dinCloud Inc., a provider of hosted workspaces and cloud infrastructure solutions, has introduced a revamped edition of its dinWorkspace solution that allows users to connect natively to a Microsoft Windows desktop without the need for connection brokers or other third-party components.
In addition to offering better performance and an enhanced user experience, the new dinWorkspace “will give MSPs a way to deliver desktop-as-a-service to their customers in a less complex manner,” says Ali Din, general manager and CMO at Los Angeles-based dinCloud.
“Desktop as a service has been a great talking point, but it’s a challenge for MSPs and VARs when they start to go down that path,” Din says, due to issues like hardware and software licensing, deployment, management, and training.
dinCloud’s new system is designed to simplify such matters, Din says. By improving the end customer experience, he continues, “it will help MSPs and VARs get their customers through this journey, which historically has been a bumpy road.”
Traditional virtual desktop infrastructure leverages third-party connectors and protocols—primarily from the two dominant vendors in this space, VMware Inc. and Citrix Systems Inc.
“With traditional VDI there’s a lot of technology ‘clutter’ people had to deal with when getting end users onto virtual desktops,” Din says. “We felt that was not necessary, and we can simplify and take the customer directly to the virtual desktop and give them a better experience.”
The technology “tipping point” that made this possible, Din says, was the introduction of Microsoft Windows Server 2016, plus the software dinCloud developed for its user and IT admin portals.
“[dinWorkspace is] a Microsoft native solution. We worked with Microsoft to understand all the moving pieces,” says Walid Elemary, chief technology and innovation officer at dinCloud. “Going Microsoft natively and supporting what they will come up with puts us in good position to offer high-performance compute desktops.”
Eliminating the need for separate third-party connector licensing fees gives MSPs more room to add on services, Din adds.
dinWorkspace is part of dinCloud’s cloud platform, which also includes private virtual servers, cloud backup services, and more. The company offers monthly subscriptions for DaaS and application publishing. The hosted workspaces portfolio comes with flexible deployment options, and is designed to offer easy installation, enhanced performance, and built-in security.
According to Din, dinWorkspace safely enables users to access their Windows desktops from any mobile device, including PCs, Macs, and smartphones or tablets running Android and iOS. Users can scale the system up or down quickly, he adds, and run Windows applications on non-Windows devices.
In addition, Elemary says, dinCloud made security a priority for the new dinWorkspace. Defensive layers in the system include dedicated VLANs, a dedicated virtual firewall, network security, AES 256 encryption, site-to-site VPN functionality, hosted private cloud network isolation, IP reputation filter, and malware protection.
dinWorkspace is available now as a self-managed, turnkey service in multiple configurations. The self-managed, Gold Package costs $70 per user, per month.
