A New Moon for Windows Terminal Services

In reviewing Windows Server 2003 last month, I reminded you that Windows Terminal Services was first introduced with Windows NT 4 and was based on work done by Citrix. So you’d expect that one of two statements would currently apply:

1) After more than five years, WTS does everything I want it to do.

2) After almost 10 years, Citrix is the best company to deliver the missing parts in WTS.

The first statement is definitely wrong, but the second one might be also.

New Moon Systems wrote the book on WTS. Well, to be honest, it sponsored the book – “Windows 2000 Terminal Services” by Greyson Mitchem, published by realtimepublishers.com.

You can get it free at https://www.newmoon.com/products/ebook/ but don’t stop with just the free book. New Moon this week is releasing Version 2 of its Canaveral iQ (iQ2) system, which adds needed functionality to WTS and does it for 40% to 60% less than Citrix.

IQ2 fully supports Microsoft Windows Server 2003, building on the latest features of Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) such as True Color and audio support, serial port redirection and improved network performance.

Among the new features of iQ2 include intelligent file association, advanced desktop publishing (that’s publishing of the Windows desktop configuration, not printing 4-color flyers!), and location-based application launch settings such as printer mapping. The latter is important when you have a mobile computing force with people moving from platform to platform and location to location. The policy-based provisioning in iQ2 looks at not only who the user is, but where they are and what computer they are using.

In addition, location-based security policies and single port firewall traversal make server farm management more secure. An iQ2 server can act as a “reverse-proxy” device to mask the location of your actual terminal servers and protect them from hacker and cracker probes. Or two or more can do this in a load-balanced, clustered-for-redundancy arrangement to provide 24-7 uptime while smoothing out performance spikes. You can’t do that with WTS right out of the box! Canaveral iQ2 is entirely redundant, with no single point of failure, providing high availability and reliability for your network-enabled business.

There’s a lot more to iQ2, which should ship in about 30 days. If you’re heading to Microsoft’s TechEd in Dallas be sure to stop by the New Moon booth for a full demonstration. If you won’t be in Dallas, watch the New Moon Web site for an opportunity to “try-before-you-buy” with iQ2.