Gaming graphics gets enterprising

The cloud brings a new reality to that old saying: `a picture is worth a thousand words’. Anyone who has seen YouTube is likely to have seen video clips showing how any number of tasks can be done. No longer is it necessary to read a sometimes badly-written paper manual, for jobs can be accomplished by simply following the lead of the person on-screen.

But with the best will in the world, however, the quality of the images on YouTube can leave something to be desired for many business uses. And in addition, high quality video images can consume large amounts of bandwidth. This creates something of a conundrum for any business looking to deliver high quality video and other images, quickly and without loss of quality.

This has now become the target for OnLive, a US-based firm providing cloud gaming and computing services. Its solution is CloudLift Enterprise, a new cloud-based Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS). This exploits techniques developed to delivered high quality gaming experiences to multiple end users, but is now particularly suited to delivering latency-sensitive Graphics Intensive Applications (GIAs) over nearly any network to a wide array of thin clients including tablets, mobile devices and Mac and PC laptops.

Commonly used mobile devices and laptops have limited CPU/GPU processing and memory available, and are not able to run demanding applications. As a result, resource-intensive apps can only be accessed from expensive, high-powered PCs. Defense and Aerospace, Engineering (CAD/CAM/CAE), Automotive and Healthcare are all sectors that rely on GIAs. They typically struggle with hardware constraints, porting costs and interoperability issues of the ever-growing collection of portable and mobile client devices when delivering enterprise-level applications to employees in the field, or anywhere away from their high-end computers.

CloudLift Enterprise solves these problems for any sector by securely streaming applications from either a private on-premises datacentre, or from OnLive’s fully managed, hosted cloud, to the full range of possible users’ devices.

The applications and data reside in the secure datacentre and only pixels are streamed to end users’ devices, protecting applications and data from piracy and malicious use. OnLive’s platform constantly monitors changing network conditions, including throughput, latency and packet loss, and automatically adapts the pixel stream to provide a consistent and stable video and audio stream to end users, instantly.

The result is a highly responsive, visually crisp experience that feels local. It is, however, delivered on an array of end-point devices, for a wide variety of applications and variable network conditions. Efficiencies across the solution allow for network bandwidths as low as 2Mbps to still deliver the required user experience.

Using CloudLift Enterprise, for example, a government or energy company worker can access and process raw seismic data remotely, from a tablet or other mobile computing device, in the field. Officers on board military aircraft carriers can quickly and reliably troubleshoot system malfunctions by consulting 3D walkthroughs that are right in front of them, instead of having to consult a centralised computer system several decks away. A financial analyst can visualise derivative pricing options and change market strategies, on the train home before the market opens in China.

Other applications include training simulations, drone piloting software, medical imaging software, design and architecture programs, and latency-sensitive video games, which have served as a proving ground for OnLive’s patented technology. OnLive CloudLift Enterprise also features a simplified on-boarding process that supports off-the-shelf SKUs of the most sophisticated software packages.  

“Enterprises have told us that it is frustrating to build and deliver high-end applications for thin clients and remote devices given their hardware constraints. They want to provide spectacular real-time graphics, and responsive, fluid experiences regardless of the devices their audience chooses to use,” said Mark Jung, Executive Chairman, OnLive. “OnLive CloudLift Enterprise frees developers from these limitations by allowing them to stream their applications to a wider variety of devices, enabling them to connect to more consumers.”

OnLive CloudLift Enterprise is available as an on-premises solution or as a fully managed and hosted solution in OnLive’s datacentres, which to date have delivered four- years of uninterrupted, customer-facing service. OnLive CloudLift Enterprise is being launched in the U.S. and Western Europe and supports multiple client platforms, including Windows, iOS, Android and Mac.