1. Can I install QVD on a single computer?

Yes, although this is not the recommended approach. Our demo package is designed to install all of the components on a single system so that you can see how QVD actually behaves, however running a VDI to service a number of users is usually pretty resource intensive so the general approach is to run each logical component on a different hardware device. This gives you the ability to scale your solution to service any number of users and provides failover and load-balancing capability to provide superior performance and high-availability.

2. Do I have to use Ubuntu Linux to run QVD?

No. All of the components make use of open-source software capable of running on any Linux platform. Currently, we have packages available for Ubuntu Linux and for SuSE. If you want to run QVD on another distribution, you can either try to port it yourself, or get our Professional Services team to help you. Whichever route you choose, we will make sure that the packages get maintained and are always available for other users.

3. How can QVD lower costs for me?

QVD can help you to reduce costs in a number of ways. Firstly, if you are already considering using an alternate VDI on the market, you will find that QVD will cost you less than anything that you will pay any other vendor. If you’re willing to run it without support, its essentially free. However, any VDI will help to lower costs in many other ways. By running a VDI, you can generally use much lower cost hardware for user desktop systems as all of the processing, storage and memory is handled directly by the VDI. Furthermore, if you choose to make use of a Linux environment to service your users, you can avoid paying many unnecessary license fees.

4. Can QVD serve my Microsoft Windows users?

No. QVD makes use of the NX protocol within the disk images that it uses in order to serve Virtual Desktops. Currently there is no openly available support for the NX protocol under Windows, so QVD is unable to service Windows users. However, you should consider whether it is entirely necessary that your users run on a Windows platform at all. Many Windows applications have open-source alternatives that can run under Linux and integrate with existing systems. It is also true that as more businesses make use of cloud technology, the underlying operating system is becoming less significant in terms of its actual use within a business environment. If you choose Linux as your base operating system, you will have access to the majority of mainstream web-browsers, as well as applications such as LibreOffice/OpenOffice and a variety of mail clients and database suites to service most user’s needs.

5. Can QVD really scale to cater to the requirements of a truly large organization?

QVD has been deployed on an enterprise scale servicing over 35,000 users and handling up to 9,000 concurrent sessions at any one time in a single deployment. QVD is currently used by BBVA Bancomer and is considered a safe and secure environment to provision all of the bank workstations across the organization.

1. Do I need to have a license in order to run QVD?

Certainly not. QVD is an open-source product and we believe that by providing our software for free to an interested community, that we will stand to benefit through community contributions. As a result, we specially package each release to install on Ubuntu Linux and make it available as the QVD Community Edition. If you don’t need any support and you think that you can contribute toward the ongoing development of the software, then this is the version for you.

2. What is the difference between QVD Community Edition and QVD Enterprise Edition?

While we release the core QVD software for free to the open-source community, we understand that businesses are often wary of open-source projects because they often tend to lack commercial-grade support. The QVD Enterprise Edition includes all of the software released in the Community Edition but with the added security of a 24/7 support agreement, additional dedicated resources and access to integration scripts and thin-client images. We also do our best to promote QVD Enterprise Edition customers, because they are ultimately the people who are helping to fund the ongoing development of the software.

3. Do you give license discounts to non-profit, educational and governmental organizations?

Sure. If you talk to us, we will try to cater as best as possible to fit your needs. We are still working through some internal processes to formalize how we handle license discounting, but we would be more than happy to work with you to come to some kind of arrangement in the meantime.

1. Who are the core developers of QVD?

The core developers of QVD are employees working for the Qindel Group. We are spread across many countries. with a large team working directly from Spain, and a smaller team based in Mexico. We also have members of the team based in Colombia and in the United Kingdom.

2. What is Qindel Group?

The Qindel Group is a consultancy company working out of Madrid in Spain. Qindel has worked for a large number of big enterprise clients in the banking, telecommunications and governmental sectors. Qindel tends to focus on projects that promote the use of open-source technologies and often works to provide better integration with existing infrastructure. QVD emerged out of a project that Qindel was originally working on and has released the source-code for. Qindel continues to actively fund development and dedicates some of its development resources to the project.

3. How can I get a full-time job working on QVD?

QVD is still fairly small, but we’re growing fast. We’re on the lookout for more talent that can really help shape our product and help build its commercial value. If you would like to work with us full-time, start out by joining the community and contributing there. If we notice that you’re a very active contributor, we will probably contact you to offer you a full-time position working on the project. We believe that the best people for hire will be experts on the technology already. We’re giving you all the tools to become an expert. If you show us what you’ve got, we’ll take you on!