The state of connection brokering

Centralized computing is becoming increasingly accepted as an efficient and cost-effective way of deploying desktops in the enterprise, shining a light on the key technologies that make it all possible. Virtualization, for example, allows more than one user to run a desktop session on a centralized server. Another less discussed but perhaps more important component is connection brokering.

One major side effect of centralizing desktop resources is the disembodiment of the PC: The single unit sitting on the desktop is replaced by a small, often solid-state device at the desk that connects back to some sort of computer -- whether a blade, a 1U server or a virtual machine -- housed in the data center. What was one became at least two, but usually even a greater number of components.

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Centralized computing is becoming increasingly accepted as an efficient and cost-effective way of deploying desktops in the enterprise, shining a light on the key technologies that make it all possible. Virtualization, for example, allows more than one user to run a desktop session on a centralized server. Another less discussed but perhaps more important component is connection brokering.

One major side effect of centralizing desktop resources is the disembodiment of the PC: The single unit sitting on the desktop is replaced by a small, often solid-state device at the desk that connects back to some sort of computer -- whether a blade, a 1U server or a virtual machine -- housed in the data center. What was one became at least two, but usually even a greater number of components.

Click to see: Connection brokers as resource managers

Connection brokering traces its origins to allowing IT administrators to simplify the management of this centralized, "disembodied" PC. Clearly, policies had to be set determining which client device would connect to what server resource. This relationship management is primarily what the early connection brokers did.

The first generally available connection broker was released in 2003. The software allowed administrators to easily create mappings between edge devices and back-end host hardware. When users logged on to their client devices, they would find themselves magically attached to the right data center resource.

The designers of this early-stage brokering software found the new disembodied paradigm created some exciting opportunities. Because the connection to the CPU and storage occurred via IP, in the event of a failure, the broker could play the part of a failover manager, sending the user to a properly functioning resource rather than the initially allocated but now malfunctioning server or blade.

The architecture, in fact, is the equivalent of having a massive virtual KVM switch at your disposal, making it possible to switch from one session to another. This allows developers, quality-assurance engineers, financial-services traders and other power users to gain access instantly to almost unlimited compute power, all from a single, small desktop device.

As the notion of centralized PCs began to heat up, a healthy ecosystem of companies developing software for the market came about. In the interim, virtualization matured substantially and was rapidly entering the desktop arena, having proven itself in the server virtualization and quality-assurance facilitation segments.

Because virtual machines increasingly were being used as desktops running on data-center hardware, the need became paramount for software that could keep track of the myriad possible connections between virtual machines and thin clients. Thus, connection brokers became linked inextricably to the success of virtual machines as virtual desktops. To address the need, Citrix Systems, the longtime developer of thin-client and remote access software, announced its Virtual Desktop Infrastructure initiative as a solution that would integrate its thin-client software with virtualization and connection brokering.