I love our Leostream customers. They’re a hard-working, friendly, collaborative group, and they come from some very hard-core industries. These companies run the gamut from oil and gas, financial services, healthcare, media and entertainment, and defense, to name a few.
I enjoy hearing their stories and learning how they use our software to enable their users to do complicated tasks. But, sometimes, it’s nice to talk to someone who isn’t responsible for keeping an airplane in the sky or correctly diagnosing a potentially terminal patient. Sometimes, you just want to have a little fun.
Enter remote gamers! Not just those playing the games, but those of you who build them, too.
Why is the moment right for VDI and remote gaming?
Just a few short years ago, I wouldn’t have considered writing this blog. Thankfully, times and technologies change and advance. Now, the features that enabled graphics-intense CAD and Oil & Gas applications to run in the cloud make it possible for gamers to move there, too.
What are those enhancements?
1) Public clouds now provide GPU-accelerated virtual machines
2) Remote display protocols have mastered how to use them
GPU in the Cloud and the High-Performance Protocol
The hardware to run graphics intense gaming systems is expensive. So, don’t buy it. Instead, essentially rent it from one of your cloud providers. AWS G3 instances, Azure GPU-enabled NVv2 instances, and Google Cloud Platform GPU instances provide access to different types of GPUs, so you can pick the model, cloud, and price point that works best for your application.
Of course, all the GPU in the world doesn’t matter if you connect to your machine using RDP. To actually play or develop your game, you need a high-performance display protocol that can render the action in real time. Streaming protocols, such as Parsec, are all the range amongst gamers, but you can take some pointers from your corporate cousins and try a client-based protocol.
Mechdyne TGX, HP RGS, and Teradici Cloud Access Plus all leverage the GPUs in these cloud-hosted instance types to maximize your remote performance. All display protocols have their ins and outs, so try out a few to see which works best for you.
Not just for those who play the games
Yes, the cloud now has everything you need for remote gaming and, as I mentioned, that includes building the games. Cloud environments are perfect for developers who need instant access to development and test environments.
Maybe you want to use some of the gaming tools that are provided by AWS or Azure. Or, maybe you leverage the Linux instances, containers, and other services in the cloud to build a custom development environment. Either way, the cloud is a fantastic place to develop and play, allowing you to build, scrap, retool, and regenerate your development and gaming environment quickly and easily, paying only for what you use.
Plus, with the cloud’s native anywhere-access feature, using the cloud makes collaboration a snap for distributed development. And, again, you have all those great display protocol options to choose from when it comes to connecting to your development environment.
The case for Leostream
Of course, the devil is in the details. To avoid cloud sprawl and to make sure only authorized users have access to your systems, you need a way to manage your development and gaming machines and connections. That’s where Leostream comes into play.
Because you may call it remote gaming, but at Leostream we simply call it VDI in the cloud.
Use any cloud you like and Leostream can automatically create and terminate machines. Use the display protocol that works best for your users, or even use multiple protocols, and Leostream can connect everyone as you decide. Leostream manages who has access to what and monitors your user’s session so you can track and limit compute costs.
It’s just another day in the life of Leostream. But, add in some remote gaming, and it’s a day that’s just a little more fun!