If you have a good browsing experience you may just be able to roll out desktop virtualisation, provider Nivio is claiming.
Nivio's streaming Windows desktop is accessible on any device, including iPads and most smartphones, so long as a java-enabled browser and a minimum connection of 256 Kbps are present.
Nivio Australia director, John Costa, would not comment on the minimum hardware specifications needed to experience a good level of service with the streaming desktop service, but said a device’s existing browsing experience was a good forward indication of performance.
“What we suggest is that if you have a very good browsing experience via your local machine, then you should expect to have a very good experience using the Nivio desktop,” he said.
“What we really do require, from a clean pipe perspective, is that you have a pipe that gives you minimal latency. Obviously, any remote access technology that you use, if you do have a large level of latency, it will affect performance.”
The service, which does not require a client to be installed on a user’s device, also offers hosted Exchange mail, 10 GB of storage, McAfee-based anti-virus, Microsoft Office Small Business 2007 and anti-spam, and the Nivio Centre management console.
The console allows IT managers to carry out adds, moves and changes, as well as dictate what applications and company files a particular user has access to. The service is hosted in Polaris’s Queensland Tier 4 data centre and is secured using SSL 128 bit encryption.
The offering also features an application store which gives users the ability to access free and paid-for application to run on the streaming desktop service. Currently, users can rent, on a monthly basis, applications such as Microsoft Visio, Project and Expression.
“We are providing what we view as an enterprise solution which has only been affordable for larger corporations. We can offer a SMB a solution which costs them less than what they’d be spending on their [employees’] mobile phone,” Costa claimed.
He added that the company had signed a wholesale agreement with Nous-Factory for the delivery of MYOB accounting software via a browser using Nivio’s service.
Mobile on site IT services companies Jim’s Group and Computer Troubleshooters had also been signed.