Sentillion vBusiness, a company that specializes in virtual call center solutions and related tools for teleworkers, recently made headlines in two separate product reviews from InfoWorld and Network Computing.
vThere is a packaged desktop virtualization
solution that allows remote and at-home workers—such as virtual call center agents—to access the corporate network at their company. The solution is made up of three parts: vThere Image Creator (creates distributable images), vThere Player (plays images on the user end), and www.vThere.net (Sentillion-managed Web site where users can securely obtain and download images).
In the InfoWorld report, reporter Randall Kennedy noted that the desktop virtualization market is now coming of age. He praised the innovation of Sentillion to address the needs of this market—specifically the ways in which vThere pushes the boundaries of what virtualized environments can offer.
Kennedy noted that vThere fits into a specific definition of virtualization solutions: it allows corporate applications and data to be run independently on a host-client system using discrete VM images. He gave vThere, which is available for $125 per seat plus $795 for vThere Image Creator, the highest ratings (9 each, out of 10) for scalability and value. Overall, he ranked the solution as “very good.”
In the InfoWorld report, Kennedy described Sentillion’s vThere as being “a well-rounded management solution with strong support for VPNs.” He further praised the solution’s use of the hosted model, which puts it at a competitive price point with VMware ACE.
Bill Silvey at Network Computing took a slightly different tact in his review of vThere, which he rated highly for its ability to deliver “a secure, isolated sandbox environment on a remote user’s desktop.” A sandbox system, he explained, is one in which a guest operating system runs on a host machine. The problem with this type of setup traditionally is that it only goes so far in protecting data from losses and security breaches.
“Sentillion addresses this problem with vThere Virtualization Suite 2.0, a guest hosting system that allows for remote control, configuration, and security management across a VPN
or WAN,” Silvey wrote in his article.
Key to vThere’s beefy security, Silvey said, is the solution’s Player, an emulated workstation that lives in its own space on the host computer. This means that, if a system reported “missing” logs onto the network, the administrator can immediately disable the remote image.
This security feature, Silvey said, is made possible because, for version 2.0 of vThere, Sentillion replaced VMware’s virtualization engine in favor of Player from Parallels. The two companies now work closely together, ensuring that the engine will keep working with vThere when updates are made to either product.
So there you have it—two different reviewers gave Sentillion’s virtual call center solution, vThere, high rankings for usability and security. To learn more about the solution, please visit Sentillion’s Virtual Call Center channel on TMCnet.com.
For more about virtual call center solutions, check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library. After perusing the library, make sure you hop on over to the Communications Developer Conference site to register and get additional info about the event (May 14-17, 2007 at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara, California)—where you can learn how to build the next generation of IP-based communications products and services.
Mae Kowalke previously wrote for Cleveland Magazine in Ohio and The Burlington Free Press in Vermont. To see more of her articles, please visit Mae Kowalke’s columnist page. Also check out her Wireless Mobility blog.
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