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Liquidware gets the job of managing Amazon's cloud desktops

AWS has realised that desktop-as-a-service fleets need management too

Amazon Web Services has all-but-enlisted desktop virtualisation specialist Liquidware Labs to help manage its cloudy desktops-a-a-service.

Liquidware's schtick is monitoring desktop performance, either for the sheer joy of wallowing in action-suggesting metrics or to advance understanding of how to virtualise said desktops and then keep desktop virtualisation (VDI) rigs humming. The company thrives because VDI is useful for security reasons and can save money, but does require plenty of back-end infrastructure that can on occasion degrade the user experience if things aren't nicely tuned. Screaming users are not on the bullet point list of VDI benefits, so outfits like Liquidware fill a useful niche.

And not just for users: Liquidware co-founder Tyler Rohrer told The Register that a few months ago Amazon Web Services (AWS) came a-calling with an admission that it is struggling to encourage desktop to desktop-as-a-service migration.

“We spent the last nine months huddled together looking at different areas where we could bring our VDI expertise to their world.”

The result, to be revealed at AWS' Re:Invent conference this week, is that Liquidware's “Essentials” product can now wrangle WorkSpaces.

“If you are doing on-premises VDI and you like it, and using AWS for other elements, you are now at feature parity to go ahead and explore WorkSpaces,” Rohrer explained, adding that he feels the arrangement between the two companies makes WorkSpaces a genuine enterprise alternative.

Which he would say, of course. A more relevant observation may be that AWS' desktop ambitions are clearly burgeoning: it's recently added GPU-powered desktops, access from browsers and hourly pricing. Now it's offering would-be users a tight relationship with a company specialising in virtual desktop management. No wonder PC sales are drooping and Windows 10 growth has flatlined. ®

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