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Salem State University Teams with IGEL, Citrix and Nutanix to Deliver Digital Workspaces

Topics: IGEL, Citrix, Nutanix, VDI, endpoint management, digital workspace

Limited IT resources drive need for the IGEL’s robust management features; maturity of Citrix virtual desktop infrastructure, and the simplicity and time-to-value for Nutanix’s hyperconverged infrastructure offering make the combined solution a no-brainer for the university.

When Jake Snyder joined Salem State University’s IT department, the public university located just outside of Boston, Mass. was only using traditional PCs. “95% of the PCs were still on Windows 7 and there was no clear migration path in sight to Windows 10,” recalls Snyder. “Additionally, all updates to these aging desktop computers were being done locally in the university’s computer labs. Management was difficult and time consuming.”

The university realized something had to change, and that was one of the reasons why they brought Snyder on board – to upgrade its end-user computing environment to VDI. Salem State was looking for the security and manageability that a VDI solution could provide. “One of the biggest challenges that the university had been experiencing was managing desktop imaging and applications,” said Snyder. “They wanted to be able to keep their student, faculty and staff end-points up to date and secure, while at the same time easing the troubleshooting process. They weren’t able to do any of this with their current set-up.”

Snyder first saw a demo of the IGEL solution at the final BriForum event in Boston in 2016. “It was great to see IGEL at that event as I had heard a lot of good buzz around their products and solutions, especially from other colleagues in the industry,” said Snyder. “After BriForum, I went back and ordered some evaluation units to test out within our EUC environment.”

What Snyder quickly discovered during the evaluation period was that the IGEL Universal Management Suite (UMS) was not just plug-and-play, like he had expected. “The IGEL UMS was a very customizable solution, and I liked the robust interface,” continued Snyder. “Despite competitive solutions, it was clear from the start that the IGEL devices were going to be easier to use and cheaper in the long run. IGEL really was a ‘no-brainer’ when you consider the management capabilities and five-year warranty they offer on their hardware.”

Salem State University currently has 400 IGEL Universal Desktop software-defined thin clients deployed on its campus including 360 UD3 thin clients, which are the workhorse of the IGEL portfolio, and 40 UD6 thin clients, which support high-end graphics capabilities for multimedia users. Salem State has also purchased IGEL UD Pocket micro thin clients which they are now testing.

How Parallels RAS Enhances Microsoft RDS

Topics: Parallels, Microsoft, RDS, virtualization, VDI

In 2001, Microsoft introduced the RDP protocol that allowed users to access an operating system’s desktop remotely. Since then, Microsoft has developed the Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) to facilitate remote desktop access. However, Microsoft RDS leaves a lot to be desired. This white paper highlights the pain points of RDS solutions, and how systems administrators can use Parallels® Remote Application Server (RAS) to enhance their Microsoft RDS infrastructure.

In 2001, Microsoft introduced the RDP protocol that allowed users to access an operating system’s desktop remotely. Since then, Microsoft has developed the Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) to facilitate remote desktop access.

However, Microsoft RDS leaves a lot to be desired. This white paper highlights the pain points of RDS solutions, and how systems administrators can use Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) to enhance their Microsoft RDS infrastructure.

Microsoft RDS Pain Points:
•   Limited Load Balancing Functionality
•   Limited Client Device Support
•   Difficult to Install, Set Up, and Update

Parallels RAS is an application and virtual desktop delivery solution that allows systems administrators to create a private cloud from which they can centrally manage the delivery of applications, virtual desktops, and business-critical data. This comprehensive VDI solution is well known for its ease of use, low license costs, and feature list.

How Parallels RAS Enhances Your Microsoft RDS Infrastructure:
•   Easy to Install and Set Up
•   Centralized Configuration Console
•   Auto-Configuration of Remote Desktop Session Hosts
•   High Availability Load Balancing (HALB)
•   Superior user experience on mobile devices
•   Supports hypervisors from Citrix, VMware, Microsoft’s own Hyper-V, Nutanix Acropolis, and Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM)

As this white paper highlights, Parallels RAS allows you to enhance your Microsoft Remote Desktop Services infrastructure, enabling you to offer a superior application and virtual desktop delivery solution.

Built around Microsoft’s RDP protocol, Parallels RAS allows systems administrators to do more in less time with fewer resources. Since it is easier to implement and use, systems administrators can manage and easily scale up the Parallels RAS farm without requiring any specialized training. Because of its extensive feature list and multisite support, they can build solutions that meet the requirements of any enterprise, regardless of its size and scale.

Modernized Backup for Open VMs

Topics: catalogic, catalogic software, backup, RedHat, KVM, Citrix, hypervisor

Catalogic vProtect is an agentless enterprise backup solution for Open VM environments such as RedHat Virtualization, Nutanix Acropolis, Citrix XenServer, KVM, Oracle VM, PowerKVM, KVM for IBM z, oVirt, Proxmox and Xen. vProtect enables VM-level protection and can function as a standalone solution or integrate with enterprise backup software such as IBM Spectrum Protect, Veritas NetBackup or Dell-EMC Networker. It is easy to use and affordable.

Modernized Backup for Nutanix Acropolis Hypervisor

Topics: catalogic, catalogic software, backup, Nutanix, Acropolis, hypervisor, virtualization

Catalogic vProtect is an agentless enterprise backup solution for Nutanix Acropolis. vProtect enables VM-level protection with incremental backups, and can function as a standalone solution or integrate with enterprise backup software such as IBM Spectrum Protect, Veritas NetBackup or Dell-EMC Networker. It is easy to use and affordable. It also supports Open VM environments such as RedHat Virtualization, Citrix XenServer, KVM, Oracle VM, and Proxmox.