Leostream Announces New Features to Enable Limitless High-Performance Computing on AWS EC2
June 28, 2023
Leostream announced features designed to improve high-performance computing (HPC) and sophisticated imaging/video workloads on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and deliver secure, performant, cost-effective resources to users of virtual machines.
Amazon EC2 offers multiple benefits for HPC compute and graphics rendering, primarily highly available, flexible cloud resources with scalability and redundancy. With EC2, organizations pay for computing as an operating expense that can be tightly managed instead of a considerable up-front capital expense. Additionally, AWS provides a GPU-accelerated display protocol (NICE DCV) at no extra cost, eliminating third-party display protocol licenses and further reducing ownership costs.
Leostream builds on EC2’s advantages and delivers performance, security, and cost benefits by simplifying end-user machine management, even for large user pools, large datasets, and environments combining EC2 and on-prem resources. The Leostream Gateway securely connects to EC2 without a performance-choking virtual private network. It allows users access to the NICE DCV protocol to deliver performant graphical user interfaces to end users.
With advanced identity management and authentication based on Zero-Trust Network Access (ZTNA), Leostream creates a zero-trust architecture around access to HPC workloads, ensuring the security of data and assets. Organizations gain visibility into the resources accessed by users and devices as Leostream tracks end-user connections, source locations, volumes/machines accessed, and session durations for security audit purposes.
Since HPC environments are often used by a transient remote workforce, such as temporary contractors and project-based workers who only need a machine for the project, the Leostream platform can create scheduled and scalable workloads. This approach streamlines moving workers to another project or granting access to different resources.
Because HPC and other GPU-accelerated compute tasks like nonlinear editing are generally only active while a user is accessing the machine, Leostream monitors the user’s session to power down machines when not in use. Automated control and power state management eliminate unnecessary EC2 compute expenses due to user error, helping further manage costs. Leostream also enhances efficiency by supporting architectures that limit data egress to data-adjacent computational resources, which helps ensure application performance and keeps data transfer costs in check.
“Integrating EC2 and Leostream into a single ‘Leo-streamlined’ solution is a unique way to provision highly powered end-user machines in front of the flexibility and resiliency of cloud or hybrid cloud,” said Leostream CEO Karen Gondoly. “Giving remote access to a performant, secure, elastic HPC architecture with built-in policies and features to keep costs down is a potential breakthrough for industries engaged in resource-intensive tasks like media, scientific research, energy, and finance.”
Leostream is the Remote Desktop Access Platform of choice due to its ability to mix and manage on-premises and cloud-based hosting platforms. A single-pane-of-glass admin console powers Leostream’s platform, simplifying the management of users, cloud desktops, and IT assets with real-time dashboard access to view usage and environment details, helping to make informed decisions.
