TrimCloud: An Analysis of a SaaS Hypervisor Solution to Traditional VDIs

Virtual desktop infrastructures (VDIs) are a system on a server platform that hosts multiple virtual machines (VMs). Traditionally, VDIs are on-premise and thus are completely supported and maintained internally by an organization; hence, they can be costly and inefficient to maintain and support. In this paper, TrimCloud is proposed as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution to on-premise VDIs by reducing the costs, labor, and the worries of installing, implementing, and maintaining a VDI. TrimCloud, which uses the VirtualBox program as its hypervisor, delivers isolated virtual environments through the cloud using OpenVPN for added security. The TrimCloud Web App offers a point of access where the client manages the administrative duties including selecting the specifications for their virtual machines. The prototype implementation of TrimCloud is currently available at the TrimCloud website. This paper examines the capabilities, advantages, and limitations of using the SaaS solution TrimCloud. TrimCloud: An Analysis of a SaaS Hypervisor Solution to Traditional VDIs