Q What is the Desktone Cloud?
A The Desktone Cloud is a hosted, subscription service offering that allows you to buy virtual desktops on demand. The Desktone Cloud allows your organization to enjoy the benefits of virtual desktops without the large upfront costs and complex management challenges of enterprise VDI.
Q What is included as part of the Desktone Cloud?
A The Desktone Cloud includes all of the hardware (server, storage and networking), management software, hypervisors, brokering and web portals needed to run the offering. The Desktone Cloud provides you with administrative control over golden images, pattern management, provisioning and allocation.
Q What is the price?
A One of the great things about cloud economics is that you only pay for what you need. You are billed monthly, and the rate depends on the configuration of the desktops and the terms of the contract. Unlike other cloud services it does not matter if the desktop is on or off, the rate is a flat rate per month regardless of usage. Please contact Desktone sales for more information.
Q What do I need to access the desktops?
A You can access the Desktone Cloud through a PC, MAC, thin client or iPad / iPhone. The only requirement is that the end point device has a browser.
Q How is the Desktone Cloud different than enterprise Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)?
A The main difference is that cloud desktops require no upfront costs and shield you from all of the deployment and management complexities. The Desktone Cloud is designed to offer you all of the functionality of enterprise VDI but delivered as a cloud-hosted service.
Q How do I buy virtual desktops on the Desktone Cloud?
A Please contact Desktone sales at sales@desktone.com
Q How can I try the Desktone Cloud?
A Experience a Desktone Cloud free trial here.
Q How are end users authenticated in the Desktone Cloud?
A Authentication is done against your corporate LDAP environment, usually your Active Directory. This allows your organization to control and manage all credentials with your existing best practices. None of your end users’ passwords are ever stored in the Desktone Cloud or transferred over the wire in clear text.
Q What do I need to get started on the Desktone Cloud?
A For a free trial you need nothing more than a supported end point device, see above. For production you will need a VPN tunnel, a set of IP addresses for the desktops, supported end point devices, an Active Directory environment and Windows desktops licenses.
Q What organizations does the Desktone Cloud make sense for?
A The Desktone Cloud makes sense for any organization that is looking to leverage the benefits of virtual desktops in rapid fashion, without the complexity and potential headaches of VDI. Ideally suited for those that prefer IT as a service and require maximum flexibility.
Q Do I need to know how to manage hypervisors, servers or enterprise storage to leverage the Desktone Cloud?
A No, the management of all those systems is covered in the service and is not your responsibility or even exposed to you. All you need to worry about is what applications you want to provide to end users.
Q What desktop operating systems are supported on the Desktone Cloud?
A Windows 7 Enterprise, 32- and 64-bit flavors of Windows 7, Windows Vista,. Linux desktops are also supported. Please contact your Desktone sales representative for the latest supported flavors.
Q What protocols does the Desktone Cloud support?
A The solution is protocol agnostic, by default RDP is supported out the box. RGS from HP can be used for improved multimedia.
Q Are dynamic and static desktops supported in the Desktone Cloud?
A Yes, both static and dynamic desktops are supported in the Desktone Cloud.
Q What images can I use on my virtual desktops?
A We have VDI optimized images free of charge and ready for your use. There are images available for all supported operating systems. You can also use your own image(s).
Q Does Desktone have services to help my organization adopt and implement best practices for using Virtual Desktops in the Desktone Cloud?
A Yes. Desktone has numerous on-site, remote and self-use tools for adopting virtual desktop best practices – please contact Desktone Sales at sales@desktone.com for more information.
Q What about privacy and security of the Cloud?
A The Desktone Cloud leverages Rackspace’s secure data centers. From the ground up, Rackspace Hosting is built to deliver on-demand software, with fully-managed hosting solutions and instant emergency response. Rackspace includes world class monitoring, highly secure facilities and a support team of certified experts.
