their desktop, the Connection Broker powers off the VM. This tutorial takes a step-by-step approach to using the Connection Broker to build a hosted VDI that meets the following requirements:

We want to know	Here's what you have
What type of desktops are you managing?	Virtual machines hosted in VMware vSphere and managed by vCenter Server.
What type of desktop pool structure do you want to use?	One pool that contains the desktops running a Linux operating system that belong to the QA group, as defined by having a name that begins with "qst", and that have an installed NoMachine NX Server, as defined by having a name containing "nx".
Is this a persistent or non-persistent pool, i.e., should the user be permanently assigned to the desktop after they log in the first time?	Once a user is assigned to a particular desktop, never release the desktop to its pool; the desktop is persistent. If the user disconnects from their VM without logging out, keep their session active for one hour. After one hour, forcefully log the user out.
What system do your users authenticate against?	OpenLDAP
What remote viewer protocol will you use?	NoMachine NX
How is the power state of the machine managed?	Power off the VM 15 minutes after the user logs out.
What client device do users have?	Leostream Connect

Leostream, a VMware TAP member since 2004, is proud to sponsor our sixth VMworld.  

We will, once again, be showcasing the Leostream Connection Broker and its advanced capabilities for flexible, heterogeneous enterprise-class VDI integration. We'll be demoing new features that include:

• Significant VMware enhancements
• Mobile support
• USB redirection for Linux
• Connection Broker cluster management
• and more . .
  

Stop by booth #118, see a demo of our mobile support, and enter our daily drawing to win an iPad

Click Here to Register for VMworld 2010