Cloudtop. Google's virtual desktop tool

Cloudtop. Google's virtual desktop tool

Google has the Cloudtop virtual desktop software that employees use to access internal software, which is a useful solution for companies wanting to keep their employees productive while working from home during the spread of the Coronavirus.

However, when cloud customers request Google for a virtual desktop solution, the company refers them to third-party solutions instead.

Google's approach contrasts sharply with market leaders Amazon and Microsoft, both of which have their own virtual desktop services, and both have seen a slight increase in use during the pandemic.

For the many companies moving to remote work on a large scale for the first time, relying on cloud providers to handle the infrastructure is easier than keeping administrators on site to manage servers or send computers to new employees.

After Zoom saw an increase in new customers during the pandemic, the video calling platform company has subscribed to more than 1,000 Amazon WorkSpaces virtual desktops for help desk employees.

AWS said in May: TC Energy, the oil and gas pipeline operator, has subscribed to Amazon WorkSpaces so employees can safely work from home.

For Microsoft, the boom was so great that the CEO mentioned it when he spoke about the company's quarterly earnings in April.

"Use of Windows Virtual Desktop has tripled this quarter, as organizations deploy virtual desktops and applications across Azure to enable secure remote work," he said.

Google Cloudtop was first made available to employees in 2017, and it aims to help them create software, interact with internal systems, and communicate through IRC.

The service offers Linux and Windows desktops, which can be useful for testing source code.

Google published a research paper on its virtual desktop software in 2018, and more than 25 percent of its employees use virtual desktops.

Google has also moved the software to the public cloud instead of the company's infrastructure to improve user experience and reduce total cost of ownership.

A Google spokesperson said: The company recognizes the growing demand for virtual desktops as people work remotely, but is not currently planning to offer Cloudtop as a cloud service.

Instead, the company is prioritizing third-party offerings in the virtual desktop market.

The spokesperson added: Promoting products from partners gives customers the ability to expand the technologies they use in their data centers to the public cloud, and customers will not be limited to our service.