 GRANITEPILLAR
Technology
At GranitePIllar we receive more inquiries about our technology
than anything else. Not as much how we deliver the service
but rather the specifics of how the technology can meet
a specific case. How do users interact, what does content
look like, how many virtual machines do I need; the list
goes on. In the years
we have been delivering this service we have
been exposed to most of the questions and most of the use
cases this industry requires. In this secion we will try
to answer many of the common questions and explain how our
system layout can help you meet your business needs.
THE CONSOLE
To provide the most scalable and manageable system we can;
we have built our offering using the Microsoft® .NET
framework. This allows us to extend, support, and adapt
our offering to meet the needs of our customers. Everything
is modular and can be moved or styled for a specific purpose.
The idea is to accomodate the brand identity of our customer
so the console appears to be an extension of our customer's
offering.
The image to the right is our
default GranitePillar console. It can be used in its generic form or modified to match the logos and colors of your own campaign. The area surrounding
the desktop image is all modularized and can be moved or changed to accomodate your unique needs. | 
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CONNECTING USERS
Within the console users access session virtual machines, lab resources,
content, support materials, rich media, or almost anything
that can be displayed in a browser. Since Internet Explorer
is used as the main window we enjoy most of the same flexibility
of any webpage including rich media formats such as flash.
When we connect users to our system we provide an isolated environment
that is uniquely theirs. We provide every user with a configured
sandbox of sorts that provides them great flexibility
in a safe and manageable environment. By doing this we can
reset a single student instance, provide custom support,
and any changes made are only visible by that user connection.
The diagram below shows several users connected to a single
master virtual machine yet each in a private "instance" of
that machine.
| Whatever
a user does within their session is unique and isolated
to them. This provides security for the overall system
but it also provides a predictable isolated environment
for the user to work in. With administrative tools
we are able to share connections for tutorials or support
if needed. And when the user is done with their session
it is deleted and a new session is made available for
the next user. |
As you can see with this connection model many different users can use
the same configured machine, minimizing the amount of
work needed to create new demos or labs for the market and
the number of machines you need to manage.
ADMINISTRATION
Our Verlay administration site allows the content owners to
pull reports and session data as needed. With online tools
you are able to see which images are being used and if needed
interact with users in real-time. The adminstration site
can be as robust as needed, from full session management
such as loading new content and materials or changing site
wording to something much more simple such as reporting
access only.
When all the pieces come together you have an extendable virtual machine
management tool that can provide a cost effective method
to support customers, students, testers or a sales team.
Launch a session now to see it in action.
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see
it in action
All content is copyright 2004, Granite Pillar. Contact info@granitepillar.com.