Improving the RDP based applications by using HTML5 content representation

Despite the large variety of "off the shelf" solutions and academic research studies, application virtualization for cloud distribution is still an open research topic, with significant issues to be solved, ranging from bridging the gap between users expectation of simple, intuitive and user-friendly access from any type of terminal and the fragmented landscape of SaaS offer, with peculiarities related to the hardware/software configurations and the optimization of the technical resources consumption. Our study investigates the possibility of using HTML5 a virtualization tool for RDP-based applications. Architectural modules related to the RDP content interception, conversion, adaptation, remote rendering and interaction are specified, designed and implemented. This architecture is validated under the framework of the MEDUSA European project, in partnership with medical institutions. The testbed considers a server and 5 mobile users, with heterogeneous devices (tablets, smartphones, laptops) running under iOS, Android and Windows operating systems. The objective/subjective evaluations demonstrated that: (1) the user experience is not reduced by the virtualization, (2) the network consumption is reduced by a factor of 1.8 with respect to state-ofthe- Art solutions.