Ulteo Open Virtual Desktop is aimed at organizations that deploy Windows and Linux applications via a terminal server to classic desktops and mobile platforms. Thanks to new support for HTML5 in newer versions, Open Virtual Desktop now works without a client on a PC, Mac, smartphone, or tablet. In this article, I look at some new features available in version 4.0 and provide a guide to deploying Open Virtual Desktop.

Ulteo was founded in 2007 by Gaël Duval and Thierry Koehrlen. In the Linux and open source community, Duval is known as the co-founder of the Linux Mandrake/Mandriva distributions and Koehrlen as the co-creator of intalio.com. These two old hands set out with the goal of positioning Open Virtual Desktop (OVD) as a „non-proprietary, open source-based, secure and scalable platform for the deployment of desktops and applications“ [1].

More a Terminal Server than a VDI

Admins can use Ulteo OVD to serve Windows and Linux applications on a common platform to their users across multiple systems (Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Android, and iOS). OVD is not a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution in the strict sense, but rather an server-based computing (SBC) or terminal server solution. According to its own announcements, Ulteo is working on adding VDI features with separate virtual machines.

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