Remote Workstations Solutions, Next Level Collaboration

MIKE LEACH: Hi, my name is Mike Leach. I'm the solution portfolio lead for Lenovo workstations. And I'm here today to talk to you about remote workstations for the extreme power user.

As we all know, business is changing. We've seen a rapid movement now with digital transformation and workplace transformation taking force where a large number of desktop computer, desktop workstation-style users are now gravitating much closer to the edge.

The last 18 months, we've seen a bigger rise of what the real edge may look like. And despite this, a large number of high n power users within each of these industry verticals have an ever-growing need for high-end computer hardware, working off larger, more complex data sets. They have a multi-discipline workforce, typically dispersed throughout the globe. And they've had a never-ending increase in the need of how much compute hardware requirements they have.

So how do we support them? It's not easy. It's not simple. There is no one cap fits ALL. But what we have seen, start of 2020, there was a big increase in the work from home movement. Pick up the workstation, your laptop, you take it home. It's very simple, very easy to deploy, but awkward to manage and can be expensive for IT.

Not everybody within the business had access to high performance powerful workstations, maybe not in the configurations that they would need. And ultimately, then for IT to manage those assets and delivery mechanisms for security patches and updates isn't always as straightforward as it might seem.

Within the cloud and on-prem or off-prem data center with disaster recovery, from an IT standpoint, resilience and manageability is key. They're built into its core. But it comes very expensive to deploy. It's not easy and fast to deploy. And ultimately for the power user, offers very limited performance.

The answer lies in more of a hybrid approach. It's taking the best of breed of workstation that can be cloud or datacenter located, but then delivered that home user. It's powerful. It's fast. It's reliable. But how do you set that up? Hopefully we can answer some questions throughout this presentation.

The idea behind setting this hybrid workforce up is to utilize all of the hardware resources your business may already own, may be looking to invest in the future, and ultimately allow to connect that enterprise so people and workforces in all four corners of the globe can now start and access this high performance compute power that the business has invested in.

So you might be familiar with the Lenovo portfolio. We have the ThinkPad P-series, our fastest, most powerful mobile workstations configurable now with up to 128 gigabytes of memory, an Nvidia 5000-class RTX GPUs, but they don't suit every workflow. We have our ThinkStation portfolio, the high performance ThinkStation P-series configurable with up to 112 CPU threads, two terabytes of system memory, and built for the extreme heavy lifting.

We even brought to market a dedicated rack-mounted workstation, the ThinkStation P920 rack. This was developed and engineered to live in the data center and is that complete hybrid environment where you have best of breed workstation and best of breed data center as a truly awesome product.

But to connect these together, we've launched our remote work station solutions using TGX Remote Workstation software from Mechdyne. This allows you to collaborate and connect all of this hardware, to give everybody access to the hardware they need to do any workflow anywhere in the world.

So what is TGX? So it is that simple software package. It allows you to access any computer workstation on your network to run any software application to run any size data set from anywhere in the world.

But how does it work? TGX is fairly unique. It's built on the complete end-to-end Nvidia architecture and it uses the Nvidia frame buffer capture, Nvidia FBC, to capture and encrypt the pixels that are displayed inside the GPU's frame buffer on the host workstation. It then encodes those using the built-in Nvidia GPU encoder chip, NVENC.

And then using those encrypted pixels, it then transmits that across the network, that can be local or wide area network, to a receiving system that uses the Nvidia GPU decode, NVDEC, that then decrypts, decompressing those pixels, and displays them onto the monitors in a remote location. All this is done end-to-end on the Nvidia RTX GPU.

So the way TGX is installed is very straightforward. This is a one-to-one scenario of one workstation to one remote user. We have on the left-hand side here the TGX sender system. This is the host workstation, typically located back in the office, at the back end.

And on top of here, you will have your normal hardware configuration there's been purpose built and specified to run a particular software application. So the example could be a high-end automotive simulation. And you'd configure that with your appropriate CPUs and an Nvidia RTX GPU.

On top of that system, on top of the operating system, you would download the TGX sending software. Very easy. Very easy to license. Very easy to deploy and scale. And that TGX extender system then just runs as a service in the background on that host workstation that's located in the office.

And on the right-hand side of the screen, we have TGX receiver. This is the hardware that the employee will take home. This could be a thin and light mobile workstation, like our ThinkPad P1. It could be something very small and tiny, like the ThinkStation Tiny, the 300 series Tiny. And this is the item that the user will take home.

On top of here you install the free TGX receiving software. And this will connect over a secure internet connection, including the VPN, to your TGX sender. And then you have the Nvidia encode in the host and Nvidia decode in the receiver. And this is a fully end-to-end GPU-accelerated task.

So working from home you might run something like our wafer thin ThinkPad P1, our fastest, most powerful mobile workstation-- 15 inch, very thin, very light. I'm sure everybody is familiar. On here you run the TGX client, the TGX receiver. Typically double click the icon. You put in the IP address or the machine name of the system you want to connect through to. And then you will log in with your normal username and password.

And what you can connect through to then is a remote workstation. And the example here is using a ThinkPad P1, I can actually connect through to our very powerful ThinkStation P620. This has 64 core, 128 threads, 256 gigabytes of memory, and an Nvidia RTX A6000 GPU with a gigantic 48 gigabytes of frame buffer.

But I'm actually connecting to that workstation using something smaller, thinner, and lighter in the ThinkPad P1. This is very light and can drive multiple displays. And the example here is driving three 4K displays from a single mobile workstation, but I'm actually connecting to a host workstation that's got significantly more horsepower than what's built into this system.

So what makes TGX different? There are other remote workstation software applications out there. But TGX is built around the Nvidia GPU end-to-end. And this unique value proposition is really on the ability to drive ultra-high resolution content, so we're talking 4K displays, and multiple 4K displays as well.

It has a unique feature where people can collaborate on the same workstation. So when we all used to be back in the office and used to sit there around a central console shoulder surfing, or in a meeting room where you'd ultimately collaborate and hand the keyboard and mouse around with people on a particular project, maybe in the media industry or manufacturing or construction.

You can now do this with TGX. You can have multiple people connecting into the same workstation to share the keyboard and mouse to collaborate in real time on a live project. And something that's done with dedicated encoder and decoder streams so that everybody gets the utmost level of performance, the lowest possible of latency, and something which really makes the TGX stand out from the crowd.

TGX is fast and responsive. That's very easy to say on paper, but ultimately it's a true as-local-like workstation experience. So once you have this installed and set up, the user running their laptop from home will feel like they're connected to the workstation in the office as if it's under their own desk.

So you move the mouse, you move the keyboard, you interact with the peripherals, and you get sub-10 milliseconds worth of latency and a true as-local-like experience. It really does have to be seen and experienced to be believed.

And then it's ultra-low bandwidth. So all this great credentials is fine if you don't need a super-fast internet connection. TGX uses up to 30% less network bandwidth than the competition.

So when you run multiple high resolution displays, when you want to start collaborating with users throughout the globe, and have a very rich as-local-like experience, you can do so knowing that you don't have to invest in huge amounts of network connectivity because the bandwidth requirements are much, much lower than you would expect.

So it's a brief overview. We've partnered with Mechdyne to bring TGX to the masses. Its ability to drive ultra-high resolution content is like nothing else in the industry. So we're seeing not just 1, 2, 3, but 4 monitor supports, so you can do quad display, up to 4K per display at 60 Hertz So for those in the media industry, those wanted to play back rich, feature-rich content at 60 frames a second, you can do so with TGX.

But the key thing here is that all the data stays in the data center, stays in the office. All that's transmitted home, all that's transmitted remotely to the user is encrypted pixels. So all those big juicy 4K, 8K video streams that you might use in the office, all those large CAD and BIM models, they aren't transmitted up and down the network to you at home. It's all done within the office.

So you're only transmitted pixels. So the more pixels you transmit, the more bandwidth you may need. But for those working off multi-monitor collaboration-type environments, you can have email, you can have CAD applications, video editing applications, everything can be all open at the same time, and you don't have a huge demand on that network connection.

The collaboration feature is pretty unique, very powerful, and allows you to invite other people, other guests into your workstation so they can then help collaborate with you. That might be colleagues. That might be team members. That might be people in your supply chain. But ultimately, you have the power and you have the host workstation and you can invite others to then participate and take part, just as if you're in the office collaborating in real time.

It's ultra responsive. So I've mentioned about the low latency, and this really has to be experienced to be believed. But then when you interact with the keyboard, many systems are a little bit laggy. There's some latency involved so you see a little slowdown in the mouse movements, in the cursor interactions, typing. All of that is completely removed.

It's completely software agnostic. Because it sits on the host, your host workstation thinks that somebody is sat behind that workstation in the office, so nothing else changes. So any ISV certifications you have, any software testing unique frameworks that are set up to support that software will work seamlessly over TGX. So every single software application that you run as a business can be performed and work seamlessly across TGX.

And then the bandwidth utilization. Bandwidth utilization is very, very low as I said, up to 30% less than the competition. So you might not just have one user. You might have 5, 10, hundreds of users online at any one time. And TGX uses the lowest possible amount of network bandwidth. So very, very scalable, both scale out and scale up within your organization.

So TGX is made up of two portions. I've. Mention the sender and the receiver piece the key thing here in the sender is that it's a fully GPU-optimized solution, end to end. So this doesn't take additional CPU resources.

So if your particular workflow today uses single-threaded or multi-threaded CPU code, then at the moment for remote, more traditional remote software packages you have to take a hit on performance because certain CPU clock cycles are taken for the encode stream.

This isn't the case with TGX. TGX is accelerated by a portion of the GPU, which is just built for video encode. So the workstation performance is as fast as if you were sat in front of it. It uses this dedicated processing stream, so even your GPU performance isn't affected.

The GPU has a number of CUDA cores, ray tracing cores, AI tensor cores that are all there to accelerate digital workflows. But the GPU has a built-in Nvidia encode chip as well, and it uses this encode chip. So normal workflows in 3D CAD and visualization and ray tracing aren't slowed down when you use TGX.

It supports multiple operating systems. So the host can be either a Microsoft Windows 10 or a Linux-based distribution for the host. So very flexible across both Windows and Linux environments.

It requires no special hardware. So no matter whether you want to run a single monitor at full HD or you want to drive four monitors at 4K, you don't need any special hardware. As long as you have an Nvidia GPU in the host, then you have every feature available to you. There's no limitations whatsoever.

And it supports both a physical and a virtual workstation. So the examples I've made before were on a one-to-one physical workstation, but every TGX license can also be used in a virtual environment as well.

So in the instance on the picture, if you were to use our ThinkStation P920 rack and then virtualize that product, you can still use the TGX licenses then on virtual workstations as well as the bigger physical workstations if needed. It's a very scalable and expandable investment for any business.

On the receiver side, this is where it gets really interesting because the receiving software is completely free of charge and you can use this on any Lenovo workstation or any Lenovo mobile product. Desktop, laptop, ThinkPad, ThinkStation, ThinkCenter-- TGX is supported.

In an ideal environment, the optimal configuration is to use an Nvidia GPU in that receiver. And this is where you get the best possible performance, the lowest possible amount of latency, and the highest amount of visual performance. So the ability to drive multiple monitors, typically as many as four, can all be done with an Nvidia GPU in the receiver. This is really a unique feature.

But TGX can also use the Intel CPU on a receiver. So for those that don't have an Nvidia GPU in their receiver, someone using more of a thinner and lighter, more of a corporate office-type laptop, you can still use TGX. It'll use the integrated Intel decoding suite, so it will decode using the CPU.

Performance here can vary depending on what model of CPU you may have, but it makes TGX a very versatile piece of software because you can install TGX receiver on every piece of enterprise IT within your business. And then everybody can access a powerful workstation should they need to do so. You get the best user experience when you're using Nvidia GPUs end to end. But the CPU facility here makes TGX extremely versatile across the entire enterprise.

TGX receiver supports user pass-through. So for those using 3D connection space mice, 3D projection motion controllers, webcams, USB mice, USB keyboards, and Wacom tablets, you have full support for those.

You can even run USB mass storage devices. So you plug a memory key into your laptop working from home, and it's visible as a drive letter when you operate in the office. So very simple and very easy to then treat that workstation with that true as-local-like experience.

And all of these USB peripherals can be locked down from a central IT admin console should you wish to restrict users access to certain types. But again, very powerful, very versatile, and really delivering that true as-local-like experience.

A last thing is that TGX receiver, although it's free, it supports every single operating system. So any Microsoft Windows client, a Linux client, or even an Apple Mac OS client. So for those with more of a bring your own device strategy or with a dispersed workforce that want to access from maybe their own personal systems as well as corporate-issued hardware, you can install the free TGX X receiver on any type of client device.

So some possible solutions here. We've mentioned TGX is very powerful. So you can take those traditional workstations, the ones that you used to live in the office under people's desks, you can physically rack mount those. So the example here, we've taken some 3D CAD, some engineering, sort of design workstations, and we're turning those into hosts by literally just installing the TGX extending software on top.

We can do the same with our ThinkStation P620, the world's most powerful single processor workstation using the AMD Threadripper PRO architecture and all we've done here-- it's a 64 core workstation with very high-end graphics-- by installing TGX sender, this machine then becomes a very, very powerful host workstation.

You can also take that same hardware, flip it over, and use it in a virtual environment with something like Nvidia Omniverse, and it now becomes a perfect workgroup workstation. Again, leveraging TGX as a sender to create that best remote workstation experience.

So an example here on the receiver side, we've used our ThinkStation P340 Tiny, high end, very small, one liter workstation, the world's smallest remote workstation client. This is configured for remote manageability. So Intel vPro, AMT, remote management capabilities for item band management. We've got Wi-Fi. We've got Bluetooth. We've got cabled gigabit ethernet.

And the key thing here was using an Nvidia Professional GPU in here to drive up to four displays. And the example here is the ThinkVision monitors. We've configured this as a 2 by 2 power wall that can be then driven using TGX.

The free TGX receiver is installed on here on this very small, compact workstation. And you have the ability then to connect through it's not just one, but multiple remote workstations. So the green screen on the bottom, this would be your standard office system. So this is almost like a powerful thin client, and this will run your local Office 365, Hopin video conferencing tools.

And then using TGX, you will connect through to more powerful hardware to drive particular applications. So the top two screens here is the powerful ThinkStation P920 this can be a dual screen set up to run one application using a first instance of TGX receiver.

And then it can launch a second set. So the bottom right-hand corner, we can drive a ThinkStation P620 to drive a different application. So from one single workstation client, we can now connect to multiple remote workstations to really speed up that productivity.

We can have analysis on one, simulation rendering on another, and still have local main access then to your local client tools like Office 365 and video conferencing. Very easy way then to take something small and tiny, one liter in size, you just can take that home fully managed, fully remotely, supportable by IT. And then all the expensive powerful hardware required to drive to high end software applications can then be used in the office.

We can do the same with our mobile workstations as well. So I've taken the ThinkPad P1 here. Using our Thunderbolt dock, we can then still connect to those same four displays. But the ThinkPad P1's not been configured in this instance as a powerful mobile workstation.

We've configured it for its 4K display. We've configured it with Wi-Fi, with Bluetooth, with vPro remote management, just like the desktop. It's a very small, thin, and light 15-inch notebook. Carbon fiber, our thinnest and lightest in its class. And we've loaded the free TGX software on top.

And again, this then mobile workstation can then be turned into an extremely powerful workstation. And you can configure it in very much the same way. The ThinkPad P1 can drive four monitors using the Thunderbolt dock. The instance here would be the laptop plus 3 screens. Or you close the laptop docked and then you can drive four separate displays. But allows you to transform what is a thin and light mobile workstation into almost a complete desktop replacement using TGX capabilities.

So it was a quick round up. The hybrid workforce and TGX enables you to connect the enterprise. You can access powerful workstations to deliver the best performance with zero compromise, just like you had in the office from ultimately anywhere in the world. It's very fast.

It's a true as-local-like experience. The complete connectivity allows that your workforce can now work from anywhere. You can create more as they follow the sun type license model. So for different geographies that are active at different times of the day, they can still share the same hardware.

You can have a much lower total cost of ownership by sharing our expensive software licenses because you can log into certain pieces of hardware to work on certain software applications as and when needed.

It's completely mobile. Mobility is key. Everybody wants to work from a different location. Work is no longer when you go. It's what you do. So by enabling that workforce by installing TGX, the free receiving software, on every corporate-issued laptop, you can now enable those remote powerful workstations from anywhere.

The collaboration feature is key. Gone are the days when we can all collaborate huddled in a particular meeting room to work off a particular linear timeline or video editing suite. We now have to do that remotely. And video conferencing tools and Teams and Zoom don't cut it.

But if you can combine those with TGX and use TGX as the real-time collaboration tool and just use voice and video over Teams, then all of a sudden you can do that in-person type of review of large media files in real time.

And the connection types-- TGX will perform across a wide variety of network connections, local, wide area, 4G, 5G. It is very, very easy to connect and very, very powerful in the way that it does so. It's completely secure, 256-bit AES encrypted end to end, so you don't have to worry about the data because that's all stays in the office. It's just transmitting pixels.

So again, very lightweight on the network, very powerful, very, very high performance, and really, really just have to be seen to be believed. We believe it's better than everything else that the competition has. It's very easy to scale up, very easy to scale out within the business. And I'd recommend you take a look.

For more information or to request a free evaluation, please visit LenovoRemoteWorkstations.com We'll be happy to help. And I thank you very much for your time. My name is Mike Leach and I'll speak to you all very soon.