Today, Dell announced a range of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) hardware and software, including the EMC XC Xpress for VDI and the Latitude 3480 thin mobile client.
The EMC XC Xpress is part of the EMC XC series of hyper-converged appliances that was announced back in May. It offers an "end-to-end approach to VDI", as it"s an out-of-the-box solution that shouldn"t take much time or expertise to set up. Dell says that it"s designed for small- to mid-sized businesses, and it"s flexible enough to allow you to expand to more nodes.
The other bit of hardware is the Dell Latitude 3480 mobile thin, which uses Windows 10 IoT Enterprise and offers "broad connectivity options". The laptop-style device includes a 14-inch full HD display, a dual-core Intel processor, and 8GB RAM. It has two USB 3.1 ports, one USB 2.0 port, RJ45, HDMI, and VGA. For connectivity, there"s also Bluetooth and WLAN.
Those that use the Latitude 3480 can use a selection of virtual desktop providers, including Citrix XenDesktop, Microsoft RDS, and VMWare Horizon. In addition, customers can include another layer of security with Dell Threat Defense.
For software, the firm introduced ThinOS 8.4, a new version of Dell"s operating system for thin clients. It now supports VMWare Blast Extreme and Citrix HDX RealTime optimization pack 2.2. Furthermore, there"s support for HTML5 video redirection, to "control and optimize the way XenApp and XenDesktop servers deliver HTML5 multimedia web content." There"s also support for RTSP, HLS, and HTTP Independent Computing Architecture.
There are also some security enhancements in the new version of the OS, such as firmware signature verification on upgrades and downgrades. ThinOS 8.4 also includes "support for a simplified certificate enrollment protocol to support secure issuance of certificates to trusted network devices."
Dell also mentioned its Wyse Management Suite, which was announced in May and "allows organizations to configure, monitor, manage and optimize Wyse thin client deployments up to tens of thousands of seats." The free solution for up to 10,000 endpoints, and the Pro subscription is $20 per seat per year.
The Dell EMC XC Xpress for VDI will be available starting on July 20, and the Latitude 3480 is coming on the 19th starting at $799. ThinOS and Wyse Management Suite are available now.