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Pano Logic Launches Pano System 3.5

Suppliers have been looking at organizations' herd of desktop systems and have been thinking about ways to simplify installation, updates and overall management without either causing a user revolt because everything works differently than before and thus, a negative impact on staff member's productivity. Pano Logic has been one of those suppliers.
Written by Dan Kusnetzky, Contributor

Suppliers have been looking at organizations' herd of desktop systems and have been thinking about ways to simplify installation, updates and overall management without either causing a user revolt because everything works differently than before and thus, a negative impact on staff member's productivity. Pano Logic has been one of those suppliers. I've been tracking Pano Logic for quite some time and, in the right environment, they offer a workable solution for quite a number of staff members.

What's new this time? Pano Logic has added Microsoft's Hyper-V to the list of supported hypervisors.

What Pano Logic has to say about Pano System 3.5

Additional Features of Pano System 3.5

The new release continues to strengthen Pano Logic’s integration with VMware. Pano System 3.5 supports the latest version of VMware vSphere 4.1 and includes support for ESX/ESXi 4.1 and vCenter Server 4.1. Enhancements include improved idle time and disconnect timeout behavior, and closer integration with vCenter Server and View Connection Server.

The 3.5 release also adds new capabilities for Pano Remote, a secure USB drive that enables end users to access their desktop virtual machines using any computer with an internet connection. Users who have been provided with multiple virtual desktops may now select a specific DVM when utilizing Pano Remote.

Pano Logic Zero Client Computing:

  • Pano Logic solves major problems created by distributed PCs, limited terminal services, and repurposed thin clients or related architectures, while providing end users with the best possible user experience, and IT managers with a simple, open hypervisor-agnostic platform to deliver desktop computing.
  • End users connect to their virtual machine via a zero client that contains no processor, no operating system, no memory, no drivers, no firmware, no software and no moving parts. This represents a major paradigm shift away from highly complex and costly PC and thin client architectures.
  • Pano Logic’s patent-pending technology, Pano Direct, simplifies a very complex desktop computing environment by virtually stretching the I/O connection over the network enabling the desktop virtual machine to deliver a native Windows desktop, eliminating the need for costly, failure-prone protocols.
  • Radical centralization using the Pano Logic zero client platform drastically reduces computing TCO by as much as 80 percent by completely eliminating endpoint management and security risks, and reducing energy consumption by as much as 95%. As a result, companies adopting it can tackle both budgetary and green IT initiatives.
  • The Pano zero client platform delivers on the promise of cloud computing by opening the way for a PC-like user experiences on endpoints that are completely independent of processor architectures, protocol limitations, and unmanageable software stacks.

The Pano System is a complete end-to end virtual desktop solution which includes the Pano Manager, a virtual machine manager and connection broker, the unique Pano zero client device, and Pano Direct, providing the connection to completely centralized virtual desktops. The Pano System starts a $319 per seat and is also available in a pre-configured, pre-loaded all-in 50-user suite, Pano Express, combining VMware vSphere™ Essentials, Microsoft Windows 7/XP licenses, and HP server and storage hardware with Pano Logic’s award-winning zero client platform.

Snapshot anlaysis

Moving the computing, the applications, the data back into the datacenter and putting a very simple, easy to use device close the the person using the computing is an idea that has its roots back in the ancient history of mainframes. This is the approach nearly all of the mainframe suppliers used to support distributed computing. When the personal computer emerged it disrupted this model and soon there was computing on both sides of the network connection.

Now organizations had to deal with software installation, updates, administration, support and a number of other things on both sides of the connection and that added cost and complexity.

Citrix and then Microsoft took a page from the mainframe playbook and developed virtual access technology allowing the workload's user interface to be projected across the network to a personal computer, a laptop computer, or a simple display/input only device called a thin client. While this approach worked very well for a number of workloads, it was not ideal for others. Organizations often come to the conclusion that it didn't make sense to purchase a special purpose device when a reasonably equiped PC could be had for about the same price. A number of suppliers, including HP, Wyse and Pano Logic have examined this approach and developed ways to improve the model.

As workloads become encapsulated and were allow to execute on the desktop or laptop, on a local PC blade server or a remote system, the rules change a little bit, but the same challenges existed. Now there was an additional issue centered on the choice of hypervisor. Different organizations selected VMware, Citrix XenServer or Microsoft's Hyper-V. Pano is obviously offering a way to support all of the different choices.

What is not often discussed is the fact that most organizations did not plan on having all of the storage and computing produced by the organization's user community pushed back into the datacenter. Furthermore, if the organization is using desktop systems that run Mac OS, Linux or Unix, other technology would also need to be added to the mix.

Before embarking on a journey to this type of virtualized environment, it would be very wise to consider all of the requirements. It could be very expensive to expand the datacenter to support the organization's workloads. That being said, Pano is offering interesting technology and could be a wonderful addition to an organizations IT portfolio.

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