How Improved Audio Video Communications & Optimized Methods Can Rescue Your Organization

A Pandemic Rescue for the New Norm

Life as we know it right now will not be changing anytime soon. How many times have we heard it? The "new norm." And it's true, it is a new normal, but a pandemic does not have to ruin your organization's bottom line.

Audio Video Communications: Are Webcams, Headsets, and Mics Now Standard With VDI?

If you've found yourself faced with having to send a large number or even all employees home in order to work-from-home and maybe rather fast - the setup, functionality, and quality of their audio and video connections for virtual/conference meetings have the potential to keep things operating smoothly. But, you've got to get to that point, and very often, quickly.

The away-from-office VDI workstation now not only has a monitor, keyboard, and small Thin/Zero Client, but webcams, headsets, and mics are immediately a standard part of setup. Not sure if you are even aware, although most IT Professionals will be, but the support of related remote management hardware - webcams, headsets, mics, etc., is available and possible, and can save your organization if put into place, so that business can go on as usual in an unusual time.

With virtual desktop infrastructure and Thin & Zero Client endpoints, communications from home to office, from country to country, or from right down the hallway can be remote, high quality, and reliable - in or out of the Cloud.

What Do I Need for VDI Audio Video Communication Support?

Historically, the problem with webcam audio functionality via traditionally used USB redirection support has been bandwidth, in that it consumes too much. Most webcams send uncompressed images over USB at a high frame rate. Audio functionality was always done via USB redirection as well. The quality of audio using USB redirection (in or out) depends greatly on network conditions and guest load, etc. USB redirection is not the ideal solution choice.

Many of us right now are set up in a virtual desktop environment using Thin & Zero Client endpoints and VMware and Citrix platforms, or planning to be. For VDI solutions like this, there are generally two types of approaches for supporting webcam and audio functionality that can keep your organization up-and-running.

How Do I Get Improved Remote VDI Audio Video Communication?

No matter what communication platform (Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Skype for Business, etc.) you plan to use, it is useful to establish if the platform supports VDI and related protocols such as VMware and Citrix.

For VMware Horizon users, Real-Time Audio-Video (RTAV) support does not forward audio and webcam devices using USB. Instead, devices are left local to the Client, and audio/video streams are pulled from the local devices and then encoded and decoded between the Client and virtual desktops in a compressed format. This method results in much better bandwidth usage, allowing this feature to scale across many desktops. For Citrix users, the same process applies using HDX RealTime Compression.

This above technique is generally used when native plugins are not available, and webcams and audio devices may still be used and offer improved user experience over USB redirection.

Some communication vendors often support VDI by using plugins, which are installed to both the Client and virtual desktop. These plugins shift the audio and video streams away from the virtual desktop and directly to and from the Client device. This reduces load at the virtual desktop, as well as reduces latency. It also eliminates the hair-pinning effect which occurs by other non-optimized methods, which otherwise forward audio and webcam streams from the Client to the virtual desktop.

Can I Leverage 10ZiG From Home-To-Office Optimized Audio Video Communications?

10ZiG has the ability to support all features mentioned above. We offer Thin & Zero Clients for VMware and Citrix, as well as other leading VDI vendors using Linux and Windows 10 IoT based platforms on x86 Intel/AMD hardware. Add in The 10ZiG Manager™ Console, and the functionality of your organization is saved!

If you are struggling with any of the above and interested in an endpoint provider that provides top-quality VDI endpoints, software, service, and warranties, consider a 10ZiG no-obligation, free demo trial.

You can reach us at sales@10zig.com or +1 (866) 865-5250 for a no-cost consultation and/or get your FREE demo.