Wyse's PocketCloud application, which was first introduced in 2009 for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch, will be available to iPad users. The application gives users access to their work environments. The iPad application also is a continuation of Wyse's push to become a key software vendor in the virtualized desktop space.
Desktop virtualization vendor Wyse Technology is making its PocketCloud
software available to users of Apple's iPad.
Wyse
introduced
PocketCloud in August 2009 as a way to enable users of Apple's iPhone and
iPod Touch to access their work environments on their PCs and virtual desktops
from their iPhone or iPod Touch. It also lets IT administrators gain access to
end-user machines through their Apple devices.
Now Wyse is bringing it to the Apple iPad, the much-anticipated
tablet that goes on sale April 3.
"The iPad is being positioned for the consumer market," Wyse CEO
Tarkan Maner said in an interview April 2 in Boston.
"We're taking it to the enterprise market."
Wyse's PocketCloud App for iPad is among a
growing
number of business applications that are being put into
the
iPad App Store. It's also part of Wyse's larger push to position itself as
a software company in the client virtualization and cloud computing space,
breaking away from its legacy as a thin-client device maker.
The company still makes thin-client hardware, but it's the
software IP that is the key differentiator for the company in what is rapidly
becoming a highly competitive desktop virtualization space that not only
includes such heavyweights as Microsoft, Citrix and VMware, but also a host of
smaller vendors and startups.
"Our story was a hardware story for many, many years," Maner
said. "For the last five or six years, we've been focusing on software. The
bottom line is that the differentiator is software. I do not have any hardware
engineers in my company."
Along with being added to the iPad App Store, PocketCloud also
has more than 20 new and improved features, including support for VMware's View
4 virtual desktop product, Wyse's new Touch Pointer-a pointer on the screen
that lets you navigate, point, click and double-click on items on the screen,
no matter how small-and more audio features.
Wyse rewrote PocketCloud to run natively on the iPad's larger
high-resolution screen, and to make it easier for iPad users to modify their
RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) and VMware View connections.
Other features include a custom keyboard with function and
shortcut keys, an enhanced multitouch interface, a newly designed mouse touch
pointer, and a redesigned look and feel of the computer's list.
Maner said PocketCloud also will help alleviate enterprise
concerns regarding Apple's
decision
not to use Flash technology. Though the technology is widely used, Apple CEO
Steve Jobs has called it a CPU hog and buggy. However, iPad users through the
Wyse app will be able to access Websites that use Flash, Maner said.
The PocketCloud App for iPad will be available for $29.99. In
addition, existing PocketCloud users who buy an iPad will have access across
the iPod Touch and iPhone at no additional cost.
It supports a host of environments, including Microsoft Windows
7 Pro and Ultimate, Windows XP Pro, Windows Vista Business, and Remote Desktop
Services and Terminal Services in Windows Server products.
The PocketCloud app dovetails with what Wyse officials have
been saying for the past few months: that the iPad makes a perfect thin client
for virtualized desktop environments.
Wyse has sold more than 10,000 PocketCloud licenses for the
iPhone since September, an indication of businesspeople's desire to use their
Apple products as a corporate tool, Maner said. He expects to see that same
trend with the iPad.
Maner also said Wyse will continue to remake itself into a
software company that offers businesses innovative virtualized desktop
offerings.
And businesses are beginning to get the message, he said. Along
with customers already announced, Maner said he is in discussions with a number
of large enterprises that are looking to switch out tens of thousands of
traditional desktops for thin clients and virtualized desktops.
The draw for them, Maner said, are benefits ranging from easier
manageability, greater security, reduced costs and improved worker mobility.
For example, he estimated that it costs businesses $300 to $450 a month for
each user's PC, from buying and operating them to updating and powering them to
software licensing.
In contrast, a thin client costs bout $100 to $200 per month,
and has an expected lifespan of six to eight years, compared with three years
for traditional PCs.
Wyse officials will continue its software push over the next
couple of months when they release new offerings currently under development.
The first will be "Project Borg," which Maner called Wyse's PC extender. The
Wyse firmware will enable users to use any device-from PCs to thin clients to
smartphones-to share the same client software and communicate with the back-end
server. The firmware will use Wyse's TCX protocol.
Maner said Project Borg, which will be released in mid-April,
will enable businesses to continue to get value from their PC investments by
essentially turning their PCs into thin clients in a VDI (Virtual Desktop
Infrastructure) environment.
In mid-May, at their Synergy 2010 conference in San
Francisco, Wyse officials will unveil "Project
Badger," which will be an update of their ThinOS operating system, Maner said.
According to the CEO, Badger
will have a small footprint, less than 3MB, and will challenge the various
"zero client" virtualization vendors like Pano Logic. Users will be able to
boot the devices in 3 seconds
According to reports, it also will have all the Wyse TCX and
VDA components integrated, and full HDX support.
Badger will be the next-generation zero-client computing
platform.
"There's nothing to manage," he said.
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