Moka5 officials say the new MokaFive Suite 2.0 platform represents a
turning point in desktop virtualization technology.
Moka5 on June 22 announced Version 2.0 of its MokaFive Suite
desktop-as-a-service platform, which not only lets businesses deliver a
set and secure corporate desktop image to users' desktops, but also lets those users
safely customize their desktops with personalized data, settings and applications.
That is a key differentiator between MokaFive and other desktop
virtualization products, according to Purnima Padmanabhan, vice president of
products at Moka5. Most other offerings let administrators put a corporate
image on a PC or laptop and then lock it down, not allowing the users to
customize those systems. In addition, those solutions don't work well offline
or in a mobile environment, Padmanabhan said in an interview.
"It's not a feasible proposition if you're going to [use desktop
virtualization] for a large population," Padmanabhan said. "The
moment you lock it down … you've essentially stifled the very creativity [in
employees] you were trying to encourage."
The 4-year-old company is looking to carve out a space in a highly
competitive field that includes such virtualization vendors as VMware
and Citrix
Systems.
With MokaFive, IT administrators centrally create a full virtual desktop—what
the company calls a LivePC—and then deliver it to users, who download the
virtual desktop via a Web link. Users also can carry it around on a USB
stick or a smartphone. The LivePC can run on an Apple Macintosh or on Windows
or Linux PCs.
Tasks such as patching and updates are done by the administrators, and the
MokaFive platform delivers those to each LivePC.
In what Moka5 officials call a layered approach to desktop
virtualization, users can customize their PCs without impact on the corporate
image. The layered technology separates the hardware from the operating system
and the OS from the applications, and each layer is controlled and managed
independently, Padmanabhan said.
"From a user point of view, I get exactly what I need," she said.
Other new capabilities in Version 2.0 include integration with a PC's
existing infrastructure, such as Active Directory, and richer policy-based
controls that include two-factor authentication. The controls let IT
administrators decide the different levels of lockdown for different targeted
groups.
In addition, MokaFive makes it easier for users to recover from failures
by enabling them to simply restart their LivePCs, Padmanabhan said.
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