PCoIP (PC over IP)

PCoIP

PCoIP is a high performance display protocol purpose-built to deliver virtual desktops and to provide end users with the best, total rich desktop experience regardless of task or location. With PCoIP, the entire computing experience is compressed, encrypted and encoded in thedatacenter before being transmitted across a standard IP network to PCoIP-enabled endpoint devices.

The software implementation of PCoIP uses TCP and UDP over port 50002. The TCP port is used for session establishment and control while the UDP port can be leveraged for optimal performance of media and streaming content. The PCoIP protocol can tolerate high latency and low bandwidth and still deliver a responsive desktop experience. The adaptive network management functions within the protocol address of quality of service controls and configuration. The display stream is encrypted with 128bit AES and when used in its hardware implementation can use AES or Salsa20.

Essential features of PCoIP:

Host rendering

Host rendering preserves the PC environment, so that applications perform as they should. Once the image is rendered on the host, the PCoIP protocol broadcasts just the encrypted pixels (not the data) across the network to the client which makes it possible to have stateless, decode-only client devices - true zero clients - with all the benefits they bring such as low maintenance, increased security, and cost savings.

Multi-codec display processing

Intelligent image decomposition and optimized image encoding using multiple codecs enables efficient transmission and decoding, and saves your bandwidth. And, PCoIP codecs build every pixel to a loss less state once they stop changing, to ensure a pixel-perfect image regardless of network limitations.

Dynamically adapting to network conditions

Because PCoIP protocol doesn’t transfer data files, just the pixels themselves, it makes sense to use a real-time protocol to ensure a responsive, interactive remote user experience. For that reason the PCoIP technology uses UDP, the same protocol as Voice over IP and IPTV, to reduce bandwidth requirements and deliver the best interactive user experience for the network bandwidth that’s available.