Exceed onDemand 7 Reduces Costs, Improves Remote User Experience

By DE Editors

A simplified deployment of Open Text Exceed onDemand 7.

The Open Text Connectivity Solutions Group (formerly known as Hummingbird Open Text; Waterloo, ONT, Canada) has announced the immediate availability of Exceed onDemand 7, the newest version of its application delivery platform that allows organizations to centrally distribute Unix applications to local or remote Windows and Linux workstations. With Exceed onDemand 7, companies can deploy and remote users can access MCAD, CAM, EDA, engineering/scientific research, geological exploration, and similar graphically complex applications over a WAN or the Internet yet experience  the throughput and responsiveness of LAN-like performance.

Exceed onDemand 7 is built on the company's Thin X Protocol, an adaptive protocol designed to intelligently throttle and compress network traffic, that is said to help provide up to 90 percent reduction in network traffic for faster throughput. Thin X works, in part, by reducing bandwidth requirements and compressing, caching, and optimizing X Window application requests so as to minimize the amount of data that has to travel across high-latency, low-bandwidth networks. It  automatically adjusts compression and optimization levels in response to network bandwidth, and it reduces the amount of X protocol requests making the roundtrip over your WAN, Internet, or LAN connection, both of which enhance performance for end-users. (For more details, down the “Architecture” PDF from the link below.)

Exceed onDemand 7 is built on the company's Thin X Protocol, an adaptive protocol designed to intelligently throttle and compress network traffic for a faster remote end-user experience.

Exceed onDemand offers  users the ability to suspend applications on one machine then later resume them on a different machine. It also automatically suspends active sessions, including the state of an application, in the event of a lost network connection. Further, desktop sharing enables users to collaborate on projects  in real time over the Internet without modifying their X window applications.

Miscellaneous features include support for SSL, SSH, and Kerberos security protocols; as well as native support for 64-bit architecture on selected platforms. Administrative and deployment features include support for cluster computing with automatic cluster failover, any-server access of a common license pool, and the ability to leverage user and group information in Microsoft Active Directory and LDAP. The Exceed onDemand Client can deployed using Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox web browsers.

Exceed onDemand is said to let remote end-users run OpenGL 3D X applications with near console-like performance.

According to the company, the new version of Exceed onDemand has been enhanced with a number of features that empower customers to consolidate their IT infrastructure and reduce the operational cost of their Unix applications. These enhancements include new compression algorithms that help improve application responsiveness and user experience, and support for server-side rendering, which enables users to achieve near-console-like performance of distributed high-end OpenGL 3D X applications. Exceed onDemand 7 also is to help reduce administrative overhead through integration with Microsoft Active Directory.

"Exceed onDemand can offer a quick return on investment to companies that rely on Unix applications," said Eugene Cherny, General Manager for Open Text's connectivity solutions, in a press statement. "It helps customers to reduce the number of application centers and replace expensive proprietary workstations, while enabling real-time team collaboration."

Exceed onDemand 7 is available immediately. For more information, go to the Open Text Connectivity Solutions Group.

Read why DE’s editors chose Exceed onDemand 7 as a Pick of the Week.

Access a PDF brochure describing the features and benefits of Exceed onDemand 7.

Open the Open Text “Architecture” PDF.

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Read a success story or two.

Go to the Open Text corporate website.