The Chrome Thin Client - Pano Logic's Virtual Desktop

A silicon valley startup, Pano Logic, has announced their new technology which enables them to offer a virtual desktop PC that doesn't require any software or hardware components like a typical PC.

The company was founded by Nick Gault who was the founding chief executive of XenSource. So it seems as though Nick is following the path of where virtualization is heading. He went from focusing on virtualizing the server and is now going back to the desktop.

The Pano device is a small chrome cube with no processor, memory or operating system. Instead, the small device connects the user's keyboard, mouse, video, audio and other USB peripherals to an IP-based connection which links to a version of the user's operating system running in a virtual machine on a remote server.

The device is similar in its approach to the technologies being offered by Wyse, Neoware and ClearCube. However, the Pano device takes things up a notch. Because the device has no software, it doesn't require any software updates nor is the client affected by malware. And because there is no CPU, the device only consumes 5 watts, 3% of a typical PC, making it as green as they come.

And leveraging functionality provided by server virtualization, the Pano device also ties in what they call the "Pano Button". The Pano Button can be configured by IT or solution providers to orchestrate services provided by the server platform. For example, the user could rollback from a corrupted Windows instance to a known good instance or they could switch between virtual machines set up with software for different job functions.

"The right model for desktop computing is to have zero software - and hence no pain - at the desktop, and to centralize all software and management in the data center. And when there is no software on the desktop, a majority of today's desktop security problems vanish," said Nick Gault, CEO of Pano Logic. "The Pano architecture fully delivers on the promise of virtualization for the desktop."

Pano Logic will sell the Pano devices beginning in September for subscription prices beginning at $20 per month with another $60 per year planned for maintenance and support.

Posted by David Marshall on August 28, 2007 05:14 PM