This week, the developers at Qindel released the first version of the QVD Client for Android, making it possible for users to access their QVD virtual desktops directly from any Android-based device. By taking advantage of this new support for the QVD client in conjunction with the QVD VDI, road warriors will be able to access their data and applications securely over the Internet using a tablet computer or smartphone. By using the QVD VDI, all of the heavy lifting is handled within the QVD server infrastructure, allowing you access to applications and data that your tablet computer or smartphone would not usually be able to run due to resource requirements or operating system differences.
Access to your virtual desktop is achieved by using a customized version of the NX protocol, which can apply incredibly high compression to your desktop traffic, allowing you to keep down your bandwidth overhead when accessing your desktop from a mobile device via a mobile network. Furthermore, the QVD uses SSL to encrypt all NX traffic, enabling users to connect to their virtual desktop environments securely over the Internet. Since QVD makes use of shared operating system images, systems administrators can control what applications and data is available to users accessing their desktops from different systems or environments, improving security and reducing administrative overhead when provisioning users with access to information.
If you haven’t already tried out the QVD, we encourage you to register to use the demo. Once you’re signed up, you will be sent an email with your username and password, along with the details that you need in order to connect to your virtual desktop remotely. If you’re an Android user, head over to the Android Market and install our client software for free so that you can try out the demo on your mobile phone or tablet computer.
The Android client currently makes use of the Android Xvnc server to facilitate the X Windows required for QVD to work, however support is also available for the recently released X Server for Android, provided by Darkside Technologies Pty Ltd. If using the default Xvnc server, you may find that Control Keys do not work out of the box, due to a bug in AndroidXvnc. There are a few workarounds to this including using an alternative apk file to configure your key bindings, or simply using the Hacker’s Keyboard.
While the new Android QVD Client is still in Alpha release phase, it is quite usable and we are working hard on incorporating it into the next release of the QVD, which is due to be launched at the end of April. This new release will provide a range of new features along with the client, including full support for LXC virtualization and the ability to use disk image tagging to ease the rollout of a new desktop image. We have also included new plugins and improvements to existing plugins. Most notably, we include better support for LDAP authentication and we have included an ‘Automatic Provisioning’ plugin that can set up virtual desktops for users authenticated against LDAP on-the-fly. For more information on the Android QVD Client or for information about the next release of the QVD, please contact us.