Oracle has released the latest version of its application virtualization software Secure Global Desktop to improve security and user experience.
Oracle Secure Global Desktop 4.7 has added support for multi-monitor configurations, richer Linux and Unix graphics, and bi-directional audio, Oracle said Thursday. Secure Global Desktop is a scalable and reliable application access platform that provides secure, browser-based access to applications hosted in the data center. Users can access the applications through the Web browser using a range of devices.
Under the latest version, users can run multiple applications on different monitors at the same time. With improved performance for 3-D applications utilizing OpenGL 1.3 graphics extensions, Secure Global Desktop offers a richer and more productive user experience, Oracle said. The platform expanded the existing support for audio output for Windows applications so that users can now use microphones and other input devices.
“Oracle Secure Global Desktop is an easy to deploy and use solution that enables users to access Windows, Linux, UNIX, and legacy applications in a way that provides a rich user experience and high security while reducing complexity for both IT and the user,” said Wim Coekaerts, Oracle’s senior vice president of Linux and virtualization development.
With Secure Global Desktop, any application input, whether it is Windows, Linux, custom Web, ERP, or anything else, can be fed through the server and display it on the Web browser. Users can remotely interact with the application so long as the Web browser remains open. Secure Global Desktop allows organizations to deploy apps to the browser in a non-native manner, especially if the app doesn’t already offer a desktop client.
Oracle added Secure Global Desktop to its extensive product portfolio as part of its 2009 acquisition of Sun Microsystems, which in turn gained the technology when it acquired Tarantella in 2005. Even Tarantella can’t take the credit for Secure Global Desktop Terminal Services Edition, as the product was originally named Canaveral IQ and belonged to New Moon Software. The company was sold to Tarantella in 2003 and the software was renamed shortly after.
Version 4.7 has expanded the list of supported server operating systems to include Oracle Linux and Oracle Solaris11, as well as Web browsers to include Internet Explorer 9, Chrome, the latest Firefox ESR browsers, Oracle said.
The latest version comes with pre-configured security settings to make deployment and configuration straightforward out of the box. Deploying Secure Global Desktop is also faster, thanks to Oracle VM Templates, a ready-to-run Oracle VM virtual machine. The platform can also run on Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud to provide secure remote access to applications residing in the Exalogic environment.
“IT organizations need a single solution that can deliver secure remote access to all of their data center applications — not just Windows based applications,” said Coekaerts.
