Virtual Desktop Solution

Pano Logic Raises Follow-Up Financing To The Tune Of $6 Million

February 3, 2009 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Pano Logic today announced it has closed an extension to its Series B round of $6 million led by Foundation Capital and Goldman Sachs. This funding brings the total Series B financing to $18 million, and completes a year of expansion for Pano Logic, which experienced quarter-over-quarter growth and has received extensive industry recognition since bringing its first product to market in late 2007.

Over the course of 2008, Pano Logic has significantly increased its install base and signed more than 150 partners including one of the leading distributors, Avnet. Additionally, the Pano Virtual Desktop Solution received a SearchServerVirtualization.com Product of the Year award, the red dot 2008, and Good Design 2008 product design awards. Pano Logic was also named a finalist for the 2008 Red Herring North America 100 Awards, which recognizes startups that will lead the next wave of disruption and innovation.

Pano Logic Unveils Windows Native VDI Solution

November 17, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Pano Logic, developer of a server-based desktop virtualization solution, today announced Pano Virtual Desktop Solution (VDS) 2.5. The new release is the first desktop virtualization solution to optimize the Windows user experience without using the Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), which eliminates the dependence on Microsoft Terminal Services technology and provides native session support for Windows applications, video, and audio interfaces and native USB device drivers.

These new capabilities are available through Console Direct, a new technology in Pano VDS 2.5 that plugs directly into the Windows OS to deliver a fully native experience. In addition, new capabilities for Pano Manager improve IT’s ability to maintain and support virtual infrastructure through quick and easy role-based access for the help desk.

New features in Pano VDS 2.5 include:

Native Console Support — offering the ability via Console Direct to allow the Windows desktop to use its native interfaces for video, audio and USB devices. While other technologies use a Terminal Server Session with RDP, which doesn’t have access to all Windows native interfaces and therefore detrimentally affects user experience and device support, Console Direct enables the use of native drivers such as touch screens and smart boards that must communicate with the console session. Only Pano VDS allows the deployment of these interactive devices while maintaining zero management at the end-point.
Internet Video — delivering support of native video, audio and USB device drivers directly from the Windows operating system, ensuring quality video replay with any codec (including Adobe Flash Video) with no tearing and tight audio video synchronization.
Quick and easy role-based access through Active Directory — providing help desk staff the ability to have view-only access to the Pano Manager to look at alerts, statistics and connection status to quickly troubleshoot and resolve customer requests.

These new features further enhance the robust capabilities that are already a part of Pano VDS. Purpose-built from the ground up, the Pano Logic approach is to provide a zero management client and leverage a customer’s VMware server virtualization infrastructure to deliver a complete Windows desktop environment. Pano VDS can be installed in less than 60 minutes, and is centrally managed from the data center.

Pano VDS 2.5 is now available with pricing starting at $300 for a single Pano desktop.

MokaFive Releases Virtual Desktop Solution

May 20, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

MokaFive, a desktop virtualization company, has announced the general release of v.10 of its Virtual Desktop Solution, a cross-platform desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) product.

The company says its DaaS solution is already deployed in nearly 50 pilot programs and has been downloaded over 80,000 times. The virtual desktops, known as LivePCs, run on Windows, Macintosh, and MokaFive’s BareMetal Linux operating systems.

“The arrival of virtualization on the desktop will change the way desktops have been managed and promises greater flexibility for the user,” said Bill Demas, president and CEO, MokaFive. “We believe our MokaFive Virtual Desktop Solution is the first to bridge the chasm between what IT administrators need—centralized management—and what users want—freedom in their computing environment. By offering our virtual desktops as a service, MokaFive is making it easier for companies to get up and running quickly.”

MokaFive Virtual Desktop Solution is available in two versions. MokaFive Professional is for enterprise and workgroup deployments and will be sold via annual subscription. MokaFive Express, designed for home users and developers, is available as a free download. A library of LivePCs, created by MokaFive and the user community, is available at the MokaFive lab.

Also check out the GigaOM interview with MokaFive founder John Waley.

[Source: Dana Gardner ZDNet]

MokaFive Moves Virtualization Solution From Desktop To Cloud

April 7, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

MokaFive, a 3-year-old company from Redwood City who previously went by the name moka5, is realigning its market strategy from desktop virtualization provider for consumers to desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) innovation Virtual Desktop Solution provider for SMBs.

In essence, this solution is a console to centralize the management of multiple LivePCs (their consumer product), which contain an entire desktop operating system and application stack. Available today as a preview, the MokaFive solution thus leverages the power of cloud computing to deliver centrally managed, locally run virtual desktops as a service. General availability is scheduled for Q2 2008.

From the press release:

Underpinning the MokaFive Virtual Desktop Solution is the company’s LivePC format, which contains an entire desktop operating system and application stack. Inspired by Sun Microsystems’ SunRay architecture, LivePCs allow users to pause and resume their computing state on different PCs by carrying a USB flash drive. LivePCs are virtual machines running directly on users’ desktops—there is no need for a data center. They can be run online or offline, boot quickly on a PC, fit easily and securely on a USB flash drive and update automatically over a network or the Internet. LivePCs are managed centrally and can be executed locally on any compatible x86 machine, giving users the flexibility and performance of a PC.

“The LivePC format represents the next-generation of desktop computing, easily leapfrogging today’s virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solutions that require users to remotely connect to virtual machines hosted in data centers,” said Dr. Monica Lam, Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University and Co-founder and Chief Scientist of MokaFive. “Unlike VDI solutions, which require a server for each handful of users, LivePCs deliver dynamically updated, or ‘live,’ images that can be used by thousands of users with a single server.”

[Source: Dana Gardner]