NEC Virtual PC Center (VPCC) Product and Technology Overview Virtual PC Center is NEC s complete software solution to deploy and manage virtual desktop users throughout your entire organization. It is called virtual because you can use any desktop workstation and work as if you are using a PC with the familiar Windows desktop. The NEC solution is built on top of VMware s virtualization platform but is the only virtual desktop software solution fully integrated with its hardware servers and thin client devices. Combining the presentation thin client approach with a robust desktop environment hosted on NEC s powerful servers running VMware s virtualization software, NEC offers a complete enterprise PC solution. Both users and IT administrators can reap the benefits of desktop virtualization: lower support costs, highly secure PC data, efficient PC management and control, and fast PC performance, all while using less energy. No wonder VPCC is called a better PC for the enterprise. Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 The Pain 3 The Desire 3 The Problem 4 The NEC Solution 5 NEC Enabling Capabilities 9 Conclusion Introduction NEC offers a complete virtual desktop solution, including all necessary software and a selection of NEC hardware components, including the virtualization hypervisor, management tools, client broker, thin clients, servers, and storage. The software components comprising of NEC s virtual desktop solution have been fully tested, integrated, and sold as a single bundle; commonly referred to as Virtual PC Center. NEC manufactures all of our virtual desktop solution hardware and many key software management components, especially those capabilities that integrate the NEC hardware with virtualization. As a result, NEC has partnered with key software vendors for hypervisor and additional management functions in order to deliver a complete virtual desktop solution. The NEC technology partnerships for the virtual desktop solution are with VMware and Microsoft. Page 1 of 10
The Pain: Data Security Threats & Growing Overhead Cost of PCs Information Technology (IT) organizations are constantly on their guard to tackle the next wave of data security threats. Unfortunately, all too many occurrences take place where corporate data is stolen either from the loss of a laptop, or an intruder accessing data on business PCs outside of the IT data center. Although many tools and solutions are available from leading vendors to provide software detection systems to catch hackers and their potential thefts, they do not adequately address PC information security. Though larger systems running in the data center are generally adequately insulated from most threats, PCs running outside the data center are at high risk. These laptops and PC desktops are computers with CPUs and hard disks containing corporate data, such as customers personal information and corporate emails. Additionally, PC users are not always able to handle the system management of their PC system. Users must spend a significant amount of time backing up data, installing programs, and fixing viruses and other software on their systems. Some of this time originates from IT requiring programs on their PCs to better control data and security which often confuses the user causing productivity loss. Most corporations measure the cost of a PC over a three-year period. This is due to government tax regulations allowing corporations to depreciate the asset purchased against income over multiple years. But the cost of the PC hardware and software is not the only cost associated with a company owning a PC, as many services must also be provided to keep the PC operating over its lifetime. The breakdown in asset and service costs-per-user are shown in the pie chart, assuming a 100-user installation. The total three-year cost runs over $4,500 per user. 1 The per-user total cost of ownership (TCO) continues to grow each year and IT organizations are looking for ways to reduce PC desktop TCO costs, as well as to help their employees to be more productive using their PCs. The VPCC is a paradigm change in employee computing platforms that provides increased data security while also lowering TCO at the same time. 1 Assumptions based on IDC Opinion, Thin Computing ROI: The Untold Story. November 2005. Actual TCO for a specific customer may vary. NEC s VPCC team provides a TCO calculator to determine each individual customer s TCO. Page 2 of 10
The Desire: Greater Data Security with Reduced Cost Today s IT managers are being forced to make some difficult choices. On the one hand, their internal customers (a.k.a. PC users) are demanding more capability and flexibility from their computing devices; while on the other hand security-related concerns are driving them to institute tighter controls to safeguard their enterprise data. They are being asked to provide more services such as integrating Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) digital telecommunications systems, or more, with minimal or no budget increases to support these initiatives. NEC is working with a number of technology leaders in key Fortune 2000 companies to fulfill these needs. In short, these leaders clearly expressed strong interest in virtual thin client solutions to help meet the needs of their PC desktop users for the following reasons: To integrate the management of hardware servers and thin clients with virtualization management, for better PC performance while using less energy. To help improve data protection of company data. To deliver a corporate application tailored to their specific need with the benefits of thin client computing. To provide more PC functionality at the same or reduced cost. To make managing PC desktops more efficient for backups, application updates, and general maintenance. To make PC users more productive. In summary, when greater PC data security is needed, typically another PC software layer is added onto the desktop. Additionally, more hardware may be added or IT management tools are purchased. Despite the use of the best existing tools, systems, and security infrastructure, the cost to keep the PC user productive while ensuring the safety of corporate data continues to rise with only modest end-user productivity gains. The Problem: Alternative Solutions are Not Sufficient Many CIOs and IT managers are using or considering alternative approaches to meet the needs previously listed. Network Boot Solution this solution requires PCs to be booted and to run applications from the network off servers managed in the data center. The advantage is that IT will find it easier to maintain the operating system and applications. Problems with a network boot solution include: No impact on total cost of ownership reduction; in fact, total cost may increase. No data security: easy for users to export data. User support issues will increase from a hybrid PC configuration. No portability. Blade PC Solution this solution puts only monitors, keyboards, and a mouse on the desktop, with a keyboard, mouse, and display connection to a dedicated blade PC in the data center. The advantage is the users cannot remove their data from the data center, plus Page 3 of 10
it is reasonably easier to manage applications and data backups. Problems with a Blade PC solution include: This is a very expensive solution. Blades are more expensive than PC desktop and additional cabling increases IT costs. Doesn t allow the data center to leverage current trends in virtualization. No portability. No functional benefit for the user, even though blades can offer greater processing capability. Presentation Server Thin Client Solution this solution puts a thin client device (e.g., a smart terminal) on the desktop to run applications in the data center. The display content generated from the application is automatically transferred to the thin client display device. Problems with a presentation server thin client solution include: Only applications that are supported by the thin client screen scraper are enabled, such as mainframe applications. Does not provide the full PC experience and benefits. The NEC Solution: A Better PC for the Enterprise To better address these customers needs, NEC offers an enterprise scale thin client virtual desktop solution, based on the following product components: Thin Clients: NEC thin clients consist of four models, US100, US110, D380, and TCM380. The US models support multimedia capability which is the fastest and most powerful multimedia capability in the industry. All NEC thin clients perform basic thin client functions such as running the RDP and ICA protocols. NEC thin client devices should be used primarily with NEC s management software in order to maximize their value propositions, however will work as a standalone product if called upon. Servers: NEC servers include blade and rack servers. All NEC servers are manufactured with high quality and are highly competitive in functionality. All NEC servers are certified to run the latest version of VMware Virtual Infrastructure. Client Management Option (CMO): NEC s client broker software provides for NEC thin clients to be connected to the data center servers ensuring that the user s login will connect to the correct virtual machine. CMO performs all the basic requirements of brokering including authentication and connectivity. Additional features in security have been built in so that individuals attempting to access the user sessions from a non approved terminal will be blocked. Furthermore, a virtual machine reboot option has been incorporated, allowing the individual to reboot a hung virtual desktop. This feature is important so that Help Desk need not be contacted to reboot the hung virtual desktops. In a traditional desktop environment, we would have the ability to press the power button; however such a power button does not exist for a virtualized desktop. SigmaSystemCenter (SSC): NEC s management system is very extensive and comprehensive. SSC includes management facilities for all aspects of managing Page 4 of 10
virtual desktop users, from session setup and configuration, to extensive management and monitoring. It has a policy engine to enable automatic activities such as load balancing and automated VMotion. SSC includes NEC s ESMPro integration for hardware server monitoring which is unique to NEC. As the hardware vendor, NEC is able to monitor hardware components at a very granular level, including predictive failure detection and countermeasures; similar functions cannot be done by VMware or Microsoft s management tools. Because SSC uses the VMware vcenter API, all familiar vcenter functions are also inherently available. Although SSC works in conjunction with vcenter, collaboration with NEC ESMPRO allows NEC to offer features beyond just those of VMware s HA, DRS and DPM options. These options would be available to the end user by VMware for additional costs, but SSC does NOT require these additional licenses to perform these functions, and more. Overview of a Complete Virtual Desktop Solution NEC Enabling Capabilities Advanced Virtual Desktop Management NEC Sigma System Center management server (SSC) is an umbrella management platform that integrates NEC server management with VMware s vcenter. NEC s server heritage is evident in its management software technology, including its tight built-in integration with VMware session management platform, 2 high availability solutions, system management, virtual user profiling, policies, security, expandability, auditing, account management, deployment functionality, and more. The follow capabilities are available using SigmaSystemCenter: Optimal Resource Allocation SSC provides optimal resource allocation of physical server resources to ensure that desktop users experience maximum performance. There are two 2 VMWare is the current virtual session management solution integrated with SSC through the vcenter API. Page 5 of 10
implementations of optimal resource allocation. 1) Vmware s hypervisor will ensure that whenever a desktop user requires more hardware server resources, such as processing and memory, they are allocated automatically to that user s virtual machine. 2) SSC will look at the entire physical server host utilization scheme, and determine if there are insufficient server resources available for the demand on a single server. If so, then SSC (through VMware VMotion) will automatically move virtual machines to other hardware hosts where demand is less providing maximum efficiency of physical host to all virtual machines. Continuous Availability SSC provides not just high availability but continuous availability for virtual desktop users. VMware s high availability option requires users to restart their virtual machines in the event of a hardware host failure. This inconvenience can be annoying as well as costly if users need to redo lost work. Because SSC is integrated with NEC server hardware monitoring, SSC can predict possible hardware faults before a host server fails. When such early detection is found, SSC will automatically VMotion all users off the failing physical host to another server before the original server fails. Patch Batch Deployment SSC provides the ability for IT managers to apply guest operating system or application patches and upgrades to all virtual desktops with a single keystroke. By the creation of a patch template, rules in the template can be applied through a batch job placement through SSC, which then handles all the updates that are required. Batch processing can be applied to the entire set of virtual desktops, or to various groups based on various characteristics of the virtual machine. SSC complements this patch deployment function by also, a) providing patch deployment onto VMware ESX for each physical server at the hypervisor level, and b) monitors VM operating system patches to ensure that users do not remove patches that are deemed required by IT management. Centralized Management SSC provides a high-level view of all virtual desktop users through its centralized management console. User activity can be monitored and controlled through the SSC management functions. Views can be organized into various groups as well dependent upon the type of user and virtual machine characteristics. Additionally, the centralized SSC management system is able to monitor and manage users at multiple physical locations over a wide area network. Session Management SSC provides for single sign-on by pulling user credentials from Active Directory. It also ensures that logins can only be performed by designated thin client devices. Lastly, SSC collects user session information, such as login history, usage, and various functions performed by the user. This information is collated based on user access, not virtual machine logs, independently of which virtual machine session the user was connected. NEC Multi-media Thin Client Devices Another key enabling technology is VPCC s market-leading multimedia processing capabilities embedded in the US100 and US110 Thin Clients. NEC s' market Page 6 of 10
uniqueness is its ability to give a full speed multi-media Windows PC user experience. One of the primary market inhibitors for truly virtualizing the PC desktop has been the lack of support for multi-media capabilities in previous virtual PC solutions. As a result, applications such as Windows Media Player, browser multi-media, and VoIP telephone solutions have not been supported. The problem is exasperated due to the high volume of data involved in audio and visual content and network bandwidth limitations. For PCs running on a desktop the problem is easily solved because the distance between the CPU and the display memory is very short, and the connection is very fast. As shown in the diagram below the Large-scale Integration (LSI) chip that processes the audio and video content for the PC desktop can immediately display or transmit audio directly to the devices without any delays. If this same implementation were deployed using the thin client architecture, then the LSI chip decoding process would be done on the virtual server in the data center. As shown in the diagram below, the I/O data from the LSI chip must be transported to the PC terminal over a significant distance on the local area network (LAN). Even if the network was a very fast Gigabit LAN the amount of data from audio and video I/O once decoded by the LSI chip would never be able to keep up in real-time, causing the media data to be unusable (see sample comparison later.) NEC in conjunction with Server Engines implementation technology has taken the underlying LSI functionality from the PC desktop and added specialized decoding capabilities on the Thin Client US100 device to enable multi-media functions at the client side. As shown in the diagram below, the multi-media functionality is now performed on the US100 Thin Client device and not on the server in the data center. Page 7 of 10
This is accomplished by adding NEC s filter into each PC user s virtual session to intercept the multi-media requests before they are decoded for the device. This allows that media content to be distributed to the client in its encoded format, which is significantly smaller in size than its decoded format. Literally hundreds of US100 users can simultaneously view multi-media data on the same network without the worry of exceeding the network bandwidth. The results are evident immediately by thin client users as shown in the screen shots below, listing the following examples comparing NEC s US100 vs. the traditional thin client: User displaying video. Server CPU utilization for a single user. Network utilization for a single user. The US100 capabilities now employed in the VPCC solution include: Multi-media decoding for both video and sound content. Simultaneous remote user session management. Easy setup and usage environments. User s Display Current Thin Client Solution NEC US100 Thin Client Page 8 of 10
Server CPU Utilization Virtual PC without NEC's Multi-media Technology Virtual PC with NEC's Multi-media Technology Network Utilization Current Thin Client Solution Virtual PC with NEC's Multi-media Technology Conclusion NEC s VPCC solution solves many issues facing IT organizations by changing the enterprise employee computing paradigm and offering superior resource management capabilities through its integrated SigmaSystemCenter server and hypervisor management system. Data security is a major concern facing all IT organizations today. The greatest area of risk is the corporate data sitting on PC and laptop hard disk drives. PC desktop systems that need protecting are complex and the threat is constantly changing. Reactive, after-the-fact security solutions no longer deliver the level of security that is needed, or they create a PC system that is too complicated or restrictive for the average corporate PC user. This adds cost to supporting and servicing the PC user, in terms of software, IT and Help desk support, as well as loss of productivity to the PC user. Page 9 of 10
Customers deploying the NEC Virtual PC Center have experienced significant improvement in PC user productivity while reducing costs. Some results are: More efficient use of server resources. Higher availability for PC users. Significant increase in corporate data security. Increased user productivity. Better PC Windows user experience for multi-media. Easy IT PC application and operating system management. Reduced total cost of ownership. Using the same parameters as outlined earlier in this paper, total cost of ownership improvements using VPCC are shown in the following chart, resulting in over 35% TCO reduction of costs over a three year period. 3 The VPCC system enables lower support costs and higher user uptime, thereby improving PC user s productivity. Future thin client systems and the VPCC Management Controller and Virtual PC Servers by NEC, delivers a far more effective, safe, and cost-effective solution for today s and tomorrow s personal computer needs. NEC CORPORATION OF AMERICA Virtual PC Center Division 2880 Scott Boulevard Santa Clara, CA 95050 NEC Corporation of America. All rights reserved. Specifications subject to change without notice. NEC is a registered trademark and Empowered by Innovation is a trademark of NEC Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. www.necam.com (866) 632-3226 3 This chart is based on the same assumptions as used for the PC desktop TCO chart. Page 10 of 10