Oracle Enhances Desktop Virtualization Portfolio

Oracle Corp. announced Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 3.4, Sun Ray Software 5.3 and Oracle Virtual Desktop Client 3.1, which are part of its desktop virtualization portfolio .

These products provide users access to their personal desktop computing environment, enterprise applications and data without being tied to a particular physical client device, delivering benefits such as greater mobility, data security, and easier, centralized administration.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 3.4 and Sun Ray Software 5.3 provide up to 720p HD video playback on Sun Ray thin client devices, for a richer user experience.

New security features including support for 802.1x identity-based network authentication enhance security.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 3.4 delivers expanded storage options, allowing customers to choose from a variety of Oracle and third party storage solutions.

Virtual Desktop Client 3.1 introduces the ability to copy and paste between local applications on the client device and remote virtual desktops, new HD multimedia capabilities, and enhanced integration of smart card authentication.

Improvements
in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) 3.4
and Sun Ray Software 5.3 server software
include:

• Broader range of storage options: In addition to taking advantage of integration with theperformance and analytical capabilities of Oracle’s Sun ZFS Storage Appliances, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 3.4 enables support for local storage and third-party storage solutions, giving customers storage choices when designing deployments or leveraging their existing storage investments.
• Management scalability: The new Global VDI Centers feature in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 3.4 allows the creation of multiple, independently administered VDI deployments that automatically direct users to the proper server group on login.

Key improvements
for Sun Ray 3 Series Clients and PCs
running the Virtual Desktop Client 3.1 software
include:

• Richer user experience: Improvements to multimedia acceleration enhance the desktop user experience. New features include acceleration of Adobe Flash and Windows Media Player on the Sun Ray 3 Series Client devices and 720p HD quality video on Sun Ray 3 Plus Clients and PCs with Oracle Virtual Desktop Client 3.1.
• Smarter hot-desking: New user location awareness features enable applications to provide dynamic capabilities such as follow-me-printing and help ensure more secure access to applications. New auto-resizing features automatically adapt the user’s virtual desktop display size when moving between devices.
• Enhanced smart card support: Virtual Desktop Infrastructure and Sun Ray Software now support the Extended Application Protocol Data Unit (APDU) standard for smart cards that allows larger amounts of information to be stored on smart cards and exchanged with applications, for greater user functionality.
• Increased security: Sun Ray 3 Series Clients now support more sophisticated authentication to the network using 802.1X Extensible Authentication Protocols to allow matching of the network address of the device to the identity of the user prior to access authorization.
• Enhanced USB support for Sun Ray 3 Series Clients: Delivers up to five times faster USB mass storage performance and provides access to a broader range of USB devices.

"Oracle is the only company that offers everything needed for a complete desktop virtualization solution—-hardware and software," said Wim Coekaerts, SVP, Linux and Virtualization Engineering, Oracle. "With our continued product enhancements, Oracle’s desktop virtualization solution is making it easier and more cost-effective for IT to deliver centrally managed, secure services for end user desktops and provide access to enterprise applications from a wider variety of locations and devices."