Splashtop has added 4K-quality streaming to its remote desktop support solutions. The new capability allows video editors, game developers, users of CAD or CAM software, and other people who perform processing-intensive tasks to remain productive from home even if they don’t have physical access to the high-end workstations they use at the office.
That’s especially relevant functionality now, according to Splashtop CEO Mark Lee, who notes that “stay at home” orders now in effect across much of the country make remote access the only way many creative professionals can connect with the powerful devices they normally rely on.
“We’ve heard loud and clear from our customers in industries such as media & entertainment and architecture & design that with so many of their employees now working from home, they need the ability to remotely edit 4K videos, develop games and work on CAD/CAM applications,” said Lee in prepared remarks. “This latest Splashtop enhancement meets the new work-from-home high-end video editing and 3D design needs of these firms—and continues our leadership in delivering the best-in-class, high-performance remote desktop solution for our customers.”
Though users of video-based and gaming applications have long figured prominently within Splashtop’s customer base, the technical challenges of streaming high-resolution imagery have previously made remotely editing videos, designing games, and creating complex 3D visualizations difficult. A new encoding and decoding engine designed to take advantage of hardware acceleration technologies from Intel, NVIDIA, and AMD, however, reduces CPU utilization by 50%, according to Splashtop, leaving more processing capacity for high-intensity activities like 4K streaming.
Users can in fact stream 4K images to multiple monitors at 40 frames per second, the company says, and perform iMac Pro Retina 5K streaming at low latency. A recent joint benchmark with NTT Docomo, according to Splashtop, achieved 37 frames per second in a 4G/LTE environment and 60 frames per second in a 5G environment.
4K graphics support is now available with Splashtop Business Access Pro, Splashtop Remote Support, and Splashtop On-Demand Support. Users can deploy those systems either on-premises or in the cloud.
Built-in security features include multifactor authentication, device authentication, and TLS/SSL encryption. Single sign-on integration is available as well with Microsoft’s Azure Active Directory and Active Directory Federation Services, as well as directory products from JumpCloud and Okta.
