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Central Standard

Virtual Desktop Computers

Today’s show includes a segment on how Boulevard Brewing Company deployed virtual desktop computers throughout its brewhouses.

A virtual desktop computer is like a conventional computer, with a monitor, keyboard, and other peripherals. But the computer unit itself (the part that stores files and runs programs) isn’t located near the peripherals. Instead, it’s housed in a data center. This allows computer hardware to be used more efficiently, because one server computer in a data center can function as several “virtual machines.”

For someone who sits at a desk and uses a virtual desktop computer, how do the monitor, keyboard, and other peripherals located at the person’s desk connect to a virtual machine in a data center?

In Boulevard’s case, the peripherals are connected to a Panologic zero-client device, which acts as a conduit between the peripherals at the person’s desk and the virtual machine in a data center. The peripherals are plugged into the zero-client device just as they would be plugged into a conventional computer unit. And the zero-client device is connected to a virtual machine in a data center via ethernet cable.

To learn more about Boulevard’s use of this technology, take a listen to the segment.

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Central Standard technologycomputers