Teradici re-emerges as 'HP Anyware' to replace zCentral Remote Boost
(2022/07/26)
- Reference: 1658809873
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/07/26/teradici_now_hp_anyware/
- Source link:
HP Inc.'s [1]late 2021 acquisition of Teradici has borne fruit with the creation of a product called HP Anyware that will replace HP's own zCentral Remote Boost.
Teradici's flagship cloud access software (CAS) allows users to remote into PCs hosted on-prem or in the cloud. The acquired company made that possible using a protocol called PC-over-IP (PCoIP) that streams the contents of a PC's screen. No data from remote PCs ever traverses a network – remote users see only bitmaps.
HP Inc. bought Teradici after betting the COVID-19 pandemic would make working remotely a permanent feature of modern life and deciding its own zCentral Remote Boost didn't offer it the best product with which to address the market.
[2]
There's not much wrong with zCentral Boost, but it was designed to provide remote access to workstations rather than everyday desktops.
[3]
[4]
HP Anyware gives the PC giant a remote desktop offering that can handle both.
As explained to The Register by Ziad Lammam, HP Inc.'s global head of Teradici product management, the first release of Anyware is really just a regular quarterly update to Teradici CAS. It's a significant release in that it adds support for Macs powered by Apple's M1 chips, which can now be accessed remotely from macOS, Windows, and Linux, as well as iOS and Android tablets.
[5]
Some zCentral Remote Boost features such as accessing Wacom tablets have also made it across.
A more substantial refresh will arrive in a September update that gives Anyware a new GUI.
Lammam said that by the middle of 2023, Anyware will be at feature parity with zCentral Boost – and development of HP's product will have stopped.
[6]
zCentral Boost users will be offered security and functionality fixes, but HP's intent is for all users to migrate to Anyware.
[7]Cloudflare menaces virtual desktops with isolated browser access to internal networks
[8]Citrix spreads its Desktop as a Service across Google and Azure clouds
[9]Alibaba Cloud lets its tiny desktop-as-a-service client leave China
The Register put it to Lammam that Teradici never set the world on fire: the likes of VMware and Citrix dominated desktop virtualization and are now being challenged by cloud-hosted desktops from Microsoft and AWS.
Lammam replied that all of the abovementioned services support PCoiP, and AWS WorkSpaces are powered by the tech.
But he also outlined HP Inc.'s plans to use Anyware as the basis for services offerings, rather than going head to head with cloud desktop or VDI vendors. Indeed, Anyware is run as part of HP Inc.'s services group, rather than its product teams.
HP Inc.'s services team already offers endpoint management and security services that add value to its hardware. Anyware will also allow HP Inc. to offer remote PC solutions.
"It is still not super simple to build a remoting solution," Lammam explained. HP Inc. plans to address that by bundling devices, Anyware, and the expertise to build and run the resulting rigs.
As HP Inc. offers PCs, Chromebooks, thin clients, and workstations, it sells all the endpoints (other than Macs and tablets) that can access remote PCs using Anyware. The company has also teamed with the major clouds to have Anyware run there, and has friends with benefits status at HP Enterprise for those contemplating hybrid cloud implementations.
Lammam admitted to The Register that remote PC access has never gone mainstream. But he thinks the times suit Anyware – between increased acceptance of remote working, supply chain issues making it harder to procure PCs, and low unemployment making employers more open to talent working anywhere, this could be the remote PC's time to shine. ®
Get our [10]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/30/hp_inc_acquires_teradici/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/virtualization&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Yt@7QYiU5FdxbcWgHNOCpQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/virtualization&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yt@7QYiU5FdxbcWgHNOCpQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/virtualization&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Yt@7QYiU5FdxbcWgHNOCpQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/virtualization&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yt@7QYiU5FdxbcWgHNOCpQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/virtualization&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Yt@7QYiU5FdxbcWgHNOCpQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/27/isolate_browsers_vs_vdi/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/05/citrix_daas_google_azure/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/22/alibaba_wuying_cloud_pc_singapore/
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Teradici's flagship cloud access software (CAS) allows users to remote into PCs hosted on-prem or in the cloud. The acquired company made that possible using a protocol called PC-over-IP (PCoIP) that streams the contents of a PC's screen. No data from remote PCs ever traverses a network – remote users see only bitmaps.
HP Inc. bought Teradici after betting the COVID-19 pandemic would make working remotely a permanent feature of modern life and deciding its own zCentral Remote Boost didn't offer it the best product with which to address the market.
[2]
There's not much wrong with zCentral Boost, but it was designed to provide remote access to workstations rather than everyday desktops.
[3]
[4]
HP Anyware gives the PC giant a remote desktop offering that can handle both.
As explained to The Register by Ziad Lammam, HP Inc.'s global head of Teradici product management, the first release of Anyware is really just a regular quarterly update to Teradici CAS. It's a significant release in that it adds support for Macs powered by Apple's M1 chips, which can now be accessed remotely from macOS, Windows, and Linux, as well as iOS and Android tablets.
[5]
Some zCentral Remote Boost features such as accessing Wacom tablets have also made it across.
A more substantial refresh will arrive in a September update that gives Anyware a new GUI.
Lammam said that by the middle of 2023, Anyware will be at feature parity with zCentral Boost – and development of HP's product will have stopped.
[6]
zCentral Boost users will be offered security and functionality fixes, but HP's intent is for all users to migrate to Anyware.
[7]Cloudflare menaces virtual desktops with isolated browser access to internal networks
[8]Citrix spreads its Desktop as a Service across Google and Azure clouds
[9]Alibaba Cloud lets its tiny desktop-as-a-service client leave China
The Register put it to Lammam that Teradici never set the world on fire: the likes of VMware and Citrix dominated desktop virtualization and are now being challenged by cloud-hosted desktops from Microsoft and AWS.
Lammam replied that all of the abovementioned services support PCoiP, and AWS WorkSpaces are powered by the tech.
But he also outlined HP Inc.'s plans to use Anyware as the basis for services offerings, rather than going head to head with cloud desktop or VDI vendors. Indeed, Anyware is run as part of HP Inc.'s services group, rather than its product teams.
HP Inc.'s services team already offers endpoint management and security services that add value to its hardware. Anyware will also allow HP Inc. to offer remote PC solutions.
"It is still not super simple to build a remoting solution," Lammam explained. HP Inc. plans to address that by bundling devices, Anyware, and the expertise to build and run the resulting rigs.
As HP Inc. offers PCs, Chromebooks, thin clients, and workstations, it sells all the endpoints (other than Macs and tablets) that can access remote PCs using Anyware. The company has also teamed with the major clouds to have Anyware run there, and has friends with benefits status at HP Enterprise for those contemplating hybrid cloud implementations.
Lammam admitted to The Register that remote PC access has never gone mainstream. But he thinks the times suit Anyware – between increased acceptance of remote working, supply chain issues making it harder to procure PCs, and low unemployment making employers more open to talent working anywhere, this could be the remote PC's time to shine. ®
Get our [10]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/30/hp_inc_acquires_teradici/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/virtualization&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Yt@7QYiU5FdxbcWgHNOCpQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/virtualization&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yt@7QYiU5FdxbcWgHNOCpQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/virtualization&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Yt@7QYiU5FdxbcWgHNOCpQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/virtualization&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yt@7QYiU5FdxbcWgHNOCpQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/virtualization&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Yt@7QYiU5FdxbcWgHNOCpQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/27/isolate_browsers_vs_vdi/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/05/citrix_daas_google_azure/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/22/alibaba_wuying_cloud_pc_singapore/
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Remote data doesn't traverse the network?
"No data from remote PCs ever traverses a network – remote users see only bitmaps."
So, pray tell, how does one log in? How does input happen? Are bitmaps not data? All of this is valuable info for an adversary and must be taken into account, and marketing bullshit claiming no data traverses the network is disingenuine. Some may see this as a quibble, but it's not.
One of Teradici's first markets, if not the first, was classified diskless workstation computing. Not long before the introduction of PCoIP there started a big push in the US Federal govt to move classified clients to diskless solutions. Unfortunately, most widely known solutions were thin clients that weren't suitable for anything beyond simple office computing. Teradici's product aimed to overcome these limitations by providing remote access to workstations, instead of the terminal servers that were in vogue at the time.