AppSense, a leading provider in the user virtualization market, recently announced that it had recruited virtualization guru, Dr Benny Tritsch, to become the company's technology director in Germany, Austria & Switzerland.  Tritsch will also be an important contributor to the AppSense Office of the CTO, based in San Jose, and also instrumental in educating the market on the essential nature of user virtualization. 

While this took place, I was fortunate to be able to speak with Dr. Tritsch to find out more about user virtualization and his journey with AppSense.

VMblog:  As a seasoned veteran in the virtualization space, what interested you most about joining a user virtualization company?

Dr. Tritsch:  User Virtualization deals with something we tend to forget in today's enterprise IT: The user! IT managers and administrators are facing the challenge that users want to work on multiple devices with diverse hardware footprints and with different operating system variants. Many users are very demanding these days. They have developed strong emotions and opinions regarding the computer devices and applications they are using on a daily basis - something that is a new experience for some IT guys. So making sure that the user experience is as smooth as possible while maintaining enterprise compliance rules is the final frontier. This is why user virtualization is such a hot technology which is useful in the complete spectrum from large enterprise environments to cloud-based consumer services. It has created a large and rapidly growing market, complementing other virtualization technologies, such as desktop virtualization and application virtualization in a rather natural way.

As part of my consultancy practices, I have worked with AppSense technologies for many years as it forms the underlying solution in many of my enterprise customers.  Seeing the importance of the technology first hand in real world environments drew me towards AppSense as the leading User Virtualization solution provider. 

VMblog:  One of your main goals as a technology director is educating the market on user virtualization.  What do you see as the biggest areas to address?

Dr. Tritsch:  "Virtualize the user first" is my primary message. It is proven that extracting the personal user settings from the operating system and providing simple central management capabilities for these settings is essential for a successful introduction of virtualization technologies and cloud concepts into an existing IT environment.  Whether an organization is embarking on an OS migration, physical to virtual desktop shift, implement application virtualization or adopt a mixed delivery environment - if you virtualize the user first from their existing desktop, whatever you chose to change or move to will be configured and personalized as per before, reducing migration time, cost, risk and - most importantly - ensuring user acceptance.

VMblog:  User virtualization has gained tremendous traction in the past year.  What do you see as some of the most interesting use cases?

Dr. Tritsch:  I completely agree with your statement that User Virtualization is a recognized requirement in today and tomorrows enterprise computing environments.  AppSense, along with other providers in the space, are all experiencing record growth, proving the requirement for these solutions. For some of the market players the UV wave may have come as a big surprise, but now it really is a general trend. There are two major use cases explaining this trend.

The number one and most important short term use case is the phased Windows 7 migration. Almost no enterprise can afford a big bang migration, so user virtualization is very helpful when going through this transition allowing side-by-side operation of multiple Windows versions. It also massively reduces cost and time in Windows 7 migration.

A mid to long term use case will be the establishment of hybrid environments, seamlessly combining traditional rich client and all sorts of desktop and application virtualization solutions. Again user virtualization is the prerequisite when introducing a hybrid environment, giving users maximum flexibility regarding their personal computer workspace. It's all about maintaining the users' digital identity in a rather intuitive way.

VMblog:  How does user virtualization extend the capabilities of desktop virtualization and cloud computing?

Dr. Tritsch:  As mentioned before, cloud computing and desktop virtualization will be the central building blocks behind hybrid IT environments, allowing IT managers to establish a best-of-bread approach regarding application delivery methods. The goal is to provide the users with their preferred set of applications independent of end device and location. In order to be agile enough when dynamically combining application delivery methods when adapting to user needs, User Virtualization is not only an option, it's a mandatory requirement to get widely accepted by the user base when introducing hybrid environments.

Furthermore with desktop virtualization and cloud computing, we are presenting our user base with the opportunity to connect to their corporate desktop and access (potentially confidential) information, from any device, anywhere in the world - user virtualization is more than personalization, it also dynamically sets-up, configures and applies policy to control what the user is able to do and access based on the context of who they are, where they are and the device they are using.  So essentially it extends the capabilities of desktop virtualization and clouds computing by ensuring that desktops are configured in accordance to security policy, users have the correct drives and printers mapped based on where they are, and their personalization settings are seamlessly applied.  User virtualization makes virtual and cloud desktops fit for purpose in the enterprise.

VMblog:  If you had one piece of advice for IT departments looking at how to simplify and best manage their desktops, what would it be?

Dr. Tritsch:  Take your users seriously and listen to what their personal requirements are when working with computer equipment. They are the ones who do the work and make the money. They are also often the difference between success and failure in IT projects, migrations or transitions. Delivering a desktop or application is just the beginning, configuring and personalizing it in a dynamic world is what makes standardized components compliant and useable. As an IT manager you should never make assumptions about what your users want, better ask them and watch them to learn about the facts in order to avoid unnecessary complexity.

So in essence, my advice is "not only virtualize users first, also make sure you never lose focus when fulfilling your users' personal requirements as much as you can". It's time for a change: In case you preferred the "admin from hell" attitude in the past, it may be wise to become the user's advocate in the future.

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Thank you again to Dr. Benny Tritsch for taking time to speak with me.  To find out more about User Virtualization, check out AppSense.