Virtualization and Cloud executives share their predictions for 2016. Read them in this 8th Annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed by Michel Roth, B2B Product Management Professional, End User Computing Industry Expert
Important trends that will have a big impact End User Computing in 2016
Often tech (mega)trends initially have limited effect on End
User Computing. Over the last couple of years they usually start first in the
consumer space and later bleed over into the Enterprise space, in this case End
User Computing. In this textual crystal ball I would like to share 3 trends I
think will have a big impact in the End User Computing Industry in 2016 across
the world.
Layering
To me personally the rise of layering initially was a bit of a
surprise. Wasn't there already application virtualization? The key thing to
understand is that layering has a different goal. Where application
virtualization (App-V for example) had the goal to isolate applications from
the OS (and other applications), layering is much more about improvements in
application management - making it infinitely easier to manage lots of
applications across different platforms. This is important because in the IT
departments of 2016 (again) more will need to be done with less. More
applications -old and new- and more platforms - also the old and the new.And
layering is not limited to applications. A lot of vendors also offer the same
(management) benefits for other layers of the workspace like the
personalisation layer. Layering became more mainstream when VMware acquired CloudVolumes
late in 2014. Citrix already had layering technology from their Ringcube
acquisition but never really positioned it that (application) way until they
introduced AppDisk. There are also some independent players that are all about
layers. I personally like FSLogix and Unidesk but there are many others too.
Two others worth mentioning because they take a slightly different approach
("Cloud Application Virtualization") are Cloudhouse and Numecent because they
add an additional layer, uhm, capability by distributing these layers via the
cloud so it makes it very easy to have access to these layers anywhere, useful
in BYOD scenarios for example.
No matter how you slide it or dice it, layering is going to
have a big impact on the way End User Computing is done in 2016.
Hyperconvergence
If there's any term that was hyped in 2015 then it must be
hyperconvergence. It's for good reason though. Most of End User Computing is
not about hardware, it's all about software. Except for the desktop
virtualization piece because pretty soon after VDI started to become popular,
many admins would wake up screaming four letters in the middle of the night.
You guessed it. IOPS! The storage wars ensued and all of a sudden one had to be
a storage expert to be able to host a virtual desktop. That's just silly. It
would be the same if you were expected to be able piece together your own
engine if you wanted to drive a car. Many of the vendors in the Hyperconverged
space feel the same way. If you decide that desktop virtualization is part of
your End User Computing strategy then you should not have to worry about the
physical hardware. This is what Hyperconvergence in End User Computing is all
about to me. Two of my personal favorites are Nutanix - they seeing some
impressive growth and Atlantis Computing - who really only entered with
Hyperconverged space in 2015 with their HyperScale but they most certainly have
the End User Computing DNA that's required. Those are just two companies but
there are dozens more. In 2016 we will see Hyperconverged hardware in End User
Computing projects having a big impact because of the increased mindshare,
commoditization and lower prices because of increasing competition in this
space.
Security
Security? Yes, really security. It sounds very boring and of
all times but security will have a very big impact in 2016 in End User
Computing. Many factors contribute to this. One important factor or dimension
(direction - outbound) is that the Enterprise world is becoming even more and
more connected. Where the firewall used to be the boundary of the Enterprise
perimeter this is no longer strictly the case. With the ever increasing consumption of cloud services in
Enterprises a bigger and bigger portion of the stuff that IT is tasked to
protect moves out of their network. Don't take my word for it. Look at the
space of CASBs (Cloud Access Security Brokers) which focuses exactly on this
problem - this market segment is exploding (in a good way). I expect that the
more traditional End User Computing monitoring and analytics products will
focus more on these security problems at their customers.
Another important factor or dimension (direction - inbound) is
the rise of Cybercrime. Cybercrime is growing fast and getting more and more
organized - for pure monetary reasons but also for political and religious
reasons. Whatever the reason, the effect was already witnessed in 2015: an
unprecedented amount of high profile attacks have occurred and the year is not
over yet (plus a lot of hacks are going on right now that have not been
discovered yet I am sure). The User Environment Management vendors, AppSense
and RES Software already know this and are focusing on (their) security
(capabilities) a lot more. In 2016 I personally expect we will see the larger
End User Computing vendors (Citrix, VMware) also focus (more) on security.
Another important accelerator is that legislation, especially
in EMEA, will become much more strict as it comes to liability when being
hacked. The simple fact is that a lot of organisations are not well equipped
(yet) to deal with this ‘new' world and that's why we will see ‘security' have
a big impact on End User Computing in 2016.
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About the Author
Michel Roth is a passionate,
pragmatic and experienced B2B Product Management professional with a passion of
End User Computing. Over 15 years he has worked in startups and some of the
largest tech companies of the world. He's always on the lookout for ways to
make the biggest impact for both his company's products and customers. You can
reach him on Twitter @michelroth or connect with him in LinkedIn https://nl.linkedin.com/in/michelroth