Flexibility - we can host virtual desktops in either our own or our clients’ data-centre. In either case, we can quickly add scale if a client requires more PCs or more power per PC. If the solution is hosted in our data centre, then we can also scale back quickly and save the client money when times get hard or a temporary project comes to and end.

Security - when hosting in our data-centres the infrastructure that supports each client is dedicated to that client, with complete network separation between the service provider and each client. Each client's dedicated infrastructure becomes a virtual extension of that client’s network, so security and access control are exactly as they are today and remain in the clients control.

Scale - our solution has been tested to 180,000+ users and is in theory unlimited in size, with no performance implications on existing users as it scales.

User experience and performance - our solution is tuned for performance and therefore creates a superior user experience.

OPEX vs. CAPEX - we offer the ability to remove the up-front capital investment on VDI infrastructure, charging our clients on a per-user-per-month basis.

Cost - Because we have tuned our solution for optimum hardware efficiency, we share the scale benefits of a truly multi-tenant environment and we have very low over-heads, our service is substantially cheaper that other VDI offerings.

Speed/Risk - Our architecture is robust and proven.  We can extend it to provide you with a hosted capability in our data centre or deploy an instance in your data centre rapidly and with confidence that it will work first time, every time.

Molten DaaS's unique multi-tenanted environment ensures that every client desktop is hosted on infrastructure dedicated to that client, which is inside a virtual extension of the clients' network. This means our clients existing security rules and firewall remain in place. This is true regardless of whether desktops are hosted in our or our clients' data-centres. All Molten DC's are Tier3+.

Our clients' business applications and data continue to be hosted in their existing location.

Data never leaves the DC - during a virtual session no data is ever 'downloaded' to the user access device, so if that device is lost or stolen there is no loss of data or security risk. Furthermore, the data cannot, therefore, be downloaded onto a memory stick or thumb drive.

The end-points (the machine the end-user is touching physically; a thin-client, iPad or PC for example) can remain outside the corporate network in an "untrusted domain". This means that viruses will not transmit from end-point into the corporate network (which is increasingly important in our post-Stuxnet world of potential "Cyber Weapons").

These combination of features make Molten Technologies' DaaS service highly secure and there are additional options that we can make available such as:

• Key-logging to record everything a user has done inside their desktop in case of suspected wrong-doing
• IP leakage prevention
  to search for particular data types leaving the network
• Two-factor authentication integration
• End-to-end encryption.

The Total Cost of Ownership of a PC is far greater than the purchase price of the device (desktop PC or laptop) - Gartner estimates the support and maintenance costs of a PC over its useful life are as much as 10 times it purchase price. A Molten DaaS environment significantly reduces user support costs because it:-

• involves less complex and personalised end-point hardware
• uses high availability architecture in the data centre
• is more stable as the hypervisor cushions the OS from the hardware
• is always connected
• is typically more locked down

Other cost savings can result from:

• reduced end-point numbers
  (e.g. third parties may now bring their own devices)
• reduced cost and risk of major upgrades
  (e.g. Windows 7 upgrade as no need to visit each user/end-point),
• enables the "sweating" of old end-point assets
  (e.g. use an old XP machine to access a W7 VM),
• better use of space through hot-desking,
• increased user flexibility (ability to work from home, for instance),
• removal of dedicated business continuity office space,
• security breach cost avoidance,
• reduced power consumption
  (thin clients use 10% of the power of a PC; 75% savings even with DC power),
• reduced office networking costs; dedicated corporate LAN to Internet only access,
• reduced down-time for end-users.

Molten's experience is that our clients save between 20% - 30% TCO using our solution, versus a physical PC environment.

We have done many VDI business cases and we have seen many more. Please contact us and we will be delighted to help. This is one of our specialist subjects and it can be made to work (not for every user, but likely for a substantial proportion).

Try reading our DaaSler articles "Making the (business) case for virtual desktops" and "Why the market is looking to VDI".

Molten Technologies DaaS is designed to support an agile business both from the point of view of the way the technology solution works and from the commercial perspective.

Technology features supporting business agility:

• Supports rapid opening and closing of regional offices
  Offices no longer need expensive corporate networks as they can simply connect through the Internet as no data is flowing to the end-point device.
  End-point devices can be cheap (e.g. thin clients).
• Supports "Bring your own" computing models (BYO).
• Supports business continuity
  Staff can work from any location that has a device and an Internet connection.
• Software upgrades are rapid and lower risk.
  Upgrades are handled centrally with no need to visit the end-point, even for a major OS upgrade.
  An individual can run two desktops for an interim period (one on the new version and one on the old for a fall-back).

Commercial features supporting business agility:

• Scalable up and down
  We offer commercial flexibility (especially in our hosted model) to flex your volumes and computing power up and down as your business grows or seeks to cut costs.
• Speed to value
  We have already built this service and can very quickly extending it for your capacity.
• Low risk
  We have done this before and may already have some initial spare capacity for your needs. We can certainly add more capacity simply and efficiently.
• Capex/Opex flexibility
  We offer flexibility over whether you choose to rent your desktops by the month or buy the infrastructure and minimise your on-going operations costs.
• Data centre flexibility
  We offer flexibility over whether the solution is hosted in our data centre or yours, or even a mix of the two (e.g. 80% yours, with 20% flexibly in ours when you need it).
• Temporary capacity
  We can offer desktops for project teams or newly merged organisations to get them quick and secure access to your corporate network from their existing hardware.

Molten will provide the infrastructure and software required to create and manage your virtual machines.  After some tuning for a virtual environment, we will host your current corporate software image (OS, business applications, productivity tools etc.). You, or your outsourced IT provider, retain responsibility for licensing that software.

Some additional Microsoft licensing may be required to operate in a virtual environment; these costs are always included in the overall business case.

We provide an internet portal through which your end-users can access their desktops and your administrators can manage your golden images and desktop pools. Part of the uniqueness of our solution is the secure segregation of these administrative functions such that your authorised staff or third party can access them and we cannot, even though we are providing the service.

Yes and yes.

Energy Use
Thin-clients require about 10% of the energy used by a PC / laptop, as they have no fan or hard-drive. Power consumption for the data-centre infrastructure is optimised, so even when that is added in the total energy savings are over 75% when compared to physical PCs.

In addition, by abstracting the software and processing from the end-point device, we achive two things:
1 - Extend the life of the end-point
2 - Create a potential to reduce the number of required end-points.

Extending the life of the end-point
Not all machines are replaced when they wear out; some are replaced because they can no longer keep up or because they cannot run the latest version of software. This is typically assocaited with a Windows upgrade, for example. With VDI, it is possible to access the latest versions of software and increased processing power from the same old PC.

Reduce the number of end-points (less PCs)
This will depend on the use-case, but a good example is contractors who bring their own PCs to work and are very often also given an additional machine by their client because their own is not trusted to access the client network. With VDI, they can access their virtual machine from an untrusted device, allowing the romoting protocol to act as a barrier to keep them securely off the network, while retaining the access they need to do their jobs.

Try reading our DaaSler article "Disposable disaster or VDI green; you choose".

VDI Business Case trouble shooting:-
- Are you paying too much for VDI? (£30 per month per user should buy you DC
hardware, space, power, virtualisation licenses)
- What is your server compute node density? (a reasonable minimum would be 50 users
per blade for a well optimised solution)
- Is Microsoft licensing costing you more in the virtual world?
(Consider SA, WinTPC or even Linux)
- Is someone else benefiting? (e.g. If your maintenance is outsourced, your partner may be
failing to pass on the maintenance savings)
- Are your benefits realisable? (e.g. The power savings in the office are real, but they may
be hidden in a real estate budget)

We have done many VDI business cases and we have seen many more. Please contact us and we will be delighted to help. This is one of our specialist subjects and it can be made to work (not for every user, but likely for a substantial proportion).

Try reading our DaaSler articles "Making the (business) case for virtual desktops" and "Why the market is looking to VDI".

Hosted virtual desktops (using VDI) could make a case for themselves across a wide range of use-cases.

The DaaSler artice "One size does not fit all" discusses the following:

• Third parties and contractors to whom you currently give laptops
• Third parties and contractors to whom you currently send information
• Third party task workers
• BYO schemes (in which employees provide their own end-point devices)
• The travelling executive (mobile knowledge worker)
• Call centre staff
• Real time traders

There are many potential use-cases which might make sense in your organisation, depending on how your staff use their PCs today, where they are, what applications they access and how you support them.

To get a full understanding of all of your potential use-cases, we recommend a high level business case, to establish that there is a substantial prize to go after, followed by a Desktop Virtualisation Strategy.

iPad and iPhone:-

1.  Go into the App-store and search on “Desktone”
2.  Download the free app “DaaS mobile client”
3.  Once the app has downloaded, go into settings, page down to find setting for that app
and enter the URL into the field “Desktop Portal”
4.  Open the DaaS mobile client app and press the “launch Safari” button
5.  Enter the URL and password and press “connect” as normal
6.  Notice on the way in that there are sever “gestures” that enable you to work in a
windows environment without a mouse:
a  Hold three fingers on the screen at once and move them downwards to bring up the
keyboard
b  Hold three fingers on the screen at once and move them to the right to disconnect
(this is the cleanest way to disconnect, rather than pressing the “home” key)
c  Hold one finger on to get the “magnifying glass” and while holding touch once with
another finger for a left mouse click and with two other fingers together for a right
mouse click.

Tip - if you tap the screen with three fingers at once, you open a small menu bar at the top of the screen (another tap with three fingers again, it will disappear). I would recommend tapping the second icon (ignoring the Help menu) on the left once (it toggles round a series of potential control options). Before you touch it, it will look like a screen and a cursor and after a cursor with arrows up, down, left and right. The mode you now find yourself in has a cursor, that you move around the screen and whereever you tap, it presses the right mouse button on the cursor position.

Android phone:-

1.  Download the iTap RDP client from the Android market (and then ignore it completely;
do not open the app)
2.  Download the Opera Mobile browser from the Android market (specifically Opera
Mobile, not Opera Mini)
3.  Open the Opera Mobile browser (not the standard Android browser)
4.  Enter the URL and proceed as normal
5.  Hand gestures are as above for DaaS mobile client
6.  Note that, in order to type a capital letter, you will need to hold down the shift key and
press the letter. This differs from the normal Android mobile situation, where hitting
shift, letting go and then hitting the letter will result in a capital. This can be confusing
when typing passwords which often star out the letters as you type.

Mac:

1.  Download the RDP client from the following URL
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/remote-desktop-client
2.  Log-in as normal via the browser.