Thoughts on server-based computing

Working closely with Microsoft

2007-01-02T22:50:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy time at desktopsites over the past few months. Much of our effort and focus was on the successful launch of our .NET - enabled version of Konect. With this modification to our platform, Microsoft suddenly took very big notice of our offering and very quickly we escalated up their partner interest ladder.

With this advancement we have seen an even stronger uptake from our reseller channel and an accelerating growth in our customer base.

Konect - take that Chump!

2006-07-31T22:38:00.000-06:00

CRM is even taking notice of Konect ...

July 18 - CyberQuest Konects to desktopsites (do a quick Ctrl F and search for 'Konect').

Geeks with blogs

2006-07-31T22:32:00.000-06:00

And the word on Konect just keeps on spreading ...

Citrix Alternative!

Value of related technologies ...

2006-06-15T14:10:00.000-06:00

Quite simply, the most valuable way to convey the value of a software applicaton is still via a show and tell / demo format. (much to the chagrin of sales and marketing professionals and all of their hard efforts).

How the world of show and tell has changed. From origins where people were brought into a company's offices to see the technology; to road warriors with drooping shoulders from carrying heavy computer hardware to customer sites; to online services such as Webex or Microsoft's LiveMeeting.

One of the most fascinating developments in technology that affects this space in a different way is in the area of virtualization. This is not a new concept and the technology has been around for a bit but we are just uncovering the power of this technology for our own demonstration purposes.

Without getting in to deep detail about virtualization technologies, let me say that fundamentally this technology allows you to build up / capture / replicate an entire demonstration environment including the underlying operating systems and required software and abstract it away from the hardware so that it can run as a self-contained virtual representation that can run on another computer.

Using services such as VMWare, Virtual PC, Virtual Server or others, we are now able to take our demonstration environment, virtualize it on to a DVD and distribute it to the masses. What we have found extremely valuable using this technology is that we have near certainty that the demonstration of Konect for all interested customers and partners will run as expected. For those interested parties, rather than spending time walking through the prerequisites to set up Konect and then doing the actual local Konect install, we can send the DVD and the interested parties can review on their local computer without installation and determine their interest.

Cheers!

Discussion on SlashDot.Org

2006-04-17T07:38:00.000-06:00

Every once in a while we come across an interesting discussion thread on a forum regarding remote access computing needs. We came across this one at SlashDot.Org and wanted to share the link in case you were interested in other opinions about the alternatives to Citrix that exist.

Alternatives to Citrix Remote Computing discussion thread.

A significant partnership ...

2006-03-27T21:01:00.000-07:00

A fruit ... small, simple and beloved by millions. It makes a terrific juice as well.

A few years back one of the world's largest consultancies decided it was time for a rebrand. It was nearly 4 years ago now and happened in the wake of some significant corporate meltdowns ... Enron, Worldcom and most close to home - Arthur Anderson. The company I am talking about here is the former PWC Consulting Group. And they undertook to rebrand themselves as "Monday". A name that drew almost immediate and mostly unpleasant reaction from many corners of the business world. I personally am not sure why there was such a negative response ... well, I suppose I can but I thought it was innovative and fresh. Really, a new way of thinking about simplicity as powerful. Well, it didn't last long as Monday was soon swallowed by IBM.

But I digress. This is not the company that I am speaking about in my first paragraph. And really what would Monday (now IBM) have to do with desktopsites and Konect? (nothing ... yet!) The fruit I am speaking about is Orange.

Orange is one of the world's largest telecoms and is widely respected by its peers. So what's the relevance you may be wondering? Interestingly they appear as one of our strategic partners. That's right, there is a connection between Orange and Konect. A very strong connection. And soon we will be releasing further information to demonstrate how far Konect has come and how deep the interest is in the broader technology community for Konect's innovative capabilities.

ConnectIT coverage ...

2006-03-26T09:24:00.000-07:00

We spoke with ConnectIT and they were kind enough to post a great story on their website. Feel free to drop by and take a look on their perspectives on Konect.

Citrix XP end of life alternative ...

2006-03-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

The right time for a Citrix alternative. For all those companies out there currently using Citrix MetaFrame XP, September 30, 2006 and June 30, 2007 loom as large dates. Those are the dates associated with end of life for all members of the Citrix XP product line. You can view specific information in this ThinClientPricing article and on the Citrix website.

It will be time to anti up for new Citrix licenses to migrate to the new platform, not to mention the services fees that will coincide with the upgrade. How much will your business be in for?

There is an alternative to the cost and time associated with such an upgrade, consider Konect as your Citrix alternative. With all of the features that are really important to businesses at a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the implementation time and costs ... why would you pay more?

Look to our website in the coming weeks as we roll out an offer to Citrix customers. We will also look at providing a high level overview of how easy it can be to migrate from an existing Citrix XP environment to Konect.

Konect ... a true Citrix alternative.

Massive success!

2006-03-08T22:25:00.000-07:00

Well done to the people at the Massive 2006 show in Vancouver! Great attendance, some really good speakers and lots of traffic by our booth. Technology shows have a difficult time demonstrating real value for companies that participate but I think Techvibes has done well creating an intimate event for IT professionals. And the venue (the Science Centre) was an excellent choice of location.

Konect received lots of attention and we were even surprised by the high levels of interest in the solution. It is always reaffirming to listen to small business owners and employees talk of the ways Konect would help them overcome the challenges they are having keeping pace with the changes in business in general. The future looks bright!

Longhorn affect on Terminal Services ...

2006-02-25T14:41:00.000-07:00

We have been wondering for some time what the next version of Terminal Services will look like within Microsoft's next generation server operating system: codenamed Longhorn.

Brian Madden has some excellent articles on the "plans" which you can find in this article.

What we have found very interesting is that in the latest beta release, there have been no significant updates to the Terminal Services functionality. Yes, we realize it is still in the plans but based on past performance, we are beginning to wonder what will slip off the list of upgrades in lieu of other core server features that people are looking for.

Regardless, our sense is that even with some advancements in the core Terminal Services environment, Microsoft is still going to be a few years behind the advancements we have made (and continue to make) with Konect.

Massive 2006

2006-02-20T17:47:00.000-07:00

It is once again that time of year ... tradeshow and conference season has already ramped up. And we are no different. Our first event of the year is going to be the Massive 2006 show in Vancouver, BC on February 28.

This year's show will be interesting as a number of our partners and customers will be participating ... for example, LedgersOnline will be there with their own booth. This is a terrific forum for their hosted bookkeeping solutions for business. And it is a terrific opportunity for us to show the flexibility of our Konect solution.

If you work in the greater Vancouver area or will be in the area, drop by and see us!

Software as a service ... where are we heading?

2005-12-12T22:31:00.000-07:00

I am fascinate to read the burgeoning wealth of information available on "software as a service" (see a sharp description here - Gartner CRM Blog). No I am not fascinated by the technological capability but rather I am fascinated by ...

the recycling of old ideas that may finally be coming of age
the recycling of old ideas that may never come of age
the recycling of old ideas that we are sure to see again

Does everyone remember the hype about ASPs in the late 90's? How could anyone miss it? And in the end what did it all amount to ...

Why did Portals become such a buzz word? So if we move our applications off the server and into a hosted environment are we creating the exact same set of challenges that led us to conclude portals were the way to go? Now instead of having to launch separate applications in different environments we are going to have to launch separate applications in different browsers. And by the way ... how much more difficult is it really going to be to integrate those applications even with the emergence of WSDL standards and the like? I mean ... what are we all thinking?

Okay, there is an underlying current that is shifting the entire IT sector and that is the idea of technology becoming a utility. But jeez, can we just shed the hype, avoid the insanity, use the technology we have until it is no longer useful? The IT industry has to be the most wasteful industry in existence. It really is okay to use the same computer for more than 2 years. That software sitting on your server or on your desktop really does work.

Let's talk about this "utility software" undercurrent. Think of this in the same context as power. 10 years ago having the Internet was a luxury in many homes. Now you would be hard-pressed to find a new home built in a major center in Canada that wasn't wired for high speed. You move, you think of calling the utility company to ensure you have water, gas, electricity; you call the phone company to ensure you have telephone service; AND who out there doesn't rank Internet accessibility above those "utilities"? ;-)

Cheers!

What if ....

2005-10-05T10:26:00.000-06:00

Technology is all about pushing the envelope and so that got us to thinking ... what if? We believe Konect is the solution for small and mid-size business when it comes to seamless application publishing. But, small businesses have other related challenges as well. And they can benefit from other technologies.

Jack Welch told a poignant story in his autobiography about how GE engaged the military to help them think beyond their existing markets. The GE challenge was that they found they were achieving their goal of being the No 1 or 2 provider in their markets. The military helped them see that what they needed to do was redefine their markets to keep their momentum. A simple example would be ... let's say the goal was to be No 1 or 2 in the manufacturer of rail transport locomotives. Once accomplished, the redefined objective would extend on the idea of transportation and become something like ... No 1 or 2 in the manufacturer of propulsion systems for transportation systems. Suddenly the scope of the objective has increased significantly.

Long story but there is a point. So ... Konect really is a terrific solution for seamless application publishing for small and mid-size businesses. But if we expand our thinking about small and mid-size business needs we quickly see that this application publishing is only a small part of a larger need which is to deliver applications and resources to employees anywhere, anytime on any device.

So what if there was a solution that provided application publishing to the desktops of your users AND it also provided your users with the ability to access that desktop from any other computer or device anywhere? Think Konect with a "GoToMyPC" type of capability ... wow!

We've done it. Check out the latest version of Konect today.

Refresh

2005-08-10T23:25:00.000-06:00

Change ... is inevitable.

We have refreshed our website!

Have a look and feel free to drop us your thoughts at info@desktopsites.com.

We would love to hear what you have to say.

The 'thorn' in RDP

2005-08-10T23:07:00.000-06:00

Terminal services is not a new concept. In fact, it has been around and utilized for years. But if you speak to anyone that has been using terminal services, or similar products, they will consistently tell you one thing that annoys them -- the second desktop. Even watching someone with years of experience with terminal services when they do a presentation, you will quickly see there is always a degree of confusion when they go hunting for an application. Which desktop am I in again? Which desktop do I need to be in? I have seen even Citrix power users get fumbled when doing a presentation across desktops.

How does a typical small and mid-size business employee react to multiple desktops? Ah - you can all just imagine! It isn't the best of environments for reducing stress or frustration and increasing productivity. But, this technology is powerful and has its place so users and administrators have willingly overlooked this thorn in order to see the benefits the technology provides.

Someone once said that if you build a better mousetrap, chances are ... no one will buy it. Interesting logic but not something we at desktopsites have ever believed in. But there is a profound lesson in it that we have applied in our thinking. When we developed Konect, we knew creating a terminal services based solution with extended functionality and a low price point would not be enough to attract small and mid-size businesses. We knew those were the table steaks and that we also needed to address at least the "thorn" - that second desktop.

The Konect Launcher was a significant step forward in eliminating that thorn. We did away with the need for the second desktop and our clients and resellers were thrilled!

Well ... we have tirelessly pushed on, never satisfied with where we have taken the technology. And soon we will release our next major version of Konect.

With this version our clients and resellers are stunned ... its an entirely new way of thinking about why we need terminal services in the first place. Drop by and see what I am talking about on Sept 1!

Application publishing for SMBs

2005-05-09T21:52:00.000-06:00

I have a number of people inquire why application publishing is so important to SMBs. The question almost always comes up when I am speaking with resellers, consultants or end customers about the differences between Konect and terminal services. As I noted in my last posting, application publishing is one of the key features that differentiates Konect from terminal services. To me, it seems like a rhetorical question but it always gives me cause to reflect on what I have always thought it is.

Have you been involved with a conversation or overheard one where someone is saying "what would happen to our company if the plane goes down." Invariably this is a conversation referring to a number of key people together in a situation where if something bad was to happen it would seriously hurt their company. Having worked in large and small companies, I have always applied this kind of thinking to our collective dependence on technology for our critical information.

Can you imagine 2 days at work without email in today's world? Wow ... that would be like 2 days at work without power. Business would grind to a halt and panic might / will set in!

How does that relate to application publishing? In my head its pretty simple. Because small companies are defined by the fact that they are ... well ... small, generally they have few employees and few technology resources. This scarcity makes the "few" that more valuable and indispensable to the business overall.

If all of a small businesses customer information and accounting records are stored in Simply Accounting, then suddenly that application becomes absolutely invaluable and even critical to the company.

Imagine a scenario where you run a small company and you need to give some of your employees access to resources on your server. In a terminal services world, if they get access to the server they pretty much get access to everything on that server. What if someone accidently deletes the wrong Simply Accounting file?

In a Konect world with application publishing, when an employee gets access to the server they only get access to those resources that you "publish" to them. The risk of accidental deletion of critical files is eliminated.

Sounds pretty valuable!

Konect vs terminal services

2005-05-01T21:48:00.000-06:00

No question has been more common over the last 6 weeks than this one ... what is the difference between Konect and Windows terminal services?

I'll give you the simplified answer - there are 2 distinct enhancements in Konect. The more complicated answer I will get into at a later date.

So what are these 2 enhancements?

1/. Application & resource publishing. Anyone familiar with terminal services will know that once you have logged in to the remote desktop you have access to all of the resources available through this second desktop window. With Konect, administrators have access level control to publish only those resources that the user is allowed access to. Key benefit to the company / administrator? enhanced security. Key benefit to the user? simplicity - only having access to the resources needed.

2/. Elimination of the second desktop. Logging into terminal services creates a second desktop that a user needs to use to access server-based resources. Users now have 2 distinct desktops that they need to flip back and forth between to access local and / or server-based resources. With Konect, there is no second desktop. Konect uses the Konect Launcher to publish server-based resources directly onto the user's existing desktop. Key benefit to the user? No more desktop confusion! Key benefit to the company / administrator? Limited need for training and reduced need for user support.

While these are the 2 most prominent differences, they are many other enhancements as well such as bi-directional file access and utilization of http and https ports.

Until next time ...

SMB technology consulting challenge

2005-03-28T17:03:00.000-07:00

In the world of SMBs, technology consultants are an absolute must. For many businesses with less than 30 employees, the thought of having a dedicated IT person on staff is almost viewed as crazy. In most cases there is an employee within these organizations who takes on the unofficial role of IT support and technology expert. This person is often called on to help make decisions, deploy technologies and support users but in most circumstances they also have another full time role in the organization.

This is where the SMB technology consultant plays such a vital role for small businesses. These businesses don't have enough technological complexity to require a full time person but they do use enough technology that they need someone with the requisite knowledge, skills and experience to manage their technology infrastructure. Many SMB technology consultants become "trusted advisors" on all things technology to a group of 2-5 SMBs.

Because these SMBs don't have enough work to keep the consultant busy full time they have to take on multiple clients and this creates its own challenges for the consultants. A couple of these challenges include:

Geography - SMBs generally don't find themselves located in the downtown core of a city as they seek to keep costs low.
Sky is falling - technology problems within any organization can have catastrophic consequences but in SMBs there is a magnified view of the impact of technology problems.

SMB consultants not only need to deploy smart technologies for their SMB clients but they need to do so for themselves. Supporting a number of clients that are geographically dispersed and may have critical support requirements could lead to consultants spending all of their time on the road rather than doing the work their clients need.

Deploying a smart technology like Konect can be a tremendous asset to these SMB consultants. Not only can Konect enable their clients' businesses but now the SMB consultant has the capability to do remote diagnostics and remote management of their clients' infrastructure. This type of technology would give the SMB consultant every capability to manage their clients from the comfort of their own home if they should choose to work from there.

Konect Launcher - a bit more detail

2005-03-25T08:38:00.000-07:00

One of the most recurring frustrations or nuisances in working in thin client computing environments such as Citrix or Windows Terminal Services has always been the flipping back and forth between local and remote desktops. The larger company market is somewhat "educated" on local and remote desktops where these types of solutions have been used for years. But that isn't necessarily the case with small and mid-size businesses (SMBs).

What we have found very interesting in SMBs is that the introduction of a remote desktop actually increases computing complexity much more than what you might expect when creating 2 desktops for users - as we have done with our Konect product. The complexity comes in a number of different forms:

Desktop confusion - in some SMB computing environments a local desktop can look almost identical to a remote desktop in terms of its colors, menus and desktop shortcuts. Users new to this 2 desktop environment can quickly become confused about which desktop they are actually using.
Resource access and location confusion - introducing a second desktop creates confusion for new users about where they need to go to find the software and / or resources they need to do their job. We like to think of this as the introduction of some mental gymnastics. Now users need to think through where all of their programs and resources are located as a step in actually doing their work. It may seem insignificant but we know that this slowly creeps up as a productivity drain.
Login complexity - Working on your own local desktop is simple when you access different software and resources. Unless you have added your own layer of security, generally you have seamless access to everything. Working on a remote desktop can be a completely different story for SMBs. We would like to think that all businesses adhere to the strict licensing restrictions put on them by their software vendors but we all know there is a different reality and that creates some of the additional complexity. Now there may be logins to use the solution that actually gets you the remote desktop, logins to shared resources, logins to different software applications, logins to shared software applications that only have one available user license, etc.

There is a simple solution to address this spiralling complexity ... its our Konect Launcher feature available in Konect v5.0 which was just launched recently (as noted below). We took a very elegant approach to integrating a remote desktop into a local desktop.

The Konect Launcher streamlines and simplifies the user experience by eliminating the remote desktop all together - and with it all of that additional complexity and confusion. Using user security profiles in Active Directory and resource access configurations in Konect, the Konect Launcher sits on the local desktop as a toolbar. This toolbar displays active links to all of the software and network resources that the user has been given access to on the server.

The Konect Launcher is so simple and yet so powerful for SMBs that don't have the depth of experience with remote / thin client computing and don't have the time for training.

Konect v5.0 right on time!

2005-03-02T08:49:00.000-07:00

Today we are launching Konect v5.0. This is a fully functional version of Konect that delivers a host features and capabilities that small and mid-size businesses have been waiting for at a price point they can afford.

Have a look - Konect v5.0.

One of the most unique features of Konect that no other product on the market offers today is something we call the Konect Launcher (see image below). The Konect Launcher is a server-driven computing toolbar that integrates into a user's existing computing desktop environment. No more flipping between desktop windows to find resources, the Konect Launcher delivers applications and resources directly to the desktop through the toolbar. I'll write more on it later!

SMBs stretch IT to the max

2005-02-19T17:25:00.000-07:00

As many SMB owners are aware, the limitations of technology such as Symantec's pcAnywhere can be frustrating.

What do you do if you want your employee's to have both a workstation at the office and the ability to work from home? Some of the solutions available on the market just weren't an option to an SMB. When the cost of the software likely is higher than the cost of the infrastructure it is going to be used on and the services increase that by a factor of anywhere from 2-4, SMBs have long been seeking alternate ways to make this a reality.

Developed and marketed as a point-to-point solution many SMBs have found ways to make their businesses work with pcAnywhere. Using routers, static IP addresses and inumerable ports they have been able to "get around" the limitations of PC Anywhere and stretch it as a solution for their business.

But in reducing their costs for software all they have managed to do is drastically increase the costs of their IT support - certainly in terms of the time and value of labour required to support this kind of "hijacked" infrastructure. Imagine having 10 employees in your organization whom all have their own workstation at an office location. Now imagine also supporting those 10 employees if they choose to work from home. Throw in the constant barrage of software updates that SMBs experience with their software. Throw in the complexities of managing security for pcAnywhere sessions (will that just be a straight connection across the Internet? tunneled through a VPN? etc?). And top it off with the myriad of home computer nuances, high speed networking hardware and user configurations.

pcAnywhere may appear to be a cost effective solution for SMBs because of the low software cost but ask any IT support person and they will help you understand how incredibly complex and time-consuming this kind of infrastructure can be - effectively nullifying the low costs of the software.

This is one example of why we felt it was so important to think outside of the box when developing our solutions. Imagine a far superior solution - at a similar price point. With a whole host of benefits that pcAnywhere could never deliver. Its called Konect! Have a look at it.

Overcoming geography with technology - SMBs

2005-02-14T14:39:00.000-07:00

This will be one of many of posts on the challenges facing SMBs in today's business environment. This post is specifically about the SMB that has less than 20 employees but serves a large geographic market.

When people think of SMBs they probably don't associate them with covering large geographic territories or at least it isn't the first characteristic that jumps to mind. I think most people would be surprised at the number of SMBs that face geographic challenges because of the nature of their businesses. Here are a few examples, what if you were a business that managed advertising in community facilities and used a revenue sharing model with those facilities? One city may have enough facilities to support a couple of employees but if you wanted to grow you would need to move into other cities. Once you do that, you either have remote employees or people on the move. Or what if you were a small business that made gourmet food spices and additives based in Calgary but your largest markets were really in the United States? Same thing - either remote employees or people constantly on the move.

How does an SMB support these requirements? There isn't likely enough volume or margin to be able to afford different offices from the examples I gave above. But the need to be in different markets is the same as it would be for much larger businesses.

This is a sample of the reality that SMBs face today. Without the right technologies to support these geographic challenges, how will they survive? That is why we created Konect. There is no other access infrastructure product on the market today that can support SMBs with geographically dispersed businesses as cost effectively as Konect. Giving remote workers access to centralized resources removes the need for other expensive office and / or technology options.

Food for thought.

Let's talk a bit about Konect

2005-02-10T18:20:00.000-07:00

As I alluded to in my first posting, desktopsites has developed software called Konect that plays in the space of terminal service products like Windows Terminal Services. Let me give you the more formal description of the product ...

We like to call Konect - "an integrated client desktop with terminal services". Konect is a serverware solution that allows small and mid-size businesses to centrally manage and deploy networked resources to employees. Konect seamlessly integrates and delivers server-based applications, networked files, and web services to employee computers in a highly secure environment without a terminal server desktop session. The delivery of these services is done through a normal desktop environment, relieving the demands placed on IT departments by traditional terminal server desktop delivery.

Okay ... that's the formal description. Basically, Konect is comparable to a product like Citrix MetaFrame but differs in price point (we are much less!) and in delivery of user desktops (we are much more innovative!) Perhaps that is just my pride coming through.

To be safe let me just say that Citrix and MetaFrame are registered trademarks of Citrix Systems Inc. and Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

About desktopsites

2005-02-01T16:41:00.000-07:00

My first posting has to be about our company, desktopsites or alternatively called dts. desktopsites is a leading developer of innovative and cost effective access infrastructure solutions for small and mid-size businesses ("SMBs"). desktopsites' Konect serverware solution delivers access to network applications and resources for SMBs without sacrificing the features typically available with more expensive access infrastructure alternatives. desktopsites has been our sole focus and passion for the past 5 years and we are excited about our future.

As you might guess from the title of the blog, desktopsites has developed software that builds on the idea of terminal services but I will get into that later.