News

Cameyo's Virtual App Delivery Service Now Supports Linux Apps

• By Kurt Mackie
• 12/07/2022

Cameyo on Wednesday announced that its Virtual App Delivery service now supports Linux applications, expanding from Windows apps support.

The Cary, N.C.-based virtualization services provider already lets organizations bypass traditional virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) or desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) approaches with Windows by letting organizations run Windows apps as progressive Web apps in a browser. Now, Linux applications can be accessed through Cameyo's service, too.

Moreover, Cameyo suggested that organizations can reap cost benefits with the Linux support, especially for those Linux apps that do not require using a Windows server.

Cost Reductions for Linux Apps
Cameyo contends that running apps on Linux servers is "50% less than that of Windows servers," and pointed to this cost analysis by AWS consulting company Parquantix. Also, some Linux apps apparently have had Windows server dependencies, and Cameyo for Linux can reduce costs in those cases.

A testament to that notion was had from San Jose, Calif.-based Sanmina Corp., which claimed to be able to avoid certain Microsoft licensing costs with Cameyo for Linux, according to Mario Zúñiga, Sanmina's IT director, in a released statement:

Now with Cameyo for Linux, we're able to deliver several of our internal web apps on Linux servers instead of Windows servers. Because of the efficiency of Linux, Cameyo for Linux will allow us to serve more users per server. This also eliminates the need for RDS CALs, which dramatically reduces the cost of our digital workspace initiatives while giving us more flexibility.

Currently, the Cameyo for Linux service supports apps that run on Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS and CoreOS Linux operating systems, according to Robb Henshaw, the company's cofounder and chief marketing officer.

Cost Reductions for Windows Apps
Windows apps costs can be reduced with Cameyo's service because of the nature of its Virtual App Delivery service, which isn't a VDI or DaaS service. It can be used without hosting a desktop operating system. All that's needed is an HTML5 browser, and it'll work on any device, Henshaw explained.

Organizations possibly can avoid paying costs associated with Microsoft Active Directory, plus Remote Desktop Services (RDS) Client Access License costs, using Cameyo's Virtual App Delivery service.

It's a bit nuanced on the Windows side, though. Here's how Henshaw explained it, via e-mail:

For organizations that are providing all of their people access to Windows apps (on any device) via Cameyo's Virtual App Delivery platform, Microsoft RDS licensing still applies. And with the fully-hosted version of Cameyo, which runs in either Google Cloud or Microsoft Azure, the per user/per month cost includes the cost of the RDS CALs. Organizations can also self-host Cameyo in any cloud, hybrid, or on-premises environment of their choice, and in self-hosted scenarios the organization is responsible for the cost of the RDS CALs themselves.

Cameyo just makes it simpler to use hosted Windows apps, and organizations can use any device and avoid the "cost and complexity of legacy virtual desktop infrastructure," Henshaw added.

Another front for reducing traditional VDI costs concerns roaming profiles. Cameyo announced in October that it received a second patent on its Temporary User Profiles technology that maintains user session information without the typical VDI dependencies of "Active Directory, roaming users' profiles, network drive mapping, VPNs, and more."

Service Options
The Linux support in Cameyo's Virtual App Delivery service broadens options for organizations, which may be using a combination of Windows and Linux apps, and they can possibly avoid some Microsoft licensing costs on the Linux side.

"Cameyo now provides one single, streamlined Cloud Desktop platform where IT can publish all of their apps in the most efficient way -- Windows apps on Windows servers (with the resulting RDS CAL costs), and everything else being delivered on Linux servers so that RDS CAL costs aren't incurred where not needed," Henshaw said.

Organizations can use Cameyo's hosted service, where it handles the maintenance and licensing details, or it can "self-host" their apps using Cameyo's platform via "any other cloud of their choice, hybrid cloud, or on-premises environments," where they take care of the maintenance and licensing details, Henshaw explained.

Cameyo provides global support for both its hosted and self-hosted services, including service-level agreements (SLAs). In cases of downtime caused by a Cameyo server issue, "Cameyo will reimburse a percentage of the service fee," Henshaw said.