Sphere 3D Corp. (ANY)

[ral4]

JB, thanks for the post. I'm not a techie - just have a decent position in the stock and like everyone trying to get an understanding of the technology. I'll have a crack at answering the questions and points below, and it would be great if you or any tech experts here could correct any errors or misconceptions I have


Glassware 2.0

Glassware 2.0 is designed to bring “any” application developed for a specific OS to any device. The company’s focus is predominantly to bring software or applications made for Windows, Linux, Android, and even Mainframe to Apple (Mac and mobile iOS devices), Windows (desktop and mobile devices) and Android devices (primarily mobile devices).

For the BYOD end user, it does not matter what hardware or OS they have. The device simply acts as a thin client, ie a graphical interface to an emulation session on the server. From the server side, I believe any application can be loaded on because glassware can emulate the hardware architecture needed to run the software.


The major differences between the existing vendors (Microsoft terminal services, Citrix as a delivery mechanism, Hyper-V and VMWare as a backend desktop virtualization are: ?

Its worth looking at an extract from Spheres patent application (Glassware Microsoft terminal services is also called Microsoft™ Remote Desktop Services) ;

“An emulation system operates to imitate a computer product in an emulation session. The emulation system can facilitate the emulation by translating and processing instructions into a format compatible with the emulated computer product. A system on which the emulator operates can be referred to as a host computer or an emulation server.
Common emulation systems include Microsoft™ Remote Desktop Services. The Remote Desktop Services operate based on the remote desktop protocol (RDP) to provide a graphical interface to a user device over a network connection. However, there are few tools that monitor and control RDP sessions.
Accordingly, there is a need for management and control of emulation sessions provided by emulation systems.”

Looking at VDI systems like Hyper-V, Vmware, they use hypervisor software to control multiple instances of software, and manage their access to hardware resources. Any software virtualized must be compatible with the underlying hardware.

With glassware, its not constrained in this way, because it can emulate different hardware architecture. And it does not need a hypervisor. Instead what regulates everything, and sets it a apart from other emulation delivery systems such as Microsoft™ Remote Desktop Services, is the use of an Administration Server to control the emulation session. This is a very important part of spheres technology. When an end user clicks the icon, the admin server will know what software is required and control what emulation environment and resources are needed. I believe the admin server also collects information from the end user while they are using the software in order to better optimize resources while the emulation session is taking place. The emulation session also provides a graphical interface and user input, so the end user device can function as a thin client.


Current virtualization technology is available for X64/X86 processor based systems; specifically, the current technology leaders virtualize Windows and Linux based software only ? Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environment is pre-designed specifically on a per-user basis as a fixed virtual machine (VM).

As discussed above, VDI systems can only virtualize software that compatible with underlying hardware architecture, for example X64/X86 processor based systems. Each user is assigned an individual instance of the software, and the hypervisor controls what access that particular instance has to hardware resources.

Sphere 3D dynamically builds its VM live per request per client. The design and delivery of Sphere 3D’s VM requires less than one minute to build the environment and deliver the application. ?

I don't understand why sphere is faster.

The bellwether virtualization vendors (VMWare, Citrix, Oracle, etc.) essentially create a template for an environment and utilize that as a starting point to activate VMs. These templates include all layers (hardware, OS and application) in one file. Changes in environment require creation of a new template. Sphere 3D has divided the hardware, OS and application into separate templates that unite to deliver the applications to end users almost instantaneously. ?

I don't understand this well enough to comment, but its worth looking at some of the drawings provided in the patent application to understand how sphere divides its system.

link to drawings

As a result, when a session is complete (i.e., user no longer needs access to application and data), the resources (hardware, OS, application) are released back to the hosting device. In comparison, the larger vendors run live VM sessions in anticipation of another session. This increases the cost of ownership and thereby cost per session to the end users. ?

The admin server is able to fully close of the emulation session, once the user is finished, releasing the systems resources. With other systems such as VDI, the hypervisor must always be running.

Within the enterprise market, Glassware 2.0 allows for an additional security implementation protocol, as the technology can be implemented as a virtual application appliance behind the enterprise firewall, creating a private cloud. ?

I don't understand why

We understand that Sphere 3D technology could achieve up to 10:1 hardware resources efficiency compared to current technology in use.

Again, I think this comes from the flexibility provided by the admin server controlling the session resources, and also due to the fact that glassware is designed to emulate individual applications without the need to virtualize whole operating systems. With Glassware, the end user is presented with a series of icons representing each individual application, similar to icons on an iPhone. With other systems, you often have to access applications through an operating system.