Dell Releases Cloud Connect
The Dell Cloud Connect is essentially a thin client on a stick. This stick connects to any hardware device that has an HDMI port. At first, this may sound like a disadvantage as opposed to using a USB but the HDMI design has a distinct advantage that may not be realized at first glance. Since most modern televisions have an HDMI port, you would simply plug-in the stick into the HDMI port, tune your TV to the HDMI input and if you have a Bluetooth wireless mouse and keyboard, you will be presented with an Android 4.1.2 Operating System. This OS is not the full version but it does allow you to directly connect into VMWare, Citrix or RDP sessions with just a few clicks.
In less than 30 seconds, a user can access their resources from any television monitor that happens to be in proximity to a Wi-Fi connection. It’s really that simple. You can setup the stick to automatically connect to a VPN network for tunneled private network access. Using a VPN with this setup is recommended in order to ensure your data is encrypted.
The best part about Cloud Connect is that it only costs $129. The stick uses the Raspberry Pi hardware as well as flash memory that allows the operating system to be quick and responsive. Since the stick does not require an external power source, this solution is a green solution. Imagine your company has an Amazon workspaces portal that allows your users to dial into remote machines in the cloud. As opposed to using a thick client such as a desktop or laptop PC to connect, this HDMI stick takes the concept of a thin client to an entirely different level. The Dell Cloud Connect allows us to take additional steps in becoming hardware neutral on the user’s side. This even allows televisions to be turned into useful workstations from any place in the world.
