Beyond.chop.edu Access

Beyond.chop.edu allows you to connect to your desktop and applications through a browser.

What is a VDI?

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is virtualization technology that hosts desktop operating systems on centralized servers in our data centers.  The system can be accessed from virtually anywhere with a stable internet connection using common web browsers or a locally installed client on Apple or Microsoft desktops.

The service provides access to a variety of specialized desktops and applications unique to the research environment. Applications such as SAS, STATA, StatTransfer, MATLAB, R, RStudio, and others are available as "Published Applications". For a complete list of currently available applications please logon to CIRRUS using the instructions on this page and scroll through the list. Many of the applications cannot be installed on standard desktops due to licensing or other constraints.

VDI also provides access to Linux based workstations and personalized login services for the High-Performance Compute environment at the Institute.

Note: Remote access requires a CHOP User account and CHOP authorized Multifactor Authentication.

VDI Rules of Thumb

1. Do not store anything on your desktop or in your profile that you cannot afford to lose.  The disks that house profiles are not backed up and if we lose a disk that has your data, it is gone forever.
2. If you don’t use a Zero Client (Samsung or LG) device desktops are available using HTML.  Just open a browser and go to beyond.chop.edu, select the icon on the right VMware Horizon View HTML Access and you can logon.
3. There is an icon on the desktop named reboot.  Every once in a while at the end of the day double click on this icon and it will force a reboot of the virtual desktop. This is the same as rebooting a physical computer.
4. If you have nothing running please log off when you are done.
5. If you have an issue please contact the Service Desk at for help.