Richland School District Two Acquires 30,000 Licenses of Ericom AccessNow for VMware View

From the press release:

Richland School District Two has licensed Ericom AccessNow™ for VMware View™, for use by its 30,000 students and staff. Ericom AccessNow for VMware View will be deployed across its 35 K-12 schools, as part of the South Carolina district’s “1 TWO 1” computing initiative for making a computer available to each student in grades three through 12

Ericom AccessNow can provide access to Windows desktops and applications from a wide variety of end-point devices, including Laptops, iPads, Android Tablets and Chromebooks. Ericom AccessNow runs wholly within any HTML5 compatible browser on all these platforms, and does not require any client software installation on the end-user device, significantly reducing IT support costs and workload. It is an ideal solution for Richland School District Two and other K-12 school districts seeking to easily and cost-effectively provide access to virtual desktops from anywhere and using any device.

Click here for more information about Ericom AccessNow.

Ericom AccessNow on Stage at Google Atmosphere Event

Google Atmosphere is an annual event where Google showcases their latest offerings in Enterprise and Cloud computing. For this year's event, Google hosted 350 of the world's leading CIOs at their headquarters in Mountain View, California. On the opening day, Rajen Sheth, Google's Chromebooks Product Manager, demonstrated Ericom AccessNow on stage to the general assembly. Click here to watch a video of that demonstration. We are very proud and excited that Google chose to highlight and promote our AccessNow solution in this way.

Click here for more information about Ericom AccessNow, the pure HTML5 browser remote access solution to Windows Applications and Desktops.

Ericom AccessNow Provides Pure HTML5 RDP Client for Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop (RD) Connection Broker

A question that I'm asked about Ericom AccessNow, our pure HTML5 RDP client is: "Why did you choose to utilize RDP rather than develop your own remote presentation protocol?" The reason is that Ericom's primary focus is on providing access to Windows desktops and applications, and RDP is an intrinsic and integral part of Windows itself. In fact, RDP is the only remote presentation protocol that can access Windows session-based RDS (Terminal Services) because it is integrated with the Windows session management subsystem. (Yes, ICA also works with the Windows session management subsystem, but only by modifying Windows core components and converting Windows RDS into a Citrix XenApp server.)

Another benefit of RDP is that it is the only protocol that works with Windows RD Connection Broker, Microsoft's own combined session-based and VDI connection broker, included for free in Windows Server 2008 R2. Since Ericom AccessNow integrates with Microsoft Windows RD Connection Broker, it enables organizations to deliver secure and centrally managed, on-demand access to Windows applications and virtual desktops delivered through Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services, from any HTML 5-enabled device supporting the WebSocket protocol. This includes iPad / iPhone, Mac, Linux, RIM Playbook, locked-down Windows stations, and Google Chromebook (Chrome OS).

In addition to Microsoft Windows RD Connection Broker, AccessNow also supports Ericom PowerTerm WebConnect, our unified, enterprise-grade access management solution for both VDI and session-based RDS (SBC). AccessNow also supports VMware View VDI connection broker. For more information about Ericom AccessNow, please visit our website.

Ericom Releases AccessNow 1.2 - Second Version of Pure HTML Remote Access Solution

I’m happy to announce that AccessNow 1.2 is released and is available for download from our website. This is the second version of AccessNow, and a very important step forward in the evolution of this product, providing many new features and enhancements such as:

• Support for Chrome 14 & 15, Firefox 6 and Microsoft IE10 (beta with WebSockets support)
• Virtual Keyboard Support for tablets and smartphones
• Clipboard support (copy and paste text between local and remote sessions)
• Enhanced Chromebook keyboard functionality (e.g. Windows keyboard function keys)
• Full support for Windows XP as RDP host
• Support for Console sessions
• Improved performance
• Enhanced configurability: hidden fields, remember password, etc.
• API for parameter settings (e.g., credentials for Single Sign-On)
• Easy to use configuration utility for AccessNow server
• Linux-based AccessNow server
• Ericom Secure Gateway (RDP from Anywhere)
• Client-side logging for improved support

For more info, and to download the latest version, visit the Ericom website.

Microsoft Demos Ericom AccessNow at BUILD Conference

We are proud and excited that Microsoft chose to present and demo Ericom AccessNow at the very first BUILD conference, where Microsoft unveiled Windows 8 and its revolutionary Metro interface. Also front-and-center at BUILD was Microsoft’s commitment to and support for HTML5 as a foundation for both the Web and Windows 8 itself. In a session about building real-time web apps with HTML5, Ravi Rao, Microsoft Principal Program Manager Lead, demoed Ericom AccessNow, citing it as an example of an innovative HTML5 application. The fact the Ericom AccessNow runs on IE10 and Windows 8 out-of-the-box, without requiring any customization, installation or configuration, is testament to the usefulness and value of Ericom's technology.

You can view the demo at 57:30 in the session video:
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/BUILD/BUILD2011/PLAT-373C

For more information about Ericom AccessNow, please visit the Ericom website.

City of Orlando Evaluates 600 Chromebooks with Ericom AccessNow for VDI

In my previous blog post I explained why Google Chromebooks with Ericom AccessNow may be the ultimate client for VDI / TS / RDS / SBC. This is not some theoretical supposition - quite a few companies are evaluating a combined Google Chromebooks - Ericom AccessNow solution for exactly this purpose. One widely-reported example is the City of Orlando (see the ComputerWorld article) who distributed 600 Chromebooks to their employees. In a pilot rollout, these employees are now using Ericom AccessNow with their Chromebooks to access virtual desktops managed by VMware View. Here is what Orlando’s Sys Admin has to say about Ericom AccessNow:

Marvin Smith, System Administrator for the City of Orlando commented, “We have been evaluating Chromebooks for a variety of applications throughout various City agencies. Our objective was to be able to provide users with flexibility in accessing VMware View virtual desktops from any location. In fact, employees plan to take Chromebooks to meetings, use them while they work from home and on lunch breaks. Ericom’s AccessNow for VMware View provides a key connectivity component in empowering users to access vital resources from the Chromebooks. We have successfully installed and tested AccessNow for VMware View and plan to roll it out within our VMware View and Google Chromebook environments.”

For more information about Ericom AccessNow please visit the Ericom website.

Is Google Chromebook the Ultimate VDI / TS / RDS Client?

I'm sure that when Google Engineers designed the Chromebook, virtual desktops (VDI) and Remote Desktop Services (RDS) were the last things on their mind. And yet, after using Chromebook for several weeks, I believe that it may be the ultimate client for VDI and RD Session Host (Terminal Services), certainly for mobile users (and let's face it - almost everybody is at least occasionally mobile these days.) Here are my "Top Ten" reasons why Chromebooks are such a great fit for VDI / TS / RDS:

1. Chromebooks are relatively cheap, and easily replaced.
2. They are lightweight yet durable, without moving parts (SSD instead of HD).
3. They can run for over eight hours on a single charge.
4. They have built-in Wi-Fi and 3G.
5. They have a keyboard, touch-pad and support standard mice (tablets may be cooler, but let’s face it, the Windows desktop and applications were not designed for touch-screens).
6. They are instant on - it only takes a few seconds from hitting the power button until you are connected to the remote desktop.
7. You can’t install software on it, so no risk of malware such as viruses, Trojans, or key-loggers.
8. For the same reason, Chromebooks require zero local administration, which is one of the main reasons for using VDI / TS in the first place.
9. They have a built-in browser (guess which), making it possible to connect in airports, hotels, etc.
10. The same browser can also be used to access web content locally, thus reducing the load on the RDP hosts.
11. They support Ericom AccessNow, which enables remote access to both Windows desktops and applications. Ericom AccessNow also integrates with PowerTerm WebConnect (which brokers VDI and TS / RDS) and with the VMware View VDI connection broker.

OK, that’s eleven - I couldn’t resist :) By the way, I wrote this post from home on a Chromebook connected to a Windows desktop at the office using Ericom AccessNow.