Mobile march changes virtually everything

Given the exceptional growth in consumer oriented technologies and the BYO trend becoming common place, IT departments are now faced with challenges in relation to supporting flexible and modern work styles and managing the volume of consumer devices being brought in to the corporate environment.

Desktop Virtualisation solutions from vendors like Citrix and Microsoft provide users with a consistent experience regardless of the platform or device type. Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp; as well as App-V and Remote Desktop Services from Microsoft can help streamline the user experience and simplify processes from the point of view of the IT Department.Desktop virtualisation technologies can be delivered in several different ways – via traditional thin client terminals, hosted virtual desktops and application virtualisation.

Since every organisation has different requirements it may be necessary to have a blend of all three of these technologies. With Microsoft XP coming end of support in April, desktop virtualisation is an easy way to transition your business to a more modern and flexible solution that helps you remain competitive whilst increasing productivity and efficiency across your organisation.
For most businesses, desktop virtualisation is an opportunity to reduce operating costs whilst delivering a technology refresh, flexible working and provisioning, data protection, and an improved user experience from any device and in any location.
  

 

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Fujitsu, as a leading provider of Desktop Virtualisation, is today catering for all the various devices in the marketplace and for today’s business users who switch between many devices in a typical day i.e. smart phone to tablet to laptop. Users typically want their email instantly on a mobile device, the ability to share documents, collaborate, and browse the Internet. Ensuring that a user’s profile is consistent across every device is no longer a necessity and this is as a result of the differences in the profile of devices that users typically use, i.e. iPhone combined with Microsoft Surface tablet or other third party laptop.

Collaboration and messaging are some of the key features addressed by Fujitsu who are continually focussing on Cloud services in order to deliver document sharing, collaboration, and Unified Collaboration.

In Fujitsu, the challenges that exist for our customers, is how to accommodate both internal users and externals users on the go. How to securely handle BYOD devices? The sharing of customer sensitive data and how to accommodate the range of devices that users now wish to have access to. Many of our customers come up against staff resistance when they attempt to standardise on a particular device or attempt to restrict the freedom of a user’s device. And so very often the features and capabilities far exceed what a customer is positioned to take advantage of.Ultimately desktop virtualisation from Fujitsu is about driving data and end-user interaction back into the data centre and allowing for a much reduced footprint on the desk or in the user’s pocket.
 
 

We are all familiar with the concept of VDI as it has been around for a long time, and more recently since companies have begun looking at BYOD. While the idea of BYOD is great, companies have stopped trying to judge the merits primarily on cost (it is not necessarily less expensive CapEx wise than traditional desktops), but more in terms of management, enablement and security which Is where VDI really adds value.

There are limitations with BYOD which is why the Corporately Owned, Personally Enabled (COPE) model is a significant improvement in this area. The company supplies the mobile devices and enables them for personal use by the users. This gives back a level of ownership to IT which they didn’t have with BYOD.So, what are the benefits?For the end user they are obvious — they can now use a multitude of devices for personal use or to work from anywhere, online or offline, using a common interface — all the while knowing that someone else (IT) is managing the security and data presentation on these devices.

From an IT perspective, simply ask your IT staff about upgrades and backups, it is so much easier with hosted virtual desktops. If they use the COPE model, then immediately they have a defined list of devices to support, as well as VDI security policies help prevent data loss. This gives them greater control over who has access to what data.

There are other security considerations to be made alongside implementing a VDI solution – in particular for mobile users. These users may be using unsecured public Wi-Fi, therefore additional security will need to be enabled at the corporate network layer.
Let Asystec help you to get started on this journey to VDI.