A hosted desktop is a product set within the larger

cloud-computing Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage (cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over multip ...

sphere generally delivered using a combination of technologies including

hardware virtualization Hardware virtualization is the virtualization of computers as complete hardware platforms, certain logical abstractions of their componentry, or only the functionality required to run various operating systems. Virtualization hides the physica ...

and some form of remote connection software,

Citrix XenApp Citrix Virtual Apps (formerly WinFrame, MetaFrame, Presentation Server and XenApp) is an application virtualization software produced by Citrix Systems that allows Windows applications to be accessed via individual devices from a shared server ...

or Microsoft

Remote Desktop Services Remote Desktop Services (RDS), known as Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 and earlier, is one of the components of Microsoft Windows that allow a user to initiate and control an interactive session on a remote computer or virtual machine ...

being two of the most common. Processing takes place within the provider's datacenter environment with traffic between the datacenter and the client being primarily display updates, mouse movements and keyboard activity (additional traffic will be generated by audio & print jobs). A hosted desktop commonly involves a

browser-based A web application (or web app) is application software that is accessed using a web browser. Web applications are delivered on the World Wide Web to users with an active network connection. History In earlier computing models like client-serve ...

connection to a

desktop environment In computing, a desktop environment (DE) is an implementation of the desktop metaphor made of a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system that share a common graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes described as a graphica ...

which includes an

office productivity suite An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...

alongside other

desktop applications A desktop traditionally refers to: * The surface of a desk (often to distinguish office appliances that fit on a desk, such as photocopiers and printers, from larger equipment covering its own area on the floor) Desktop may refer to various compu ...

. The desktop is hosted, run, delivered and supported from a central location, usually a secure data center with high-quality and resilient connections to the Internet/cloud. Cloud Desktop is a term often used to refer to a container of a collection of virtual objects, software, hardware, configurations etc., residing on the cloud, used by a client to interact with remote services and perform computer related tasks. Connecting clients run pre-installed or downloaded viewer applications via one of many

remote desktop protocols In computing, the term remote desktop refers to a software- or operating system feature that allows a personal computer's desktop environment to be run remotely off of one system (usually a PC, but the concept applies equally to a server or a ...

. Clients can include thin clients, PCs, workstations, mobile and handheld devices running a variety of operating systems such as Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and others. The move towards hosted desktops, of which

virtual desktop infrastructure Desktop virtualization is a software technology that separates the desktop environment and associated application software from the physical client device that is used to access it. Desktop virtualization can be used in conjunction with applicatio ...

(VDI) is a subset, is predicted by

Gartner Gartner, Inc is a technological research and consulting firm based in Stamford, Connecticut that conducts research on technology and shares this research both through private consulting as well as executive programs and conferences. Its clients ...

to account for 49 million business desktops by 2013archive
equal to more than 40 percent of the worldwide professional PC market. The development of applications by service providers such as

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

and

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

have accelerated this process, as has the evolution of new licensing schemes which allow fee-paying based on a subscription rather than on purchase.

Key characteristics

The centralized nature of hosted desktops can overcome common issues with mobile working, delivery of a common infrastructure across physical sites, disaster recovery, cost control and scaling up/down in timely fashion. Hosted desktop services can be a comparatively simple method for applying outsourcing principles within a business although care is warranted in ensuring service provider quality to ensure compliance, data security and data protection standards meet requirements. A hosted desktop based environment will generally migrate user authentication, file & print services and application delivery and data storage to the cloud making it accessible via secure connections from any internet enabled location. The relatively small bandwidth requirements for a Hosted Desktop means that between 5 & 10 people can connect and work on a standard xDSL broadband, whilst a single user can operate quite effectively on a 3G mobile data connection. Hosted desktops are most often based on a

Windows Server 2008 Windows Server 2008 is the fourth release of the Windows Server operating system produced by Microsoft as part of the Windows NT family of the operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on February 4, 2008, and generally to retail on Fe ...

utilizing

, often with an additional management layer from vendors like Citrix Systems or

Parallels Workstation Parallels Workstation is the first commercial software product released by Parallels, Inc., a developer of desktop and server virtualization software. The Workstation software consists of a virtual machine suite for Intel x86-compatible computer ...

to make personalization easier. Licensing for this type of hosted desktop is provided by the Microsoft Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA), a special type of

end-user license agreement An end-user license agreement or EULA () is a legal contract between a software supplier and a customer or end-user, generally made available to the customer via a retailer acting as an intermediary. A EULA specifies in detail the rights and restr ...

. The user rents the appropriate licenses as part of the monthly fee paid to the service provider and receives automatic upgrade rights to the latest version of the software as part of the agreement. Backup and disaster recovery will be handled by the Hosted Desktop vendor; with the best solutions also providing failover to alternate datacenters.

Pricing models

For hosted desktop vendors utilizing VMware and Microsoft technology, charges are normally monthly with a basic charge applied for each user of a hosted desktop and then additional charges for an

, additional data storage and extra applications. Some vendors wrap a suite of the most common applications into product sets to simplify still further.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hosted Desktop Cloud computing

Key characteristics

Pricing models

See also

Notes