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Stoneware's Virtual Web Desktop has been designed specifically with "Cloud" computing in mind. Although the term "Cloud" computing seems relatively new, it really describes IT's shift from a fully distributed computing architecture back to a centralized IT computing model. This page will describe the evolution to cloud computing and the role of webOS in this environment.
Go back twenty years and you might remember that the industry was dominated by mainframes serving applications to a vast number of thin client terminals needing only a coax connection and 110 volt outlet. A single mainframe could efficiently service thousands of users that IT professionals would never see unless a cup of coffee was spilled into a keyboard. While IT organizations could efficiently manage a large number of users, the per unit costs of processing, storage, and memory were exceptionally high.  Because of these costs, very few organizations could afford to develop and deploy business solutions in a mainframe environment.
The mainframe era gave away to the Client/Server era, and for good reason. With the advent of the personal computer (PC), the barriers to business computing were all but eliminated. Suddenly any business could own a computer and more significantly, anyone could develop a business solution to run on the PC. Much of the business logic that was exclusive to the backend mainframe moved out to the desktop where it was less costly to process. The PC brought the concept of distributed computing where the business logic was distributed throughout the organization to the end node. As more applications moved out to the desktop, the greater the need became to manage the desktop. Microsoft introduced Windows as a means of managing both the applications and resources located on the personal computer. This computing environment has continued to evolve unto this day spurring innovation in all aspects of enterprise computing.
However, as the chart demonstrates above, there are some fundamental issues with the Client/Server computing paradigm. While the cost of processing continues to drop, the price tag associated with managing the distributed computing environment has rapidly grown. Maintaining the business logic in a distributed model requires operating, application, and system updates that become very complex and difficult to manage. From an IT perspective, the management of the users and their desktop computers has become the single outstanding cost associated with enterprise computing.
Because of the rising cost of desktop management, organizations today find themselves in a shift from a fully distributed computing architecture back to a centralized model. Like everything else in our industry, this shift has been given the name of "Cloud" computing. "Cloud" computing defines IT's desire to move back to a centralized computing model where applications, services, and even the desktops are managed centrally from the computer room where they can be provisioned, controlled, and distributed much more effectively and efficiently. This shift has been largely enabled by the enterprise's move from Windows client/server applications to web applications. The centralized, scalable, and clientless nature of web applications have made them perfect for the return to centralized or "Cloud" computing.
With factors such desktop management costs, outsourcing, and a growing remote workforce applying pressure on the demand for centralized computing, Stoneware webOS becomes the only product in the industry ready to enable this transition. webOS provides a Virtual Web Desktop that is capable of delivering all of an organization's web, Windows, and hosted applications to any device that can support a browser and an Internet connection. Because webOS is built on Web 2.0 technologies, it is capable of scaling to over 1,200 desktops per server allowing organizations to create their own highly scalable, centralized "Cloud" which can deliver all of their organization's business critical applications and services.
The unique two-tier architecture of webOS provides organizations with the flexibility to determine how the virtual web desktop environment will best be deployed within their environment.  Organizations that wish to host their own virtual web desktop environment on premise can implement the webOS Server and Relay on pair of machines running any of the popular server platforms such as Windows, Linux, Unix, or Mac OS X. The relay and server will be responsible for connecting the Virtual Web Desktop to the enterprise applications and services located on the internal corporate network. All authentication, access control, and encryption will be provided by the two webOS servers working in conjunction. User access to the Virtual Web Desktop, whether internal or external, is accomplished by connecting to the secure entry point (relay) with a standard web browser. After the user authenticates with their network credentials, the relay will dynamically build a Virtual Web Desktop displaying all the available applications and services based on the user's organizational role. Each user request for an application or service will be validated by the server and relay before it is presented inside the user's webOS deskop regardless if the application is hosted by the enterprise or a third-party provider.
The ability for IT to separate the desktop from the applications allows a "Cloud" to be formed which can deliver all services independent of location, hardware, or operating system. Organizations can leverage this architecture to provide a desktop capable of consuming both internally hosted and externally hosted applications. This flexibility allows the enterprise to purchase applications based on real business decisions such as cost, maintenance, and regulations instead of conceding to traditional application deployment issues.
To learn more about how Stoneware products enable your shift to cloud computing, please contact us for an online demo.
Benefits
- Deliver all of your organization's web, Windows, and hosted applications from a unified virtual web desktop.
- Reduce the rising desktop management costs by centralizing and deploying a virtual web destkop.
- Organizations are not forced to rewrite their applications to function within the cloud architecture.
- Growing mobile and remote workforce becomes location and provider independent.
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