Teradici Explained

Teradici Corporation
Type:	Subsidiary
Foundation:	British Columbia, Canada, 2004
Location:	Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Founder:	Dan Cordingley Dave Hobbs Ken Unger Maher Fahmi
Num Employees:	200+
Industry:	Computer software, Computer hardware
Parent:	HP Inc.
Homepage:	www.teradici.com

Teradici Corporation was a privately held software company founded in 2004,^[1] which was acquired by HP Inc. in October 2021.^[2] Teradici initially developed a protocol (PCoIP) for compressing and decompressing images and sound when remotely accessing blade servers, and implemented it in hardware.^{[3] [4]} This technology was later expanded to thin clients/zero clients^[5] for general Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.^{[6] [7]} Teradici's protocol or hardware is used by HP,^[8] Dell-Wyse,^[9] Amulet Hotkey, Samsung, Amazon Web Services,^[10] Fujitsu,^[11] and VMware.

On 27 July, 2021, HP Inc announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Teradici on undisclosed terms, with the deal set to close in calendar Q4, 2021.^[12]

History

Teradici was founded in 2004 by Dan Cordingley, Dave Hobbs, Ken Unger and Maher Fahmi.^{[13] [14]} It operated in stealth mode until 2007 when they announced their first products, a blade server card and a small hockey puck shaped client, using a proprietary chip which implemented the PCoIP protocol.^[15] In 2008, VMware announced it was licensing Teradici's PCoIP protocol. Teradici developed a software implementation of PCoIP, which VMware started shipping in VMware View 4.^[16]

The Teradici name originated from a previous company the founders were incubating. That company's product involved a 100-gigabit data center networking device. One-tenth of a tera is a deci, but "Teradeci" didn't roll off the tongue. "Teradici" was unique, sounded better and the domain name was available at the time.^[17]

PCoIP Protocol

PC-over-IP (PCoIP) is a proprietary remote display protocol developed by Teradici.^[18] The protocol is available in hardware and in software. In 2008, VMware licensed Teradici's PCoIP protocol,^{[1] [19] [20]} and supports it in VMware Horizon View.^[21] In 2013 Amazon licensed the PCoIP protocol for use in AWS Amazon Workspaces.^{[10] [22] [23] [24] [25]}

PCoIP is a UDP-based protocol that is host rendered, multi-codec and dynamically adaptive. Images rendered on the server are captured as pixels, compressed and encoded and then sent to the client for decryption and decompression. Depending on the image, different codecs are used to encode the pixels sent since techniques to compress video images differ in effectiveness compared to those for text.^{[18] [26]} The protocol also dynamically adapts its encoding based on the available bandwidth. In low-bandwidth environments it uses lossy compression where a highly compressed image is quickly delivered, followed by additional data to refine that image, a process termed "build to perceptually lossless". The default is to use lossless compression which is used when there is minimal network congestion or when explicitly configured, as might be required for scenarios where image fidelity is more important than conserving bandwidth, e.g. for medical imaging.^{[27] [28]}

Comparing PCoIP vs RDP

• Using PCoIP and RDP as a VPN: both PCoIP and RDP protocols can be used in place of a company’s Virtual Private Network, when a corporate firewall is not available or is deactivated.
• High Security and Encryption Level in Connections: using a corporate DMZ, the users can make secure and encrypted connections to Access Points or servers via either PCoIP or RDP.
• Security with AES: Both PCoIP and RDP support Advanced Encryption Standard 128-bit by default, adding an extra layer of security in connections. Although, you can change the encryption key cipher to AES-256 in PCoIP.
• Bandwidth Reduction: This capability is available on PCoIP protocol in order to optimize the bandwidth usage on WAN and LAN to increase its speed. Bandwidth will be evaluated by Remote Desktop Commander to track the RDP number which depends on your setting (color, depth, etc.).

Products & Solutions

OEM products

• PCoIP Zero Client SoC (System on a Chip): SoCs for OEMs to implement Zero clients either with the Teradici-developed Tera1 or Tera2^[29] chip, which implement the PCoIP protocol.

• PCoIP Workstation 1:1 host SoC (System on a Chip): An SoC allowing an OEM to implement a PCIe card which plugs into a workstation (typically a blade computer), allowing it to be remoted and controlled by a client device, either a PCoIP Zero Client or PCoIP Software Client. The connection is 1:1, meaning one host system to one remote user; it is not virtualized or shared and can capture the output from a GPU for full HD and 2K remoting along with redirecting audio and USB peripherals.
• PCoIP software clients: Software implementation of the PCoIP protocol for flexible client device support. Select OEMs include this in their products for x86 and ARM-based thin clients. This is also the basis for the VMware and AWS Amazon Workspaces^[30] software clients for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android which use Teradici-developed core PCoIP protocol and decoding technology.

Direct Products

• Teradici APEX 2800 server offload card: A PCIe coprocessor Hardware Accelerator board for VMWare Horizon offloading the compression and encryption of graphics and audio to Horizon Software Client or PCoIP Zero Client improving server consolidation in a VDI environment.^[31]
• PCoIP management console: A web-based management tool for administrative control of PCoIP Zero Client devices from a central console.
• Workstation Access Software: Enables remote access via PCoIP Software Client or PCoIP Zero Client to a physical Windows PC or Virtual Machine in the Cloud.
• Host Card.

See also

• Comparison of platform virtualization software
• Desktop virtualization
• x86 virtualization
• Virtual machine
• Virtual appliance
• Thin client
• Comparison of remote desktop software

Notes and References

1. Web site: Mellor. Chris. VMware brings fat graphics to thin clients. The Register. Situation Publishing. 12 May 2013. 10 November 2009.
2. News: Dignan . Larry . HP buys Teradici, guns for remote high performance computing . 30 July 2021 . ZDNet . July 27, 2021.
3. News: Thibodeau. Patrick. Blade Vendors Look to Make Thin Clients More PC-Like. 27 May 2013. Computerworld. 25 June 2007.
4. Web site: Miller. Michael. A New Twist on Blade Computing. ForwardThinking. PCMag. 12 May 2013. 23 July 2007.
5. Doyle. Paul. Mark Deegan . David Markey . Rose Tinabo . Bossi Masamila . David Tracey . Case Studies In Thin Client Acceptance. Ubiquitous Computing and Communication Journal. July 2009. 4. Special Issue on ICIT 2009 Conference - Applied Computing. 3. 587. 27 May 2013. 1992-8424.
6. Web site: Haff. Gordon. VMware elevates its desktop virtualization view. CNET. 12 May 2013. November 9, 2009. 12 January 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140112080204/http://news.cnet.com/8301-13556_3-10393269-61.html. dead.
7. Web site: Lohr. Steve. New Ideas in Thin Computing – I. Bits: The Business of Technology. The New York Times. 22 May 2013. 24 September 2007.
8. Web site: Teradici. Teradici Blog HP. 2020-06-08. connect.teradici.com. en-us.
9. Web site: Myslewski. Rik. Dell uncloaks novel workstation trio, plops one into cloud. The Register. Situation Publishing. 22 May 2013.
10. Web site: Berger. Gunnar. The DaaS floodgates are open thanks to Amazon WorkSpaces. Gartner Blog Network. Gartner. 16 November 2013. November 2013.
11. Web site: Shukla. Anuradha. Fujitsu Provides Teradici's PCoIP in its CELSIUS Workstations. TMCnet. 22 May 2013.
12. https://investor.hp.com/news/press-release-details/2021/HP-Inc.-to-Acquire-Teradici/default.aspx Press release, HP, Inc, 27 July 2021
13. News: Shaw. Gillian. Bold move to control PC security and software: Four high-tech veterans create circuit card that brings big boys' backing. 3 June 2013. Vancouver Sun. 16 June 2007.
14. News: Drexhage. Glenn. $10 million funding round kick-starts Burnaby semiconductor company. 28 January 2014. Business In Vancouver. 2006.
15. Web site: Is Teradici's PC-Over-IP The Next Big Thing?. Virtualization Journal. SYS-CON Media. 3 June 2013. June 2007. 2 February 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140202095448/http://virtualization.sys-con.com/node/390395. dead.
16. Web site: PCoIP Zero Client and VMware View 4. Virtual Desktop Blog. VMware. 3 June 2013. wponder. 6 December 2009. 15 June 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130615132741/http://communities.vmware.com/blogs/virtualdesktop/2009/12/06/pcoip-zero-client-and-vmware-view-4. dead.
17. News: Rogers. Bruce. Dan Cordingley's Teradici Enables the Virtual Workspace. 21 May 2014. Forbes. 21 May 2014.
18. Web site: Stuart. Greg. PCoIP: What Is PC-over-IP and How Does It Work?. Petri IT Knowledgebase. 30 May 2013. 22 May 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130522082923/http://www.petri.co.il/what-is-pc-over-ip.htm. dead.
19. Web site: VMware Announces Strategic Licensing and Co-development Agreement with Teradici for True Remote PC User Experience Further Bolstering its vClient Initiative. VMware News Releases. VMware. 14 May 2013.
20. Web site: Ricknas. Mikael. Desktops Will Move to the Cloud, VMware Exec Says. PCWorld. IDG News Service. 12 May 2013.
21. Book: O'Doherty, Paul. VMware View 5: Building a Successful Virtual Desktop. 2012. Prentice Hall. 9780132983686. 8-3.
22. Web site: Amazon WorkSpaces Product Details. Amazon Web Services. Amazon. 13 November 2013. November 2013.
23. News: Amazon Plans to Offer Desktops in the Cloud. 13 November 2013. Wall Street Journal. Don Clark. November 2013.
24. Web site: Vaughan-Nichols. Steven. Amazon want you to run Windows 7 on its cloud with WorkSpaces. ZDNet. CBS Interactive. 14 November 2013. November 2013.
25. Web site: Bennett. Nelson. Burnaby's Teradici teams up with Amazon to eliminate the need for desktop computers. Business In Vancouver. BIV Media Group. 14 November 2013. November 2013. 8 December 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20131208072427/http://www.biv.com/article/20131113/BIV0112/131119978/burnabys-teradici-teams-up-with-amazon-to-eliminate-the-need-for. dead.
26. Groves. Randy. BriForum 2014 Boston - Randy Groves - Deep Dive into PCoIP Technology. brianmadden.com. TechTarget. 8 May 2015.
27. Web site: VMware View 5 with PCoIP: Network Optimization Guide. VMware. 5 June 2013. 4.
28. Web site: PCoIP technology. Teradici. 5 June 2013.
29. Web site: Harding. Christoph. Teradici Announces Next-Generation Tera2 PCoIP® Zero Clients. That's my view. 26 May 2013.
30. Brian Madden. BrianMadden.com Live Podcast #52, with guest Dan Cordingley, CEO of Teradici. BrianMadden.com. TechTarget. 11 December 2013. 6 January 2014.
31. Book: Langone, Jason. Vmware View 5 Desktop Virtualization Solutions. 2012. Packt Publishing Ltd. 9781849681124. 82.