
Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2019. Read them in this 11th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed by Jason E. Smith, Vice President of Product Marketing at Liquidware
Liquidware Predicts a Bright yet Cloudy Future for 2019
Last year my prediction included that 2018 would be the year
that "Pure DaaS" solutions would start to flourish and that others might
emerge. I have to say that while I pointed out that Amazon WorkSpaces was the
closest to providing a "Pure DaaS" experience, Microsoft, with their Windows
Virtual Desktop (WVD) for Azure announcement in the third quarter, really made me
look like a true seer.
So what about 2019? What prediction can I offer for the
landscape of virtual desktops?
1)
Longstanding
desktop platforms leaders will have to evolve in 2019 - Microsoft WVD may
be just entering the market in 2019 but I predict it will be enough of a game
changer that Citrix and VMware will have to radically change the way they work
with Microsoft and customers to continue their own leadership and growth.
2)
Channel
Partners, System Integrators and MSPs will see major opportunities in 2019
- with recent industry announcements like Microsoft WVD and Nutanix's FRAME
platform in mind, the channel will find that there are again big opportunities
in cloud virtual desktops. While it has become increasingly challenging for
many partners to flourish in the virtual desktop business in recent years
through evolving changes by platform vendors and their program changes, customers
will begin to reevaluate the way they are delivering RDS and virtual desktops.
Smart partners will see this as an opportunity to consult with customers and
help them assess for a path forward and plan with customers for their cloud
desktop strategy and migration.
3)
Battle
for the cloud focuses on desktops in 2019 - Make no mistake, all of the
major cloud vendors are interested in the virtual desktop market because it
consumes cloud computing. This is great for customers because it will continue
to foster innovation and easy and cost-effective ways that customers can
consume cloud compute and storage. Microsoft Azure, AWS, and Google will put
real marketing efforts and increased presence into catering to virtual
desktops. However, I predict a leader will emerge by Q4 of 2019. It remains to
be seen who that will be. Azure may have an edge with the emerging WVD from
Microsoft but Amazon has had first mover advantage with their AWS WorkSpaces
offering, and Google has already increased their presence in the virtual
desktop community with a desire to make it easy for customers to consume Google
Cloud.
So, there you have three predictions for the virtual desktop
market in 2019. As for Liquidware, we've been developing features for this
moment since our inception 9 years ago. As we enter our 10th year
we'll be there to help customers assess for Cloud desktops with Stratusphere UX,
migrate and manage users with policies and profiles for modern use cases such
as Office 365 with ProfileUnity, streamline image management through layered
application delivery with FlexApp, and help customers ensure that their
platform is offering the best in user experience with Stratusphere UX. In
summary, I predict that the virtual desktop market is in for a bright and cloudy
future in 2019!
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About the Author
Jason E. Smith is VP
of Product Marketing for Liquidware and has worked in the virtual desktop and
Windows management market for more than 20 years.