Cloudware from Vox Telecom set to change the face of desktop and tablet computing

With an increasing number of devices entering the workplace, the simple fact is that most of your business-critical applications won’t work on all desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones.

Businesses need to meet a range of criteria, including installing and supporting these applications on end-users devices and maintaining high levels of security. On top of that, in order to bring costs down, businesses can’t ignore the advantage of migrating current and legacy applications into the cloud. Cloudware, Vox Telecom’s latest cutting-edge technology, creates true mobility of any application, and enables the delivery of legacy applications to virtually any device seamlessly and instantly.

“It’s the easiest way to put applications into the cloud that we’ve ever seen”, says product manager Jonathan Young. “It’s the ideal solution for organisations that are having trouble delivering applications to any of their regional branches. Cloudware was developed in South Africa specifically to overcome the problems of poor connectivity. Other cloud application delivery services, which assume you have excellent, cheap bandwidth resources, can perform very poorly under local conditions.”

With Cloudware, all that is delivered to the end user’s screen is the screen display. “We send nothing but pixels, so the bandwidth required is tiny. The actual processing takes place on the server back in the data centre. The result is that users at a branch in Polokwane or Oudtshoorn get the same experience as those in the head office.”

The fact that only pixels are delivered also means it doesn’t matter what hardware is on the end user’s desk or in their hands, Young says. “It doesn’t’ matter if you have a Windows PC, a Mac, a Linux box, an Android smartphone or an iPad; we can deliver any app to virtually any device. We can even deliver multiple apps from different operating systems to the same desktop, at the same time.”

The cost savings can be dramatic, he says. “The bandwidth saving is just the start. Because you need little or no processing power on the desktop, you can delay upgrades and then replace desktop PCs with thin client terminals that are much more energy efficient and last longer. Users can’t install or break anything on their machines so your support costs are up to 70% lower, and you can do it all centrally. You don’t even need an operating system on the client device, so you can save on licencing fees as well.”

There are security advantages too, adds Young. “None of your data ever actually leaves your data centre – just the pixels. This is the perfect answer to the security challenges of the BYOD revolution, should you not have an MDM policy in place – as no data ever resides on the device.”

Implementation is painless, he notes. “There’s no need to replace any existing equipment, or to send a support team out to do the implementation. It can be as simple as setting up one server, then sending an email to all your users with an URL linked to the app.”

Vox Telecom is so confident about Cloudware’s success they’re offering a 30-day free proof of concept, says Young. Since launch, demand has been overwhelming, he says. “There is clearly a big need for this technology in South Africa.”