The vast majority of malware on corporate networks arrives through the browser. Branden Spikes, the CEO of Spikes,
believes that by virtualizing the browser and having it run separate
from the desktop, his company can prevent the vast majority of these
attacks. The WebKit-based browser runs in a virtualized environment
either on-premise or in the cloud and mostly resembles Google’s Chrome
(though with the URL bar on top of the tabs).
Spikes, who was previously the CIO of SpaceX and PayPal, told me that
in his view, users are ready for this kind of tool. They are already
familiar with the concept of remote applications. Right now, however,
using browsers on remote desktops typically isn’t a great experience,
especially if you’re using a highly interactive site.
As the Spikes team told me, the company puts a strong emphasis on
ensuring that the browser feels just like a native app on the desktop.
To do this, Spikes uses PNG for encoding text and just switches to H.264
for video. The team says this keeps the latency as low as possible and
allows users to play YouTube videos or even browser-based games without
any noticeable lag.
To use Spikes, users simply sign in with their accounts (after
they’ve downloaded the software) and the browser will start on their
desktop. All of their bookmarks and other personalizations, of course,
persist between sessions. The team also added a few new features to the
browser that aren’t readily available in other solutions, including a
new tab content menu and the ability to open multiple tabs at launch
(something most browsers can do, too, but don’t emphasize). Spikes tells
me that the team will also happily customize the browser for new
companies that want to switch to this service.
An OS X client is already in the works and after that, the team plans
to launch a mobile app, as well. ”You can’t secure the network with
just Windows machines,” he told me.
For now, Spikes is squarely focused on the enterprise market, but in
the long run, the company also plans to move into the consumer space.
