Whitepaper: A Comparative Study of PCoIP and Blast Protocols for Horizon View

Abstract

This whitepaper provides a technical analysis of PCoIP (PC-over-IP) and Blast Extreme, two advanced display protocols primarily used in Horizon View, VMware’s desktop virtualization product. The paper will highlight the internal workings of these protocols, their use cases, and their advantages over older protocols such as Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). Particular attention will be given to their performance and bandwidth efficiency, crucial parameters for any display protocol.

1. Introduction

Horizon View utilizes display protocols to transmit the virtual desktop image from the server to the client device. Two key display protocols used in Horizon View are PCoIP and Blast Extreme¹. While the former has been a long-time standard, the latter is an innovation by VMware aimed at providing an improved user experience on mobile networks and devices.

2. PCoIP (PC-over-IP)

2.1 How PCoIP Works

PCoIP, a high-performance display protocol, encodes the entire workstation/server display and transmits it over a standard IP network to a PCoIP client². The PCoIP protocol compresses, encrypts, and rapidly transports pixels to end-user devices. It performs automatic image quality adjustments and network bandwidth optimizations based on the nature of the task and network conditions.

2.2 Performance and Bandwidth

The PCoIP protocol prioritizes the user experience by dynamically adapting to network conditions and rendering the most crucial elements of the display first³. It is bandwidth-efficient and provides high-quality rendering for both text and graphics.

3. Blast Extreme

3.1 How Blast Extreme Works

Blast Extreme is built on the H.264 codec, an industry-standard video compression format⁴. It is designed to deliver a high-quality user experience on various network conditions, while conserving server resources. Blast Extreme can intelligently switch between TCP and UDP based on the network conditions, which improves performance.

3.2 Performance and Bandwidth

Blast Extreme excels in environments where network conditions can be challenging, such as mobile and high-latency networks⁵. The H.264 codec allows more efficient encoding and decoding, leading to lower CPU usage and improved battery life on client devices. It also provides an option to leverage hardware encoding when available, further conserving CPU resources.

4. Comparison with RDP

Compared to the older RDP, both PCoIP and Blast Extreme offer significant improvements:

• Bandwidth Usage: PCoIP and Blast Extreme are designed to dynamically adapt to network conditions and have advanced compression techniques, which helps in conserving bandwidth⁶.
• User Experience: These protocols prioritize user experience, rendering important visual elements first and providing superior performance for multimedia applications⁷.
• Network Adaptability: Both protocols can function efficiently over various network types and conditions⁸.
• Security: PCoIP and Blast Extreme offer superior encryption and security features compared to RDP⁹.

5. Conclusion

PCoIP and Blast Extreme represent significant advancements in display protocols, offering improved performance, bandwidth efficiency, network adaptability, and security over the older RDP. While both protocols have their unique strengths, their selection should be based on specific use cases, network conditions, and client device types.

6. References

Please see the citation markers throughout the text for the respective references.

Footnotes

1. Understanding Remote Display Protocols in Horizon 7 – VMware ↩
2. PCoIP Technology ↩
3. PCoIP Protocol Performance ↩
4. Blast Extreme Display Protocol in Horizon 7 – VMware ↩
5. Blast Extreme Protocol Performance ↩
6. PCoIP vs RDP Bandwidth ↩
7. User Experience Blast vs PCoIP ↩
8. PCoIP and Blast Network Adaptability ↩
9. Security Features PCoIP and Blast ↩