One topic was clear to us at Siggraph - HP Anyware disappearing is causing a lot of angst among the VFX and 3D graphics professionals who depend on it. HP Anyware is the rebranding of Teradici. The industry has come to depend on Teradici as the go-to solution for remote access to workstations, especially Linux ones in VFX. Without the product, teams are going to have to switch the way they work, develop different infrastructure, or find a new partner for remote access. The anxiety over this was loud and clear at Siggraph.
Customers come to depend on software, especially when it allows them to make different infrastructure choices. Pipelines and ways of working were designed around always having access to GPU workstations when a VFX artist, animator, or 3D graphics specialist needed the workstation. There was a wave of remote access acquisitions following the COVID lockdowns. Parsec, Citrix, Omnissa (VMWare Horizon), and Teradici were acquired by strategics and PE firms. Since then, the buyers have slowed investments, reduced team sizes, increased prices, and shutdown once leading products to service debt or generate profits that justify the price paid to acquire the businesses.
The end result is industries having to think differently about their ways of working. These access tools were designed to increase freedom, and now they’re causing panic because people may not have access to them in the future. Despite that, workflows were designed and infrastructure decisions were made, and companies need something to fill the void. During our conversations at Siggraph, we heard it loud and clear: build a Linux host, innovate, and we will sign up immediately. We hope to do that and more. Our goal is to build the best remote desktop for accessing workstations for CAD and 3D graphics. That’s our prime directive, and if we deliver on that, we earn the right to build more tools to help customers manage workstations like infrastructure. Our goal is nothing short of changing how the biggest companies in the world think about their workstations. We hope you’ll join us on this journey.