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Oracle Expands Virtual Desktops for Linux

Oracle is out this week with a new release of its Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) software. The new VDI 3.3 release expands both the deployment options and performance for enterprises looking to virtualize their desktops. The VDI 3.3 release is also the first from Oracle that is supported on Oracle Linux. “The Oracle Virtual Desktop […]

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SMK

Sean Michael Kerner

Jul 7, 2011

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Oracle is out this week with a new release of its Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) software. The new VDI 3.3 release expands both the deployment options and performance for enterprises looking to virtualize their desktops.

The VDI 3.3 release is also the first from Oracle that is supported on Oracle Linux.

“The Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) product came to Oracle through the Sun acquisition and was originally built on top of Oracle Solaris,” an Oracle spokesperson said in an email sent to InternetNews.com. “This release is the first opportunity that our resources and schedule allowed us to add support for Linux.”

Overall, Oracle has a dual OS strategy that includes enabling their customers to deploy VDI on both Oracle Linux and Oracle Solaris. The spokesperson explained that any mixture of Oracle Linux or Oracle Solaris servers can be used interchangeably in the same deployment. And the deployment as a whole can deliver desktops based on various versions of Windows, Oracle Linux, Oracle Solaris, Ubuntu, or even Windows Terminal Services.

Going a step further, if a user has multiple monitors they can have multiple virtual desktops running at the same time, using, for example, Windows XP and Windows 7 or Ubuntu and Windows.

In terms of the underlying VDI technology transport, Oracle is using its ALP (Appliance Link Protocol) out to the end user device. Oracle’s spokesperson noted that ALP is optimized for LAN or WAN links, and handles high latency connections extremely well. The ALP support has also led to a 92 percent reduction in the bandwidth needed for audio.

“If a user is on a PC and has not installed the Oracle Virtual Desktop Client, Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure also supports direct connections from RDP clients, but with reduced functionality,” the spokesperson explained.

Oracle is also extending VDI control out to the Apple iPad by way of a new iOS app. The VDI app isn’t a browser-based solution, but rather it is a native Objective C app for IOS. “Oracle products are enterprise scale and integrated,” the spokesperson said. “What this means is that we’ll be driving even further upwards in terms of scale, while providing more integration with other Oracle technologies.”

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.