The virtual desktop space is an important aspect of the virtualization journey for many works paces, and as businesses seek out more ways to cut costs and increase productivity around IT management, virtualized machines provide a centralized system that can streamline a team or an entire office.  Pano Logic has its own unique take on virtualized desktops, and its constant strive has led it to another benchmark.

Pano System 4.5 is a new server-side software solution that “dramatically” improves end user performance, and extends multi-platform support for a couple new servers, including XenDesktop 5.  The upgrade expands the capacity of Pano’s virtual desktop, making for  seamless interaction and quality video views.

The update builds on Pano Logic’s Zero Client Desktop, an inclusive hardware and software solution.  Its patent-pending technology is central to Pano’s take on virtual desktops, holding firm to its ideals around eliminating endpoint management and security breaches.  Keeping the process as simple as possible, Pano enables endpoint devices with no processors, operating systems, memory or drivers–nothing to get in the way of you and your remote desktop.

It’s Pano’s goal to make endpoints mere commodities, “like a light switch, if you will,” Dana Loof, EVP, Worldwide Marketing explains.  “That’s why we ensure we won’t use any processing power, firmware…anything at the endpoint.  Once a user clicks the panel and logs in, their screen is running from the server rather than the device, immediately.”

The instantaneous login reduces a great amount of time employees spend just logging on and off computers.  For office managers, the gains in productivity trickle all the way down to IT, where they have only a virtual machine to manage, instead of one for every work desk, while the machine itself is energy-efficient and space-saving.  “It resolves a string of issues for IT guys,” Loof stresses.

In Pano’s efforts to maintain the endpoint as a commodity, the engineering team also had to preserve performance.  The core technology behind Pano Logic is a specialized solution, and the company’s been steady in its improvements.  With Pano 4.5, the team succeeded in what it set out to do, leading in speed tests performed by an independent party, The Sarrel Group.  This technical assessment firm pitted Pano against standard and upgraded thin clients and PCs found in offices, leading in real-time video experience.  Pano Logic was also found to require fewer server resources than corporate PCs, boasting the lowest CPU utilization and highest availability, keeping all its users happily productive.

Pano’s performance impressed Sarrel Group founder Matt Sarrel, who tells me the test went “very well, actually.  I was impressed.  A virtual desktop infrastructure is only good for certain things, but after testing [Pano 4.5] I’ve expanded my list of things.”

Pano’s on the up-and-up, seeking out new clients and building out its list of supported servers.  Finding ways to grow in a certain market is a challenge for any company, and for Pano I expect mobile to be an important hurdle, as tablets seep into the workspace.  See here for a recent case study we looked at, with a small-town library making big moves thanks to Pano’s virtualized desktops.