Why UniDesk
It is used to create,manage and depoly our VDI's. It is used across the organization.
Overview
What is Unidesk (Discontinued)?
Unidesk was a virtual desktop technology from the Massachusetts company of the same name, and acquired by Citrix. It has reached End of Life (EOL).
Recent Reviews
Pricing
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Unavailable
What is Unidesk (Discontinued)?
Unidesk was a virtual desktop technology from the Massachusetts company of the same name, and acquired by Citrix. It has reached End of Life (EOL).
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Alternatives Pricing
What is VMware Horizon?
A VDI solution used for the secure delivery of virtual desktops and apps from on-premises to the cloud. It is used to deploy, manage, monitor and scale desktops and apps across private, hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructure using a cloud-based console and SaaS management services.
What is Red Hat Virtualization (RHV)?
Red Hat Virtualization (formerly Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, broadly known as RHEV) is an enterprise level server and desktop virtualization solution. Red Hat Virtualization also contains the functionality of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Desktop in later editions of the platform.
Product Details
- About
- Tech Details
What is Unidesk (Discontinued)?
Unidesk was a virtual desktop technology from the Massachusetts company of the same name, and acquired by Citrix. It has reached End of Life (EOL).
Unidesk (Discontinued) Technical Details
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
|---|---|
| Mobile Application | No |
Comparisons
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Reviews and Ratings
(13)Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-4 of 4)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
October 19, 2015
UniDesk-Top player for me in desktop layer technology.
We are using Unidesk for persistent desktops for the entire organization for the users that demand virtual desktops. We find it so much easier and more efficient to use this layering technology to quickly spin up the virtual machines and assign the various layers to the desktops as we see fit. We are abstracting the desktops from the users so that if a desktop becomes corrupted for whatever reason, we simply assign them another one and do not worry about anything else since their data is on the network.
- Creating application layers is easy to do. It's just a matter of installing the applications as you would normally do on a computer.
- Unidesk's technology isn't sandbox like VMware's ThinApp technology so it works much better and is more compatible with other software.
- The admin console and technology in general is easy to learn for the administrator while it's transparent to the end users.
- Layering technologies still presents challenges in general. There are certain applications which are stubborn and do not work as intended so Unidesk keeps a library of "recipes" for many applications where it outlines specific ways or methods to install the applications so that it will work smoothly once it's assigned.
- There are limits to the amount of layers that can assigned and the more layers you have, the more complex and more chances of the various layers stepping on each other toes. It may also slow the virtual machines but it's not that noticeable.
- An application layer is tied to the OS that it's built from. So if you have two master OS images, you'll need to create separate app layers, one for each master OS, contrary to their claim.
- We've managed to cut down on maintenance costs, administrative time, and improve the user's experience.
October 13, 2015
Unidesk at a Midwest College
The application was used to quickly implement a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure to create Virtual Computer Labs for students. It allowed us to quickly create customizable computing environments.
- I really liked how easy it made it to create application layers.
- Unidesk also allow us to created various combinations of software to suit different types of classrooms.
- It's software version control made it easy to diagnose compatibility issues.
- I would have liked for it to make it easier to work on simultaneous adding software layers.
- Support on license/software authentication handling could be nice.
- I would have liked a sleeker user interface.
- Increased employee efficiency.
- Students really liked it.
- Issue resolution was significantly improved.
October 09, 2015
Unidesk is a win for persistent virtual desktop deployment.
Our Unidesk solution is being used to simplify virtual desktop management across a few different areas. On the backend the savings in increased disk efficiency and data-deduplication means that our SAN can handle a larger number of desktops and maintain much higher operational IO compared to traditional persistent virtual desktops. Additionally our staff who handle deployments are able to provision and ready a virtual machine in under 10 minutes a desktops with very little technical experience needed for the deployment.
- Increased efficiency of existing/new SAN infrastructure.
- Prompt and responsive support.
- Ease of deployment.
- Efficiencies in workflow transparent to the end-user.
- Disaster recovery options for the Unidesk solution are not easily accessible or require personalized attention from support.
- Issues when creating software layers do not always have a obvious fix. Make sure to look for and follow Unidesk's published "recipes."
- The software/OS layering introduced by Unidesk is not "sanctioned" behavior by Microsoft, and thus you're at the mercy of Unidesk's ability to keep up with widespread changes to operating systems.
- Storage density with Unidesk (via the use of OS/application layering) is 60-70% improved over standard persistent one-to-one virtual desktops.
- Unidesk virtual machines can be deployed in under 10 minutes by a lower tier of technician without the need to "touch" the vCenter hypervisor.
- Reliable performance across Unidesk virtual workstations. Added desktops/layers does not adversely effect performance nearly as bad as older persistent desktops.
While we implemented Unidesk through a VMware Horizon View front-end, VMware's actual holdings in persistent/non-persistent desktop deployment leans more towards the side of non-persistent desktop optimization. VMware Horizon Persona management and other tie-ins often cost more to use and are inexplicably much more difficult to configure properly. Likewise, VMware's support can be cumbersomely difficult to get a proper and timely response from.
We chose Unidesk out of the need to simply persistent desktop deployment and the prevent the exponential growth of SAN disk that it typically entails. VMware's products are a good solution, and in many cases a perfect fit for anyone looking to handle non-persistent virtual desktop deployment.
October 09, 2015
Quick full desktop deployment for new hires !
We are in the architect engineering service sector. Our users variy from general office to 3D Cadd/Revit. The best thing about Unidesk is reduced provision time for application assignments. It is used across two of our four offices. I've found Unidesk drastically reduces my time to deploy apps to new hires, and allows for various OS version assignments to different types of users. The other thing that is big is storage saving on our SAN - big ticket item for us.
- The various layers of applications allows me to pick and choose who gets what easily. The best part is these layers can be updated and re-assigned across desktops upon reboot.
- Occasionally if a desktop is left on for too long some weird things happens. For example, the desktop is no longer recognized in AD - it could be AD, removal, etc., but I have checked all these. Refreshing and restoring the VM seems to solve the problem. This happened more than once.
- We have redundancy (two) connection brokers - Unidesk has trouble from time to time knowing which one to use it seems.
- The rebuild takes too long when the VM is larger. Users would reboot their desktop as a normal routine and they call to reboot thinking their VD is down when it was just taking its time to rebuild the layers (anywhere from 5 to 15 mins. Mostly 15mins).
- Saves on space.
- Reduces IT time on app assignments/provision.
Unidesk goes beyond just apps. That's the difference.