Thanks to the rise of the cloud, the way graphics-intensive applications are consumed is evolving rapidly. Instead of primarily running on a workstation, it’s now more common for IT organizations to deploy this class of applications on servers running in the data or in the cloud. The end result is that not only can more horsepower be thrown at these applications, the applications themselves become inherently more collaborative in nature.

To facilitate that process Teradici recently launched version 2.0 of PCoIP Workstation Access Software, which makes it possible for mobile computing devices to access those applications as well. As of today, Teradici is announcing that this latest remote access software offering is now being offered via its channel partners.

Typically, graphics applications are running the software that represents the most critical intellectual property any organization has. As the workforce gets more distributed, however, a larger number of people inside any organization need to have access to those files. The Teradici approach leverages the PC-over-IP (PCoIP) protocol it developed to provide remote access to files without requiring IT organizations to deploy a virtual private network (VPN). Both VMware and Amazon Web Services (AWS) already make extensive use of PCoIP to enable the delivery of desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) offerings.

Bob Johnson, vice president of Business Development at Teradici, noted that given the complexities associated with managing VPNs, there’s a major opportunity for solution providers to provide an alternative approach to enable secure remote access to graphic applications in a way that doesn’t tax network bandwidth.

In fact, IDC estimates there are more than 4 million workstations sold annually each year and, in terms of endpoints, workstations are the fastest-growing segment of the PC market, as the price differential between a workstation and a high-end PC is relatively nominal. Add on top of that all the users who need to interact with a graphics application only occasionally, and the number of potential uses of remote access software for graphics applications becomes considerable.

No matter how anyone looks at it, the way organizations work today is becoming more distributed. As the workflow inside organizations changes, the pressure increases on the internal IT organization to find a way to make mobile computing devices a natural extension of the enterprise. The opportunity for solution providers is to insert themselves into that conversation in a way that enables workflow to be distributed more easily without compromising the security integrity of the data center environment itself.