
Virtualization and Cloud executives share their predictions for 2013. Read them in this VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed article by Danny Allan, CTO, Desktone
The Convergence of Virtual Desktops, App Delivery and the Cloud
With big changes happening
in the IT industry every day, the one constant growth area is mobility. Being
able to access your information from anywhere is quickly becoming the standard
across industries, and more organizations are looking to provide
access to enterprise programs and applications on all types of employee devices.
In 2013, we'll see a heavy push toward virtual desktop and application deployments
in the cloud to support enterprise mobility. In
particular, we expect to see many large organizations looking to combine the
app data delivery experience with the desktop to make mobile access more convenient
and affordable.
A growing number of companies are offering corporate
app stores, which are specifically designed to enhance their employees' mobile
work experience. A logical, and cost-effective, next step is to combine
corporate app delivery with cloud-hosted virtual desktops, giving organizations
greater control over mobile policies without having to invest in on-site
infrastructure. By implementing desktops and apps delivered as a cloud service,
organizations are able to realize the efficiencies of the cloud, such as multi-tenancy,
scalability, multi-location management, and low OpEx costs, for end user
workspaces. The cloud makes it simple for IT
professionals to provision and deploy desktops and apps, and for end users to
access full-featured Windows desktops and applications on any device with
Internet access.
With
cloud-hosted desktops, end users can directly access Windows apps from any
device they choose - including tablets, smartphones, laptops, PCs and thin
clients - and IT professionals can manage multiple desktop models and
applications from a single management console. This combined cloud delivery
approach is ideal for deploying and managing apps
that have expensive licensing requirements, and for high-maintenance apps that require
frequent updates, patches or configuration changes.
One of the most significant benefits of cloud-hosted
desktops and apps is security. With the rise of mobile devices in the
workforce, IT professionals have to consider what happens if an employee's
phone, tablet or laptop is stolen or goes missing. By hosting desktops and apps
in the cloud, IT staff are able to control employee access to specific apps and
programs from one central hub. This centralized management also makes patches
and updates simpler to push out. Additionally, this model can help reduce
licensing costs over on-premise models that may require separate licenses for
corporate app stores and employee devices.
As the
enterprise workspace evolves to keep up with the demands of mobility, we'll see
more organizations in 2013 look to cloud-hosted desktops and apps as the
simplest and most-effective way to give end users the flexibility they need to
be successful.
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About the Author
As Chief Technology Officer, Danny Allan
is responsible for developing Desktone's technical and service delivery
strategy. Allan educates IT organizations and solution providers on how to
design and deploy hosted virtual desktops and is responsible for the service
delivery operations. He joins Desktone from IBM where, as Director of Security
Research and a member of the Security Architecture Board, he co-authored the IBM
Secure Engineering Framework and helped define the software security strategy.
Earlier, Allan held several senior customer facing and technical strategy
positions with Watchfire. With 10+ years of technology and security experience,
Allan has published several whitepapers and articles, participates in industry
working groups, and has spoken at more than 60 industry conferences. He holds a
Bachelor of Commerce degree from Carleton University.