Ulteo OVD provides access to applications or an entire desktop session hosted on a Linux or Windows (2003 or later) server. These are executed in a virtual session on the server (as opposed to simple display mirroring). Version 3 introduced RDP as the protocol used for both Linux and Windows applications. Sessions can be accessed through a web portal, using any Java or HTML5-capable browser, or integrated into the local desktop environment and launched like local applications. Remote applications can access local file systems (including network and USB), print to local printers, play sound locally and copy to or paste from the local clipboard. Starting with OVD 4, local PC/SC smartcard readers can also be accessed from a remote application, though this feature is supported only in the Premium edition and only for applications running on Windows servers.

Users can authenticate through Microsoft Active Directory or any LDAP or CAS server. Support for additional authentication mechanisms, including single sign-on, can be implemented using an open API. Ulteo includes a dedicated file server into which other file servers (such as CIFS/Samba/Windows file servers) can be integrated as backends.

The environment can be configured and monitored through a web-based administration interface. A farm can include multiple application servers, running a mix of Linux, Windows and Web servers, and the administrator can configure load balancing between them based on criteria such as processor load, memory usage, number of open sessions, or random distribution. Ulteo states that a single farm can serve up to 50,000 users and more.

An SSL gateway is available to deploy applications over the Internet.

Besides the classic application delivery scenario, OVD can also be integrated into web-based document management platforms such as Microsoft SharePoint. Clicking a file in the portal will then open it with an application published on the OVD farm rather than downloading it and opening it with a locally installed application.

Ulteo is distributed as a set of application packages that can be installed on a standard Linux distribution (Ubuntu, Debian, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Redhat Enterprise Linux), with Windows installers also available for some components.

A live DVD (Demo) and a virtual appliance image are available for testing purposes. They contain a full Linux distribution (based on Ubuntu), all Ulteo components and some applications, allowing an Ulteo OVD farm to be quickly installed on a single server. The DVD additionally contains the full documentation and installation sources for all supported operating systems.