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XTREME DESKTOP INFRASTRUCTURE

XDI

BOXX XDI solutions include one-to-one remote access physical workstations as well as solutions that allow multiple users to access multiple virtual workstations on a single server.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) allows an organization to host several virtual workstations on a single server. The technology provides many benefits that appeal to engineers, architects and 3D artists including remote access, data centralization, data security and high speed shared storage. XTREME Desktop Infrastructure is BOXX’s unique implementation of this technology, offering the best performance and productivity for power users like you.

XDI can host up to eight concurrent power users on a single 2U server within a centralized, secure environment. This solution delivers the highest level of performance of any VDI solution on the market.

Understanding what is driving the need for a VDI solution?When considering VDI, you need to clearly understand what is driving your organization’s desire to procure a VDI solution. You should ask yourself “Why am I interested in VDI instead of traditional workstations?” Are you looking to reduce upfront hardware costs or is remote access to your applications and digital assets a critical factor? One of the main reasons you might be considering this option is hardware consolidation. Perhaps you’re aware of cases where dozens of users are being consolidated onto one physical server. In terms of mitigating upfront hardware costs, this option is appealing to many. However, a misconception exists for those who work with graphics intense applications and can lead to frustration before and after you take delivery of a VDI solution.

Hosting dozens of users on a single physical server is a viable option for task workers running light office applications and web browsing – not power users driving high-end applications like Revit, SolidWorks, CATIA, 3ds Max or Maya. Power users, such as design engineers and 3D artists cannot sacrifice performance and productivity for the sake of cramming everyone onto a single VDI server. When at all possible, (for these users) a special VDI implementation that preserves application performance needs to be considered.

Why VDI?So if there isn’t significant savings on the upfront hardware cost, why should you consider VDI? There are many benefits other than hardware consolidation, which may be appealing to your organization. These benefits include Remote Access, Data Security, Data Centrailization, and Shared High Speed Storage.

Remote Access With a virtual workstation, you can access all of your professional applications and assets from anywhere on your organization’s LAN using a zero client device. Or, you can access the virtual workstation remotely from anywhere with an internet connection using Teradici’s PCoIP® Software Client.

BOXX XDI solutions can host up to 8 power user on one physical server

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Data Centralization BOXX customers tend to work with extremely large data sets. Virtual workstations have the added benefit of centralizing these data sets. Remote users don’t need to transfer large files from your organization’s server to their location, as found with a traditional VPN. Instead, big data remains in your server room and “lightweight” pixels are streamed to the remote user.

Shared High Speed Storage For some, another attractive feature for some is the ability to give multiple users access to the same high speed storage. Traditionally, a user would collaborate with others by working off their office’s network attached storage (NAS) commonly connected by 10GBE. Users of virtual workstations are hosted on one physical host server. Their “network” then becomes the local storage (SSDs in a RAID configuration) on the host server that has significantly faster transfer speeds than traditional shared network storage.

GPU Direct Assign Graphics intense applications require access to capable graphics cards with ISV certifications, optimizations and native driver support. A virtualized graphics card running on a CPU is not an option. Directly assigning one physical GPU to each user on the system ensures optimal performance.

Data Security As mentioned, VDI allows your users to access digital assets on a central server. Sensitive data never has to leave your server room. Additionally, our implementation features 256 Bit suite B Encryption.

CPU Performance Working on a virtual machine requires a mechanism that connects a user’s client device to their assigned virtual machine. VMWare is one such method that is widely used for VDI. Since all users are sharing the same CPU resources of the underlying physical server, it is critical to eliminate applications that devour CPU cycles. For example, there are several applications that need to run on the host server when implementing VMWare.

Taking VMWare out of the equation frees up additional CPU cycles, thus improving the user’s experience. This is accomplished by using a PCoIP host card installed on the physical server that relieves the host CPU of pixel stream compression and encryption (sending pixels to the end user).

Optimized Network Loading The PCoIP host card features a dedicated NIC that offloads the pixel stream to the end user from the host NIC.

User Density A single BOXX XDI virtual workstation server can accommodate up to eight users, each with a dedicated GPU to run their professional applications. This density is achieved by integrating the PCoIP host card onto the GPU using the AMD FirePro R5000.

For more information visit www.boxxtech.com

or call 512-835-0400

THE FEATURES WHICH DIFFERENTIATE XDI INCLUDE:

Why XDI?Why should you consider an XTREME Desktop Infrastructure solution from BOXX? Because like all BOXX customers, you see value in keeping high paid power users productive. You are also interested in the VDI benefits described. An XDI solution from BOXX is the only solution that gives you the benefits of VDI while maintaining peak application performance.