| HP offers thin client virtualization add-ons |
Dec. 08, 2008
 HP announced new software touted as making its Windows CE-based thin client devices faster and easier to use. "Virtual Client Essentials" improves session management capabilities, multi-display support, and multimedia streaming over RDP, with additional graphical improvements promised later.
(Click here for a larger view of HP's gt7725 thin client, which supports up to four displays)
Virtual Client Essentials comprises various thin client modules designed for use in client virtualization environments, HP says, citing server-based computing, HP Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), HP Blade PCs or Workstations, and streaming client environments. The Virtual Client Essentials portfolio includes:- HP Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) Enhancements -- aimed at delivering richer multimedia streaming to virtual thin clients
- HP Remote Graphics Software -- aimed at further improving multimedia streaming with thin client virtualization
- HP Session Allocation Manager (SAM) – A session broker for remote clients said to offer "advanced" management capabilities
- HP Image Manager -- for streaming operating systems and applications, HP says
HP RDP Enhancements
HP claims RDP Enhancements provides users with "real-time, network-based multimedia content, with full stereo audio." Recommended uses include interactive training, demos, and live webcasts. The software will ship on the company's new thin clients in January, and will be available as a free download for existing Windows XP Embedded devices, such as the recently released gt7725, pictured above, which supports up to four displays.
Multimedia is the Achilles' heel of traditional thin client computing, in which applications are run on a centralized server, then delivered to clients via "screen scraping." Microsoft's RDP (remote desktop protocol) and Citrix's ICA (independent computing architecture) have no problem serving up typical office applications, thanks to the bandwidth provided by a modern LAN. However, these protocols weren't designed for multimedia or applications that seek to access client hardware directly. In addition, even the most powerful server can be brought to its knees when it is forced to decode multimedia files for dozens of simultaneous users.
As background, Microsoft also made a variety of improvements to RDP in version 6.1, which was introduced with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, and is now shipping with Windows Embedded Standard 2009. The revisions in RDP 6.1 added functionality such as 32-bit color, monitor spanning, enhanced security, and better redirection of printers and plug and play devices, according to Microsoft -- but no significant speed boost was claimed.
HP RGS
Implicitly acknowledging that some users will need even faster performance, HP also announced its "RGS" (remote graphics software), which is said to support even "the richest multimedia and workstation-class applications." Still a screen-scraping technology, RGS is said to offer advanced image compression and low-latency, high-quality audio, running "at least twice as fast as previous implementations."
To gain speed, RGS requires clients to be running Windows XP, to have at least 512MB of RAM, and to have processors faster than 1.5GHz with SSE2 multimedia instruction extensions. The architecture "automatically supports and accelerates all current and future multimedia formats and applications, including Flash and QuickTime, and now has even broader USB device support, including audio and webcam devices, to enable voice-over IP (VoIP) and desktop video conferencing," HP says.
Cited uses for RGS include 2-D design, 3-D solid modeling, rendering, simulation, full-motion video, heavy Flash animation and intense Web 2.0 pages. The software allows a thin client user to connect to multiple hosts, copying and pasting information between then, the company says.
RGS, touted as having security advantages because it does not require multiple protocols, is apparently fundamentally different from other recently introduced multimedia acceleration techniques for thin clients, Igel's DSV (digital services virtualization) and Wyse's TCX (thin client interface) Multimedia sofware. DSV, for example, is said to monitor thin client sessions, watching for any attempts to launch Flash, Windows Media, or other multimedia software. Such application calls are "trapped," and relevant services are then forced to run locally on the thin client, rather than being streamed via RDP, says Igel. For more details on DSV and TCX, see our earlier coverage, here.
Enhanced session management
The third new tool in HP's Virtual Client Essentials line is "SAM" (session allocation manager), described as "administrative software that brokers network connections to seamlessly connect end users with their virtual client environments." SAM is intended for customers with mixed virtual client environments, and offers support for both traditional thin clients and dedicated blade devices, according to HP.
Touted features of SAM include:- Simple user administration/provisioning through one location
- Addition of new compute resources using an auto-configuration plug and play method
- Centralized management of client RDP and RDS settings through associated global, group, or user policies
- Follow-me roaming and persistence
- Usage and planning reports
- Support for capacity planning with extensive and extensible reporting features or user or device trends with roll-up capability
- Allocating users to fixed or dynamic computing resources
Image management
Also listed as part of Virtual Client Essentials is HP Image Manager, apparently an updated version of the Neoware Image Manager first released in 2005, and then acquired by HP along with Neoware. While no updates to this application were detailed, Image Manager is said to allow central storage of operating system images, streaming them even to thin clients that completely lack local flash storage.
Further information
According to HP, RDS Enhancements will be free, while RGS licenses start at $35. SAM licenses, meanwhile, are approximately $69 per seat. A Linux version of RDP Enhancements will appear "in the near future," the company adds.
For further information on HP's RGS and SAM, see the company's website, here and here, respectively. Additional coverage also appears in a story on our sister site eWEEK.com, here.
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