Oracle has announced an update to its Oracle Secure Global Desktop platform, which enables workers with an iPad or other mobile device to access applications running on Exalogic Elastic Cloud infrastructure.

Available now, Secure Global Desktop 5.0 extends the platform’s back-end support to provide certified access to Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud and web-based Oracle applications, including Oracle CRM, the firm said.

In particular, this version has the capability to deliver applications to an HTML5-compliant browser, so users do not need to download and install a software client. This is currently supported only in the Safari browser on the iPad, however.

Wim Coekaerts, Oracle senior vice president for Linux and virtualisation engineering, said: “Enterprise users expect increasingly more mobile access to applications which are often designed to run on desktop PCs. Oracle Secure Global Desktop provides IT with a highly secure remote access solution for such applications, and even full desktop environments, from tablets.”

Oracle Secure Global Desktop is based on technology that Sun Microsystems acquired from Tarantella. It serves up applications or entire virtual desktops hosted in the datacentre to remote users, with Windows PCs, Macs and Oracle Sun Ray Clients already supported as endpoints.

This version also adds support at the back end for servers running Oracle Solaris 11.1 and Oracle Linux 6.4, the firm said.

New support on the client side includes Windows 8 and OS X Mountain Lion. Supported browsers now include Internet Explorer 10, Chrome, and Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR).