Replacing Desktop PCs with Zero-Client Solutions

Replacing Desktop PCs with Zero-Client Solutions - Teradici: An Evolving Solution

Teradici takes a different approach to the zero-client concept; the company calls its solution PC over IP, or PCoIP, and uses a combination of hardware and software to deliver a robust "remote display" solution. Teradici is the developer of the technology and uses partner organizations to deliver the hardware to the channel. Currently, EVGA offers both the host and client components to create a PCoIP desktop. Samsung offers a flat-panel display that has the Teradici zero-client integrated.

In function, the standard Teradici offering (under the EVGA Label) doesn’t fit under the VDI umbrella; in fact, the solution is more like what ClearCube offers with a blade-based hosted PC.

In short, PCoIP technology uses a chip set that compresses and encodes the entire PC experience at the data center and transmits it over a standard IP network to a stateless, driverless desktop "portal." Users can work with their PC or workstation as they did before—including all applications, graphics and multimedia functions—even if the computer is located in a data center miles away.

Solution providers may wonder why we have included Teradici—after all, it is not a VDI-enabled product. That said, in September 2008, VMware announced a strategic licensing and co-development agreement with Teradici to develop a replacement (or option) to the RDP display protocol currently used by VMware's VDI solution.

For VMware, RDP has been the limiting factor for embracing zero-client technology—RDP has always lagged behind Citrix’s ICA protocol in both performance and robustness. If VMware can solve that problem with Teradici’s help, then a natively supported VMware VDI zero client can be developed and Teradici will be at the forefront.

Ignoring the VDI angle, solution providers can still quickly set up zero-client systems using Teradici technology under the EVGA label. The only downside is that each zero client will require a dedicated piece of silicon in the data center. The Teradici solution is one-to-one for Teradici host-chip- to remote-client ratio, so if you want to remote 20 VDI instances from one server, you need to figure out how to cram 20 Teradici chips into that server. EVGA’s PCoIP products are expected to start shipping in quantity in the near future and final pricing hasn’t yet been published.