Top Use Cases for
Desktop Virtualization
T
he workplace model is evolving into a collaborative, mobile, and multi-device business
environment. The increase in employee owned and company owned hand-held devices, diverse
user preferences, mobile workforce and demand for anytime, anywhere access is challenging IT to
deliver on this new workplace while still maintaining control and security. Desktop virtualization or
VDI is addressing these new challenges.
But in order to have a successful desktop virtualization project, organizations must first identify a
clear business problem for which the technology is a solution.
What follows are several examples of some of the top desktop virtualization use cases and the right
reasons for deploying virtual desktops.
SECURITY
15%
of employees are accessing sensitive data from devices other than work laptops and desktops.Forrester Research
MOBILE SECURITY
In a Security 500 article, laptop thefts were more than twice the rate of data-related incidents and five times that of intellectual property theft.
With an increase in working from various places comes increased risk of theft. Data loss, proprietary information, and many other intangible issues continue to be a large issue across all industries.
How will this affect you? Employees are going to continue introducing new
devices and operating systems into the corporate network; IT pros must get ahead of this trend and decide how to protect their sensitive data. VDI keeps the data off of the end user device, and maintains it behind the keypad of the datacenter, allowing the organization to maintain control over confidential and sensitive data no matter where users access it, or what device they access it from.
A recent survey by ASIS International put laptop theft as the third most prevalent type of corporate security incident occurring on company property – just behind employee theft and external theft and vandalism.
1
in
10
laptops will be stolen within a 3 year period.
Kensington ClickSafe™
Desktop virtualization makes it easy to protect corporate data by ensuring that the data resides on a central server, in a private, public or hybrid cloud, depending on the particular environment.
CENTRALIZED
MANAGEMENT
AND SUPPORT
CONTROL
Control and management of virtual desktops from a centralized location simplifies all of the basic day-to-day desktop management requirements – i.e. provisioning new devices, on-boarding new users, rolling out new applications, updating operating systems and applications with new patches,
upgrades and security fixes, etc. And it also provides administrators with additional user support capabilities and more control over user access. Similarly, reduced configuration complexity can also allow the help desk to easily assist with user productivity.
Using a single console, VDI can allow an administrator to manage an entire array of desktops, including those at multiple and distant locations.
Troubleshooting workstations–and the attendant wait to
recover and install a new machine–is a thing of the past. Now,
our employees are
up and running
in their personal desktop
environments
in a matter of seconds
by simply moving from one
thin client to another.
CIO Magazine
This includes the deployment of new systems and controlloing IT costs.
#
1 GOAL OF CIOs
TODAY IS IMPROVING IT OPERATIONS
-CLAUDIO RENGUCCI IT Architect, Gruppo api
DISASTER
RECOVERY
What happens if an earthquake, hurricane, flood, fire or some other natural disaster strikes and renders the office unusable? If the office and the physical PCs become inaccessible, the servers and data in the failed over datacenter might as well be too.
VDI enables virtual desktop replication to the disaster recovery site along with
the virtual servers. The technology allows users to set up a temporary workplace at home, in a coffee shop or in a conference room – allowing users to resume work until a local office facility can be resolved. As long as users can get to a browser and have connectivity, they can gain access to their desktops, applications and data.
IT departments typically think about servers and data when considering an organization’s disaster recovery (DR) or business continuity (BC) plan. But while ensuring that these data center-specific resources are made available within another, safe location, they often ignore the desktop component.
Continuity Central
CIO Magazine
-Chubb
-FEMA
70%
80%
of businesses involved in a major fire fail within 3 years
of businesses that lacked a business continuity plan went out of business
WITHIN 2 YEARS AFTER
HURRICANE
ANDREW
IN FLORIDA (1992)
BYOD
BY THE NUMBERS
VDI is the most popular BYOD choice
As workers increasingly enjoy high-end consumer devices and anywhere, anytime connectivity outside the workplace, they are bringing those devices – and expectations – to work. The bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend means that users now want access to the Internet, along with corporate email, applications,
and data, from every mobile device they own. In many cases, those devices are no longer issued or controlled by IT. Rather, users purchase them for personal use, then expect the same sort of unfettered access that they enjoy virtually anywhere outside the workplace.
So, any device used to connect to the virtual desktop essentially becomes a remote monitor and keyboard, thereby keeping the data safe behind the data center walls and off the endpoint device. Furthermore, VDI means that virus protection resides on the server rather than on individual devices, making device security in a BYOD environment far easier to maintain.
Delivering desktops via BYOD can be a great solution for end users. Whether they’re working from home, internally, or even internationally, the user can enjoy a uniform experience on multiple devices.
As if challenges with security, software cost and complexity, and support and control of desktop systems aren’t enough, IT now faces another burgeoning issue: the consumerization of IT.
With VDI, the virtual desktop stays within the secure confines of the data center.
VDI: Virtual Desktop Integration; MDM: Mobile Device Management; MAM: Mobile Application Management
27%
VDI
18%
MDM
34%
No centralized approach9%
MAM
12%
Other
Information Users
use
personal
devices
for work.
of
60%
use
tablets
55%
use
mobileLEGACY
APP SUPPORT
These applications are often tied to a specific piece of hardware or to a particular operating system, and they don’t natively operate on a mobile platform.
In order to continue to support these applications, IT departments have typically been forced to maintain the life expectancy of out-of-date technology. Other options have been to try and replace legacy applications with newer versions of the same software when available, rewrite in-house applications if possible, or switch to a more modern, alternative software product.
But, the business or a specific regulation may not allow for such change. And that’s where VDI comes in. It can help by presenting another alternative, and perhaps even provide a stopgap measure until such a time exists where a company is able to make an application update.
Virtual desktops can run within a 32-bit or 64-bit instance, and it will also allow a user to operate an older application on a modern mobile device.
One of the major roadblocks to widespread, mainstream adoption of modern technology (i.e. new 64-bit computers, mobile platform devices, modern operating systems) at the corporate level is the prevalent use of legacy, specialized or custom in-house created applications.
75%
of IT resources are used in maintaining
legacy applications
HOW TO
Identify a Legacy Application
IT CANNOT BE USED NATIVELY ON MODERN DEVICES
IT USES A
PROPRIETARY CLIENT IT WAS DEVELOPED PRIOR TO THE CLOUD
IT CANNOT EASILY BE CUSTOMIZED OR INTEGRATED
CANNOT FIND SKILLED MANPOWER TO
MOBILE
WORKFORCE
PRODUCTIVTY
Companies will need to create an “approved workplace ecosystem” to provide this new mobile workforce with access to their desktops, applications and data (home office, co-working spaces, corporate campus, coffee shop, vendor/client site, etc.).
VDI will provide them with that access to information, and keep it secure.
Some organizations also have numerous contractors and service partners working in their environments every day. And
VDI is a great way to control 3rd party
access. These restricted users can work on virtual desktops based on their Active Directory status and the company’s access policies. VDI would also allow outside consultants to bring in their own laptops or end point devices, and still be able to access centralized desktops so they can conduct their business in a secure way, and keep the data contained within the data center and off the 3rd
party’s device.
By 2015, the world’s mobile worker population will reach 1.3 billion, representing 37.2% of the total workforce.
Despite recent market turmoil, mobility continues to be a critical part of the global workforce and we expect to see healthy growth in the number of mobile workers.
-STACY CROOK
Senior research analyst for IDC’s Mobile Enterprise Research program
WHERE MOBILE WORKERS
FEEL MOST PRODUCTIVE
46%
38%
2%
2%
2%
1%
9%
IN OFFICE AT HOME
ON AN AIRPLANE IN A HOTEL AT A CAFE PUBLIC
TRANSPORTATION PREFERNCENO
MERGERS
AND
ACQUISITIONS
With a VDI implementation in place, companies can quickly and easily onboard new team members who come over from the newly acquired business. Imagine an acquisition being completed at the end of one week, and
at the beginning of the next week, those new employees are up and running on a single corporate infrastructure with access to the same applications and data as existing employees.
One of the most difficult components of a merger or acquisition for an IT department is the influx and integration of new users into the environment.
DEAL ACTIVITY IS
EXPECTED TO INCREASE
55%
54%
OFCORPORATE
OF PE EXECS
OF PE RESPONDENTS EXPECT “AVERAGE” TO “HIGH” DEAL ACTIVITY OVER THE NEXT YEAR
OF CORPORATE RESPONDENTS ANTICIPATE M&A ACTIVITY WILL INCREASE OR MAINTAIN
IT’S CURRENT PACE FOR THE NEXT 2 YEARS
Deal Marketing Blog
EXECs
AND
CITED FAILURE TO INTEGRATE AS A
