CES: Texas Instruments and Teradici team up on mobile VDI

LAS VEGAS: Semiconductor firm Texas Instruments (TI) has enlisted the help of Teradici Corporation on a project to bring VDI workstations to the Android mobile platform.

The two firms demonstrated a series of working prototype devices at CES 2012, outlining the platform that will allow mobile users to remotely connect with servers and access a virtualised desktop instance.

In the demonstration, engineers set up an Android tablet in Las Vegas which was able to connect to and run in real time a virtualised machine served by a system in British Columbia, Canada.

Utilising the VMWare View platform, the client runs on a separate Linux layer within the mobile device and allows users to run their own local applications.

Miranda Alldritt, software product manager for Teradici, told V3 that use of the thin client keeps corporate data from being compromised when a device is lost or stolen.

"It is only delivering pixels to the client endpoint," Alldritt explained.

"No corporate data is ever on the client, there has never been any corporate data written to it."

The companies said that both the hardware and software had been optimised to work with one another. Teradici engineered its PC-over-IP software to run with the TI OMAP 4460 processor architecture.

While the platform appears to display its greatest potential in the tablet space, Alldritt noted that the availability of a VDI could also benefit handset owners.

"There is a shortage of real estate with phones," said Alldritt, "but being able to plug your phone into a monitor and have a VDI is very cool."