IGEL Set to Release Revamped EUC Platform with IGEL Cosmos, App Portal

Virtual desktop provider IGEL is previewing its revamped managed endpoint operating system, the IGEL Cosmos platform. IGEL unveiled Cosmos and the IGEL App Portal last week during its Disrupt23 partner and customer conference in Munich.

While IGEL periodically releases new versions of its flagship IGEL OS, Cosmos marks a significant architectural change in the platform. IGEL has broken apart its base operating system from its integrated applications and APIs, creating a more modular platform. Instead, Cosmos consists of three core components: the endpoint IGEL OS, its UMS management console and IGEL Cloud Services.

IGEL’s Dan O’Farrell

“Essentially, we have rearchitected our solution in that we have fully separated the base operating system from the applications,” IGEL VP of marketing Dan O’Farrell told Channel Futures. “And we’ve created a number of cloud-based services that complement the tasks and the experience of both IT and end users, one of which is the IGEL App portal.”

IGEL App Portal

The IGEL App Portal is similar to an app store. The initial applications available in the IGEL App Portal include the Citrix Workspace app, the IGEL Azure Virtual Desktop client, the VMware Horizon client, the Chromium browser, Zoom Media Plugins for VDI, ControlUp, CUPS printing system, SafeSign Identity client, SafeNet Authentication client and Cryptovision Scienterface.

O’Farrell indicated that IGEL aims to release the App Portal and Cosmos at its North America Disrupt Conference in Nashville. The event kicks off on April 3. At launch, O’Farrell anticipates that approximately 30 applications will be available. Ultimately, he expects the company’s ecosystem of 130-plus “IGEL Ready” partners will deliver their solutions in the new App Portal.

A More Modular OS

O’Farrell explained the importance of IGEL’s new modular architecture.

“Instead of waiting for IGEL OS release 11.6.250 in two or three months, we maintain the base operating system with occasional very small releases, just to keep it up to speed,” he said. “But application integration is now done separately from the operating system by our technology partners. And then they check it in. Then we do a security scan on it and present them to the IT administrators, what looks an awful lot like what you see on the Apple Store or Google Play.”

For example, O’Farrell said that if Citrix comes out with a new version of its Workspace app, IGEL immediately performs a security scan on it once the company checks it in. Then anyone operating IGEL’s Universal Management Suite (UMS) can assign the application based on policy.

“It allows for extreme flexibility and quickness when offering the latest version of the solution because we don’t do it all ourselves,” O’Farrrell said. “We’re highly dependent on our 130-plus technology partners now, but you no longer have to wait for a big monolithic software release. Now when one of our partners drops the new version in, you make it available. When available, it looks like a just-in-time model for applications and interfaces and protocols to keep the overall solution fully up to date, always available and with the latest capabilities.”

UMS 12 Upgrade

Besides the new IGEL OS 12, the Cosmos platform will include a new version of its UMS. IGEL UMS 12 has a new unified protocol that IGEL designed to improve security and performance. Also, IGEL replaced the Java-based console with a web interface. IGEL designed UMS 12 to let administrators manage endpoints with both IGEL OS 11 and the forthcoming IGEL OS 12. IGEL claims the new UMS release will support managing and controlling hundreds of thousands of endpoints. UMS will also provide the control plane for the App Portal and other cloud services.

Other IGEL Cloud Services will include the IGEL Onboarding Service to provision devices, and IGEL Insight Service. The latter will provide analytics based on telemetry that IGEL designed to aid infrastructure decision-making.

IGEL’s Matthias Haas

“All of this is the platform for the hybrid world,” IGEL CTO and managing director Matthias Haas told attendees during the introduction of the new IGEL Cosmos platform.

He added that the IGEL Insight Service will also help make user experience refinements.

“It will put us galaxies ahead of our competition. I’m very sure of that,” Haas said.