Virtualization has enabled businesses of all sizes to get more out of their technology, while simultaneously reducing costs, and increasing productivity. One dream many business owners have is that they have the ability to access their Windows desktops from their phone or tablet. A recent announcement from virtualization giant VMware brings your Windows desktop to mobile devices.

In mid-March, VMware announced Unity Touch, an app that allows users to view, open, run and manage Windows files and applications on their Android and iOS devices.

What exactly is Unity Touch This app takes your existing Windows desktop and makes it more manageable and easier to use on mobile devices. This feature is part of the Horizon View offering from VMware which allows administrators to virtualize the desktop environment, and users to access their desktop from anywhere.

Unity Touch takes Horizon View desktops and makes them easier to use on a touchscreen device. When it's introduced, you will be able to log in to your desktop and access your files and applications.

How does Unity Touch improve desktop access on mobile devices? One of the most important parts of the Windows environment is the Start menu. It's what the majority of users use to access their files and run applications. On mobile devices that connect to a virtual desktop, space is limited, so having a full start menu just doesn't cut it. This app essentially makes the Start menu an 'app drawer' on the left-hand side of your screen - think of any screen where you can select apps on your mobile device.

There's a little tab, located in the middle part of the left-hand side of the screen that you can press to bring up a list of files and apps that you can scroll through. This list also functions as a kind of launch center where you can switch between open programs, close them or even manage files.

Will my business find it useful? If you travel lots, or have to be away from your computer and don't want to carry a laptop with you, this could be a solution for you. You do need to have a VMware Horizon View Desktop version 5.2, the Horizon View Client 2.0 installed on your mobile device, as well as an Android, iPad or iPhone.

If you are interested in accessing your desktop from a mobile device, contact us today. We can work with you to develop a solution.

In April 2011 VMware purchased SlideRocket, an online tool that lets users create and share presentations. By itself it’s a useful tool for users who give presentations, which let’s face it, is almost every business owner and manager. SlideRocket’s recent partnering with Google’s cloud storage app has provided users with an even more powerful way to share and collaborate on presentations.

Google has recently released its cloud storage and collaboration app, Google Drive. What does this have to do with SlideRocket? Well, SlideRocket’s full set of content authoring tools have been integrated into Google Drive. This means that users of SlideRocket can use Google Drive as another way to create, collaborate on, and store presentations.

Chuck Dietrich, Vice President of SlideRocket by VMware, commented, “Together with Google, VMware is helping individuals and businesses embrace new technologies for collaboration in the cloud era.” He went on to note that SlideRocket and Google Drive provide users with a great way to do just that.

If you use SlideRocket and would like to work with other users over Google Drive, simply log into both services with the same account and in Google Drive select Create and More followed by SlideRocket. Once you log in and integrate your accounts, you’ll have access to your presentations without having to log in to SlideRocket.

If you’d like to know more about how you can virtualize your business, or the different products offered by VMware, we’re ready to tell you more. Let’s talk virtualization.