Pano Logic Unveils 50 User Desktop Virtualization Kit

Pano Logic's new Pano Express software/hardware bundle, including endpoints, Windows, and the server, lets SMBs get going with virtualized desktops for fifty users more easily and affordably than ever before.Desktop PCs give users a lot of flexibility and convenience, but from an IT point of view, they're support timesinks and security nightmares waiting to happen.

Using thin-client devices -- endpoint boxes that do little if any processing or data storage -- and/or virtualized desktop infrastructures (VDI) -- using Virtual Machine (VM) images of Windows or other environments -- can simplify the desk-side aspects. But historically, both approaches have still required a fair amount of IT savvy to spec out a solution, and can be as or more costly as desktop PCs to acquire.

With the May 26, 2010 announcement of its Pano Express "VDI-in-a-box" bundle done working with VMware, Pano Logic, Inc. claims it has dramatically reduced both these requirements, bringing simplicity and affordability to SMBs.

Intended to serve up to fifty users, the Pano Express desktop virtualization kit includes fifty Pano's "zero-client" Pano Devices, fifty Windows virtual desktop licenses (for Windows 7 Enterprise or Windows XP Professional), VMware vSphere Essentials, Pano Direct and Pano Manager software, and a 1U dual quad-core server with 48GB RAM and RAID5 internal storage for 50 Windows virtual desktops. (For more users, simply buy additional Pano Express kits.)

"We include all the endpoint devices, the protocols, the tools to support the protocols and applications, the management software that brokers and manages the devices, the virtualization hypervisor, the OS and licenses for user virtual machines, plus the server and storage hardware," says Dana Loof, EVP of Marketing at Pano Logic. "All you need is the 'pipe' (network), peripherals, and the programs you want to run." Pano also includes an automated Setup Wizard to help put Pano Express onto your network.

All for around $25,000 -- less than $500 per user (assuming you are provisioning fifty users).

By comparison to other Windows 7 hardware refresh solutions for comparable power per-user, thin-client solutions typically run $800 to $1,300 per user, and dedicated desktop PCs around $650, according to Loof.

The Pano Device is a "zero-client" -- there's no operating system, firmware, software or drivers in it; it's basically letting the LAN act as a very long connector to the server hardware. "There's no firmware in the device," states Loof. "Our protocol is bus-level, it basically stretches the bus and fools the VM into thinking that the device is local, so we don't have the optimization user problems that Microsoft RDP and other protocols do."

Pano Express includes pre-installed template images of Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows XP Professional, with and without OpenOffice; you can also create other template images. The server and storage currently consist of a 1U rackmount chassis, configured with a dual quad-core CPU with 48GB RAM, and seven internal 2.5-inch 146GB SAS hard drives configured in RAID Level 5.

According to Loof, Pano Express is a good match for small companies, like small credit unions, smaller hospitals and urgent care facilities, manufacturing, and other SMBs.

Pano Express is intended for users using typical office productivity/Internet applications - e.g., two to three applications in addition to Microsoft Office 2007 and a web browser. For power users, e.g., those using CAD or other graphic-intensive software, you will need some other solution, such as desktop PCs or workstations, or PC-over-IP solutions like Teradici. "Pano Express is not intended as a match for all use cases," states Loof.

Because the Pano Device endpoints never have any data on them, this means that if there's a problem with a Pano Device, there's no data on it to worry about retrieving, and they also automatically address many of the security concerns of HIPPA and other compliance regulations. (Although it looks like the network traffic isn't encrypted.)

Additionally, say Loof, Pano Express has significantly lower TCO than a regular desktop PC infrastructure, e.g., significantly lower overall energy use, along with lower IT support costs in terms of admin time or hardware replacements. Pano estimates annual TCO savings of "as much as 80 percent over a typical PC infrastructure."

But what strikes me as even more compelling for SMBs is that it's all there, there's no need to figure out what hardware and software to get, or to install, integrate and configure the pieces.

Pano Express is scheduled to be available in early June.

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