Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

Oracle refuses development of VDI

Oracle will stop development of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), program and the Sun Ray and Oracle Virtual Desktop Client hardware, the press service of the company reported on July 16, 2013. Not all partners of Oracle after this news felt emotional lift.

Good purposes

Representatives of Oracle reported in media: "For the purpose of closer linking of future investments of Oracle into development of virtualization of desktops with the basic corporate business strategy of Oracle, we stop further development the software of Oracle Virtual Desktop Client (OVDS), the software of Oracle Sun Ray Software (SRS) and the Oracle Sun Ray Client hardware (including software)".

In the same document of Oracle it is told: "In the future investments of Oracle in development of virtual desktops will be focused on continuation of further developments and improvements in area of both Oracle Secure Global Desktop, and the software of Oracle VM VirtualBox". Secure Global Desktop is the one more server VDI program, and VirtualBox - the popular solution of virtualization of desktops.

Partners of Oracle did not estimate such course of the company. One of dissatisfied partners of Oracle noted desirability of accurater approach to such changes: "Here so to announce death of one more product using the inaccessible document from a support service... I would estimate more fair and open approach".

Product output time

During some time of Oracle will continue to support existing program and the hardware and will update licenses: "We want to assure our present and new clients that technical support of these products will be continuously performed as it is performed today. Clients will also be able to update further the existing agreements on support or to purchase new licenses. Exact terms of the last order dates of Oracle Sun Ray for client devices will be announced in the nearest future".

The events - blow to the Oracle system integrators, resellers and any enterprises working with a stack of VDI.

Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 3.2

Oracle in August, 2010 announced the new version of the product Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 3.2, scalable solution for virtualization of jobs. Tools for management of the desktop environments placed on servers in data processing centers and providing access to these environments are offered attention of the client organizations. Proposed solution will allow the enterprises to reduce load of IT personnel and also to estimate advantages of standard images of the virtual working environments available practically from any client device.

VDI 3.2 is one of the key components of a solution portfolio for desktop virtualization offered by Oracle company. Developers report that the staff of the enterprise will be able to address a usual working environment, including the operating system, applications and data, from a broad spectrum of client devices, for example, from thin clients of Oracle Sun Ray.

The Global Hot-Desking technology which allows administrators to keep in contact with several data processing centers deleted from each other is for the first time presented in the version of Oracle VDI 3.2. One more important function of a new solution is the possibility of redirection of requests in other data processing center at unavailability of the initial server. Thus, Oracle VDI guarantees the continuity of business processes in case of damage.

The version of VDI 3.2 will provide better and smooth reproduction of multimedia materials on the virtual systems and also guarantees extremely rational use of server resources. The built-in tools for service of virtual environments based on Windows will allow administrators to do without software from third-party producers.

VDI 3.2 supports the Windows 7, XP, Vista and 2000 operating systems and also Oracle Enterprise Linux, Ubuntu and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. Close integration of a product with other virtualization platforms, including VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V is implemented.

Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 3.3

Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 3.3 offers the improved portal of administration with role access, support of Oracle Linux as basic OS and provides higher performance.

Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure is the finished solution for management and access to the virtualized jobs placed in data processing centers. Thanks to the centralized hosting and management of desktops of users, Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure helps to reduce costs for administration, to reduce total cost of ownership and to increase security.

• The simplified administration and expanded support of platforms
• New opportunities of Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 3.3:
• The improved and simplified installation including:
  • o the optimized installer which allows to install components from one loaded distribution kit and the user interface;
  • o powerful and flexible model with a possibility of change of a hardware configuration over a wide range – from small to large projects of deployment.

• Expanded control interface with support of administration, role-based:
  • o Accurate and full administration at each level – a workplace, the company and also at the global level that gives the chance to implement the delegated control. In particular, it allows IT department to manage with ease service of numerous business divisions with different requirements within one unrolled infrastructure of Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure or, the same way, to service provider to manage service of the numerous clients.

• The improved performance:
  • o the New asynchronous model of input-output allows to increase the capacity of virtual machines.
  • the Increased scalability provides to o support up to 100 thousand users counting on one cluster of VDI and allows to implement multiple clusters through the global directory.
  • o New control facilities which allow to limit virtual machines in overutilization of system resources.
  • o Enhanced capabilities of multimedia allow to implement the functionality of Windows Media Player optimized for operating environments of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.
  • o the Possibility of sound reproduction in real time provides support of USB earphones for separate devices.
  • o the Appliance Link Protocol Protocol dynamically optimizes audiochannels for support of applications, improving sound quality and helping to lower requirements for network transmission capacity to 92%.

• Support of new platforms:
  • o Oracle VDI supports the Oracle Linux operating system as basic OS. Clients can select between Oracle Linux and Oracle Solaris for deployment of Oracle VDI now.
  • o Supported platforms for guest sessions include new versions of Oracle Solaris, Microsoft Windows and operating systems based on Linux (for example, Ubuntu 11.04).
  • o the New "mode of the booth" allows to start such applications as Web browsers, in the full-screen mode, with limited functionality and without a possibility of any direct interaction with the most operating system.

Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 3.3 is a part of a complete portfolio of the means of virtualization of Oracle supporting a full range of devices from a workplace of the user to a data processing center. The Oracle Virtualization portfolio allows clients effectively and just to virtualize and manage all components of the equipment and the software, from applications to a disk.

Products of Oracle for virtualization of jobs, including Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, are certified for use with any Oracle applications of Applications which can be executed in the environment of the web browser.

Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 3.4

In May, 2012 Oracle updated three key components of own VDI solutions at once – a management system of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 3.4, software for thin clients of Sun Ray Software 5.3 and the desktop client of Virtual Desktop Client 3.1. From now on the corporation positions them as a unit. Thus, Oracle continues to make attempts on reconquest of a share in the perspective market of virtualization of desktops where more successful Citrix Systems, VMware and HP act as main competitors.

It is necessary to make a reservation at once that the term "virtualization of desktops" not quite corresponds to a spirit of the age, – today it is more correct to speak about virtualization of devices. The staff of the companies even more often prefers to use at work as own notebooks, tablets and smartphones. In turn, IT services in every possible way encourage it, it is about rather serious economy on capital costs on acquisition of the expensive equipment. Undoubtedly, the outlined trend had a partial impact on the increased interest of Oracle in the VDI direction.

The packet of Oracle contains the following key innovations:

• All three products support more reliably protected authentication mechanism compatible to standard 802.1x, and a number of functions for ensuring secure access;
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 3.4 allows to store information not only on DWH of Oracle (including, the most modern Sun ZFS systems), but also third-party (read – competing) producers. Administrators of DWH should appreciate this innovation as they in real life of the IC often have a heterogeneous structure;
• Virtual Desktop Client 3.1 allows to copy and insert data between local applications on client devices and remote virtual desktops and includes new multimedia opportunities with support of high resolution. Deep integration of authentication mechanisms using smart cards is implemented.

Oracle Virtual Desktop Client 1.2

Oracle Virtual Desktop Client 1.2 can work with tablets running Android 4.x OS. This version expands the list of the operating systems supported by Oracle Virtual Desktop Client which includes iOS, Windows, Linux and Mac OS X, and provides access to the solutions Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure and Sun Ray Software.

In Virtual Desktop Client 1.2 the interface for the touch screen is optimized: the improved screen keyboard accelerates access to an expanded set of keys and maximizes view pane on the screen; new gestures accelerate access to often used functions. Function of fast keys provides access to one click to the jobs connected earlier that simplifies transition from one virtualized workplace to another. Possibilities of copying and an insert between the tablet and a remote workplace which are controlled the administrator are implemented. The new version supports higher resolution of the screen on iPad with the Retina display.

Oracle also provided Oracle application of Virtual Desktop Client 3.2 for desktop PCs with support of the Windows 8 operating system and the improved opportunities for USB devices.