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 10^th 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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