Support for virtualized unified communications clients when host server connectivity is lost

An apparatus comprising:

• a network interface device configured to send and receive information associated with a unified communication (UC) sessions and management thereof between the apparatus comprising a virtual desktop thin client device and another party;
• one or more input-output interfaces configured to support UC sessions;
• and
• a processor configured to:
• establish a Virtual Desktop Interface (VDI) connection between a VDI client in the virtual desktop thin client device and a VDI server in a hosted virtual desktop server;
• establish a unified communications (UC) control connection between a UC protocol stack on the virtual desktop thin client device and a primary call agent, wherein the UC control connection is configured to allow the UC protocol stack to register with the primary call agent, and to send or receive commands from the primary call agent that are based on signals from a UC control application running on the hosted virtual desktop server;
• start a UC control backup application in a standby mode that is configured to switch to an active mode in response to a failure to establish or maintain the UC control connection, or a failure to establish or maintain the VDI connection;
• and
• when in the active mode, launch a user interface on the virtual desktop thin client device configured to perform UC backup functions.

One or more non-transitory computer readable media encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

• establish a Virtual Desktop Interface (VDI) connection between a VDI client in the virtual desktop thin client device and a VDI server in a hosted virtual desktop server;
• establish a unified communications (UC) control connection between a UC protocol stack on the virtual desktop thin client device and a primary call agent, wherein the UC control connection is configured to allow the UC protocol stack to register with the primary call agent, and to send or receive commands from the primary call agent that are based on signals from a UC control application running on the hosted virtual desktop server;
• start a UC control backup application in a standby mode that is configured to switch to an active mode in response to a failure to establish or maintain the UC control connection, or a failure to establish or maintain the VDI connection;
• and
• when in the active mode, launch a user interface configured to perform UC backup functions.