Aqua Connect

Aqua Connect Inc., is an IT company based in Los Angeles, CA. They are the first company to provide terminal server software for the Mac platform. [cite web |url= http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/article.php/31771_3684401_3 |title=Apple Developer Conference |publisher=Datamation |date=2007-06-20]

The company has two products at this time: Aqua Connect Terminal Server 2.0 for the Mac OS 10.4 Tiger platform and Aqua Connect Terminal Server 3.0 for the Mac OS 10.5 Leopard platform. [cite web |url=http://www.macworld.com.au/news/view/810/ |title= Aqua Connect Terminal Server Supports Leopard |publisher=Australian MacWorld |date=2008-09-28] They are one of the only companies to offer access virtualization for the Mac. [cite web |url= http://blogs.zdnet.com/virtualization/?p=296 |title= Aqua Connect Access Virtualization for Mac OS X|publisher=ZDNet |date=2007-12-10]

There is an emerging IT market of terminal services and access virtualization for the Mac OS X. VMWare and Parallels, for example, offer access virtualization products that replicate the Mac OS X experience to remote users. Aqua Connect differs from these products in that the software shares application resources to all users through a terminal server instead of completely replicating the full application to an end user. [cite web |url= http://www.brianmadden.com/blog/GabeKnuth/Aqua-Connect-Terminal-Server---RDP-Terminal-Services-for-the-Mac
title= RDP Terminal Services for the Mac|publisher=Brian Madden Company |date=2008-09-24]

For the 3.0 version of the Aqua Connect Terminal Server, Aqua Connect licensed Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol server for the Mac OS X platform. [cite web |url= http://www.dabcc.com/article.aspx?id=8691
title= Aqua Connect Releases Terminal Services Solution for the Mac|publisher=DABCC |date=2008-09-25] This development meant that Microsoft's own technology was licensed to remotely connect Window's based machines to a Mac OS X server.

History

Aqua Connect was founded in the spring of 2007 by the current CTO, Joseph Cohen. The first version of the Aqua Connect Terminal Server, known as “ACTS” for the Mac OS X’s “Tiger” platform, was produced in 2007. Cohen earned his Novel CNE certification at age 14 and receiving his Microsoft certification at 16. In 1996, Cohen founded computing, networking, and telecommunications consulting businesses. In 2005, Cohen founded Band-UX. One year later, Cohen founded Steelcape, a network security solution provider. He is the past Vice President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Network Professionals Association (NPA) and was named one of the Los Angeles Business Journal’s 30 Entrepreneurs Under 30. [cite web |url= http://www.mactech.com/news/?p=1010001
title= Aqua Connect Terminal Server 2007.2|publisher=Mac Tech |date=2007-11-19]

Paul Fiore, co-founder and CEO of Digital Insight, was added to the Board of Directors on September 3, 2008. [cite web |url= http://socaltech.com/aqua_connect_adds_digital_insight_s_fiore_to_board/s-0017183.html
title= Aqua Connect Adds Digital Insight's Fiore to Board|publisher=So Cal Tech |date=2008-09-03]

Technology Overview

The Aqua Connect Terminal Server software uses terminal emulation to deploy the OS X desktop to diverse hardware. The software allows multiple users to remotely connect from anywhere to a centralized Mac OS X Server. The software is installed on either an Intel or PPC based Mac OS X server (ACTS 3.0 can only be installed on an Intel Server). The users connect to the server and run their applications while being isolated from one another. Users may connect using a variety of devices. Any device that is Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), Virtual Network Computing (VNC), or X11 compatible may connect to Aqua Connect. Devices such as Mac desktops and laptops, PCs, smart phones, iPhoes, and thin clients such as Sun Ray and Bosa Nova are an example of compatible clients.

The terminal server software developed by Aqua Connect focuses performance to multiple cores of a server. The use of multiple cores will allow application to run faster and perform more reliably. The Aqua Connect Terminal Server will perform better with 4x2Ghz than it will on 2x3Ghz. [cite web |url= http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/09/04/aqua-connect-brings-thin-client-terminal-services-to-mac |title= Aqua Connect Brings Thin Client Terminal Services to Mac|publisher=Ars Technica |date=2007-09-04]

Terminal Server vs. Access Virtualization

Terminal Server technology has been available for the Windows operating system since July of 1996. Terminal Services for Windows was first included with Windows NT 4.0. Aqua Connect was the first company to create Terminal Server technology for the Mac operating system almost ten years after the Windows Terminal Server was available. A Terminal Server is a hardware or server that allows for multiple terminals to connect to the centralized server or hardware. These connections can come from a variety of devices who can remotely connect to the server or hardware through an internet connection. [cite web |url= http://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid183_gci213123,00.html|title= What is a terminal server?|publisher=Tech Target |date=2007-02-23] The Aqua Connect Terminal Server is considering server software technology. It is installed onto a server and not client hardware. Client hardware connects to the server that has the Aqua Connect software installed on it.

Since all configuration files and applications are stored and maintained in one central OS X server, the Aqua Connect Terminal Server is intended to reduce IT overhead in the following areas. [cite web |url= http://www.thinclientsupport.org/|title= Aqua Connect Terminal Server|publisher=Thin Client Support |date=2007-11-12] :

*Maintenance
*Licensing costs
*Networking costs
*Energy costs
*Energy consumption

The terminal server allows administrators to control user activities to secure a stable desktop environment. [cite web |url= http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=726380#post726380|title= User Controls|publisher=Mac Forums |date=2008-09-15]

Since a variety of clients may be used, inexpensive devices may still run the OS X platform and applications by connecting with Aqua Connect. Thin clients that may not have the technical specifications to run certain application will still be able to do so with the software. [cite web |url= http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9110980|title= Aqua Connect Helps Macs, Others Share Desktop Apps|publisher=Computer World |date=2008-07-30]

By streaming Aqua Connect sessions, a more secure work environment is created by locking down hardware and disabling local ports such as USB so information can only be accessed through user sessions. This will allow for the secure storage of all confidential information on the server and not on individual desktops.

References