HP Inc slurps Teradici to get better at delivering remote PCs

Apparently quite a few people haven't been in the office as much lately

HP Inc has acquired remote PC specialist Teradici.

Teradici's best trick is PC-over-IP (PCoIP), software that makes PCs remotely accessible by streaming whatever would be on their screens. The company's approach means that no data moves over networks – just bitmaps.

The tech is well regarded and can point to one ringing endorsement as a presence behind Amazon Web Services' "Workstations" desktop-as-a-service product.

Although the privately owned company has never broken out revenue, it is thought to be below $50m, making it a minnow in the desktop virtualization market that has come to be dominated by the likes of Citrix and VMware.

Now HP Inc thinks there's plenty of upside in Teradici because it has noticed a certain pandemic has made remote work rather more popular.

In the canned statement announcing the deal, HP Inc cites data predicting 17 per cent compound annual growth rates for remote desktop software until 2028, thanks to shifts that will see roughly two-thirds of the workforce work remotely at least three days a week.

HP Inc already sells a product called "ZCentral Remote Boost" that offers remote access to its workstations. HP's canned statement also mentions combining that with Teradici's wares to deliver "a broader remote compute platform that spans on-premise and cloud solutions from any type of device, including macOS, public clouds, and iPad and Android tablets."

If HP Inc can do that, it'll match VMware and Citrix in terms of possible target clients, and hope that Teradici's pixels-only approach is as good a story as its rivals' application publishing and security smarts. Microsoft is another competitor as the software behemoth recently announced it will deliver Windows desktops-as-a-service.

The deal is scheduled to close in Q4 2021. Neither party has disclosed how much money will change hands. ®