Skytap Enhances Remote Control of its Clouds

Skytap today unveiled a new secure remote access experience called SmartClient, which offers users a secure way to manage computing environments in Skytap Cloud.

SmartClient offers the flexibility to access Skytap Cloud virtual machines using a new browser app, or a Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)-capable client, on any device including desktops, laptops, smartphones and tablets. New features to enhance visibility and control of cloud deployments include customized reporting to quickly review cloud computing utilization and forecast future usage.

Users can also setup IT controls such as quota management, advanced notifications and virtual machine auto-suspend features.  Administrators can now set a maximum ceiling of resource usage over the customer’s existing subscription level. This flexible limit provides customers with additional burst computing capacity to accommodate any temporary spikes in usage.

"As cloud computing becomes broadly adopted by enterprises, smartphone and media tablet users within these firms will also want access to these services in a familiar and on-demand manner," said Cameron Haight, Research Vice President, Gartner, Inc. "This is part of a continuing trend of the consumerization of IT – a trend that cloud service providers will need to keep in synch with that balances the needs of an increasingly mobile society while minimizing the risk to enterprises."

SmartClient is designed to simplify working with a large number of virtual machines. Features includes a new toolbar that adds common actions such as toggling to full-screen mode, run/suspend VM, and one-click credential details. Users can easily switch between multiple VMs without having to leave full-screen mode. They can also utilize a new multi-VM view to manage any number of VMs, complete with navigation options to quickly pinpoint the specific VM they wish to access.

"SmartClient gives us increased flexibility and performance when working with the virtualized environments we've created in SkytapCloud," said Keith Weisel, manager of application development at Dendreon Corporation. "This translates into a real advantage and increased capability for our staff to develop the applications we need to support business critical processes at Dendreon."