We are a current VEC RDP customer and we do not like Published Apps - can we use Virtual Desktops (VDI) / Desktop as a Service (Daas) instead?
Post date: Aug 14, 2020 6:28:20 PM
Viewpoint realizes that some of our customers enjoy having the totality of their client-side IT infrastructure virtualized and hosted on Terminal Servers in our cloud. This is also known as Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) or Desktop as a Service (Daas). There are some benefits to this, including allowing for the use of many Windows applications with macOS (Macintosh) computers, as well as centralized desktop management. For a number of years, Viewpoint's cloud-hosting for Vista and ProContractor was set up to use VDI, under a product offering called Viewpoint for Cloud (VFC). VFC was intended to provide IT outsourcing for much of the needs of construction customers. As such, this model fit perfectly, allowing us to host the myriad client and server-side applications that our customers needed to perform their operations.
However, starting in 2017, Viewpoint shifted focus for our cloud offerings, away from IT outsourcing and toward providing a powerful experience for hosted Vista and critical third party partner integrations, such as Microsoft Office, Bluebeam, Spreadsheet Server, etc. This new product offering, known as Viewpoint Enterprise Cloud (VEC) / a.k.a. RDP Published Apps Cloud, uses RDP Published Applications to provide Vista, and a much more limited set of client-side tools that integrate to Vista, to end users. Now, we are at the next stage of our cloud evolution: Vista Remote Link (VRL) in Viewpoint One.
Viewpoint One is a robust, encompassing solution that combines multiple industry-leading Viewpoint solutions into one bundle. One the Vista side, it is powered by Vista Remote Link (VRL). VRL allows for the actual Vista rich client to be hosted on the local workstation of the end user, eliminating the need for RDP terminal services and thus the need for Viewpoint to host third party applications at all. Please see this URL for more details: What are the differences for the end user between RDP and Vista Remote Link (VRL)? RDP vs. VRL
VRL is the way of our future.
As such, as of January 2020, VRL is already the default deployment method for customers into our cloud.
If you are an existing VEC RDP customer who would like to start transitioning to VRL, please see this link:
As you can imagine, given all of this, we do not support VDI in our VEC RDP clouds today as we are focused on moving to Viewpoint One with VRL.
NOTE: The only cloud that we offer with VDI is VFC, and VFC is no longer available for new customers.
As such, if you are interested in full IT outsourcing for your client-side applications, VEC or Viewpoint One will not provide that solution. In this scenario, if you are an existing VEC customer, we recommend that your company switch to Viewpoint One and VRL. You can then host the Vista client-side application in your own, or a third party terminal service, for the VDI experience, connected securely to our state of the art Azure datacenters for hosting all Viewpoint products, as well as providing unique and powerful tools, such as Viewpoint Analytics, Viewpoint Search, Team Project Management, and web extensions to Vista, including HR Portal, Field Management, and Financial Controls.
tl;dr: VDI, or Desktop as a Service (DaaS) is not supported with VEC RDP cloud; that is not the intended solution market for VEC RDP.