Virtualization and Cloud executives share their predictions for 2014. Read them in this VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed article by Jon Senger, Chief Strategy Officer, Virtual Bridges
VDI Predictions - Virtual Bridges on what to watch for in 2014
A study
conducted earlier this year noted that 70 percent of users now carry three or
more devices - including laptops, thin clients, iPads, tablets and more.
Every day, there are new devices, applications, networks and
clouds that users need to access; all causing tremendous management
headaches and security challenges for IT professionals.
With no end in sight, 2014 will be the year that we see a
true shift in how both end users and IT departments operate, including:
-
Rise of
the multi-function touch screen device. The classic desktop or laptop will
continue to decline as end users opt for machines that optimize their
experience. Touch capabilities will become the most sought after, even for
enterprise customers. IT organizations will have to adapt to ensure enterprise
applications work on a variety of devices to provide a solid end user
experience.
-
VDI will
grow its position as the top approach to managing BYOD, fully overtaking
mobile device management (MDM) and mobile application management (MAM).
Organizations will turn to VDI due to its ability to ensure sensitive data resides
on a central server, regardless of which device, or how many users access it.
Users can change locations, switch between devices and work however they
desire, without increasing organizational risk or IT headaches. This is
the core of what Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) encompasses.
-
The
private cloud will take flight. Security and costs will drive enterprises
to move to private clouds or in some cases, hybrid scenarios. Customers will
move from clouds that require vendor-lock in to those that work in a multi-cloud
environment. In addition, they will demand that management and operations can
be done from a common infrastructure. This will be accompanied by an increase
in acquisitions as cloud providers attempt to provide multiple offerings.
-
SaaS
applications will over take enterprise apps. Office 365 is gaining
momentum. Google is the service of choice for many enterprises. And new SaaS
applications such as Concur allow users to complete expense reports online.
Users and enterprise are now more comfortable storing data in the cloud than on
personal devices, and as a result new SaaS applications will emerge at a much
faster rate in 2014 and overtake enterprise apps.
-
Chargeback
and metering will rise in importance and become must-have features. Organizations,
especially service providers, will request deep visibility into resource
utilization data to ensure appropriate cost control and workload mapping,
making chargeback and metering key capabilities and required features in
cloud-based solutions.
Transforming the enterprise won't happen overnight, but on
the heels of the past 12 months, it's clear we're in for an exciting ride in
2014.
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About the Author
As the chief strategy officer of Virtual Bridges, Jon Senger
is responsible for shaping the company's vision, identifying new market
opportunities and enhancing the company's competitive position. An expert
technologist, Jon joins Virtual Bridges after spending the last six years at
Dell where he served as an enterprise architect and core engineering lead, and
finally leaving the company as the CTO of Emerging Technologies where he worked
in the office of the CIO developing innovative strategies to support the
company's cloud computing, virtualization and BYOD programs. In this role, Jon
introduced a primary compute BYOD solution as well as various mobile productivity
solutions, designed and deployed the OpenStack private cloud within Dell IT,
and led numerous corporate development activities. Before joining Dell, Jon
spent several years as the manager of systems administration at Chase
Paymentech and a systems engineer at Qwest Communications.