Wyse Technology on Friday said it is helping make Apple's iPad a business computing device with a new version of its PocketCloud application for turning smart devices into fully functioning Windows 7-based thin clients.
Wyse, a San Jose, Calif.-based developer of thin-client technology, unveiled PocketCloud for iPad, a $30 app downloadable from the Apple AppStore that allows users to run their Windows 7 environments as a virtual PC with all the expected capabilities, including the ability to run Adobe Flash-based applications.
PocketCloud was originally released in September at VMworld for the iPhone, and more than 10,000 copies have been downloaded so far, said Tarkan Maner, president and CEO of Wyse.
The iPad version of PocketCloud is one of the first business applications certified by Apple for the iPad, Maner said.
"The iPad is consumer-friendly," he said. "We have the first app to take it to business, and let the iPad connect to private and public clouds."
PocketCloud supports VMware View 7 and Microsoft's RDP7 virtual desktop environments, and support for Citrix XenDesktop environments will come in the near future, Maner said.
Customers can use PocketCloud to download their Windows 7 desktop environment on the iPad, giving them access to their normal applications, including Adobe Flash-based applications.
"When you go into the Windows 7 environment, you're not in the embedded iPad system format any more," Maner said. "You're in a virtual environment, running Windows 7, and you can run all your apps."
That capability opens a lot of opportunities for solution providers looking to take advantage of the iPad's user-friendly design and multitouch screen to work with business customers, Maner said. While PocketCloud can be used by anyone to run a Windows 7 environment, it does require some technical proficiency to use it.
Maner cited a couple of business uses for the iPad with PocketCloud.
For instance, in hospitals where HIPAA regulations prohibit certain users from working with devices that have spinning hard drives, the iPad with its flash memory can now run the hospital's existing applications, Maner said.
For mobile workers, PocketCloud on an iPad allows them to access their applications remotely or do monitoring and management of their business servers from anywhere just as if they were using a notebook PC -- while giving up none of the iPad's user-friendly features, he said.
"The iPhone and iPad offer great user experience, but Apple is still going after the consumer first," he said. "But the enterprise is a bigger market. We bring Apple as a friend into the enterprise."
Existing customers of PocketCloud for the iPhone can download the iPad version at no cost.
STEVEN BURKE contributed to this story.
