IGEL, Teradici Partner For Convenient, Secure Remote Desktop On Amazon WorkSpaces

IGEL, a developer of software-defined endpoint offerings for cloud and virtualized workspace environments, on Wednesday will open its IGEL Disrupt conference touting a big new strategic relationship with Teradici.

That relationship will pave the way for IGEL-based endpoints to connect directly to Amazon WorkSpaces managed and secure cloud-based desktop service.  

The new relationship with Teradici will likely be the most important focus at the IGEL Disrupt conference, said Jed Ayres, president and CEO of San Francisco-based IGEL North America.

[Related: Fast Growing IGEL Set To Shake Up Endpoint Market With NVIDIA, AWS Integration And New MSP/SI Program]

"This gives us the first Linux operating system to connect to Amazon WorkSpaces," Ayres told CRN. "If you look at Amazon's roadmap, think it will be adding millions of seats to the platform over the next several years. We have both Amazon and IGEL customers waiting for this."

Teradici is the developer of the PCoIP (PC-over-IP) protocol, which provides remote high-performance connectivity for Windows or Linux virtual desktops to connect to public clouds with or without a GPU, said Ziad Lammam, vice president of product management for the Vancouver-based company.

"We are expanding IGEL endpoints to Amazon WorkSpaces,” Lammam told CRN. "IGEL couldn’t do that before. We now allow IGEL endpoints to connect to our Cloud Access software or to the top three public clouds."

While IGEL could connect to VMware or Citrix virtual desktop infrastructures, it couldn't connect to Amazon WorkSpaces, Lammam said. "Now users can connect to a cloud or an on-premises and get the benefits of the latest PcoIP developments."

Teradici, like IGEL, has a 100-percent channel focus, Lammam said. The new technology will be available through IGEL channel partners, he said.

Amazon, with its Amazon WorkSpaces offering, is looking to dominate the remote desktop market, Ayres said. "Any time Amazon enters a market, it should come up on everybody's radar as a potential disrupter," he said.

A couple of years ago, Citrix bought Framework which helped Citrix modernize its ICA protocol, which is now known as HDX, Ayres said.

He added that Amazon’s 2016 hiring of FrameHawk founder Stephen Vilke means “Amazon is looking at market dominance."

Amazon Web Services doesn't have all the bells and whistles that Citrix offers the remote desktop business, including Citrix's ability to work in highly regulated workflows, Ayres said.

"AWS is mainly focused on the edge and on contracting," he said. But the fact that Amazon can deliver an acceptable workspace in the cloud, one that can be turned on and off as needed, is a huge breakthrough in this industry."

The new relationship between IGEL and Teradici was no surprise, and it shows the future direction of IGEL, said Carl Gersh, director of sales and marketing at Forthright Technology Partners, a Miramar, Fla.-based solution provider and channel partner to both vendors.

Forthright Technology Partners partners with Citrix and VMware for remote desktop services, and is looking at Amazon WorkSpaces, Gersh told CRN.

The new IGEL-Teradici relationship is about customer choice, Gersh said. "If you are a customer, and want to have a hybrid infrastructure, you want to be open to different technologies," he said. "Citrix? IGEL works well with it. VMware? No problem. Amazon? Now you're covered with IGEL's integrated management and Teradici. IGEL is committed to making the right relationships, the right technologies, to be a part of customers' requirements."

IGEL is a convenient and secure software solution for endpoint computing, Gersh said. "It's no longer a Windows world," he said. "It's a hybrid world. And clients need secure workspaces."