Company Blogs

DaaS

In my last post I discussed taking a look at some of the Hosted VDI Solutions available to you in the marketplace. A hosted Virtual Desktop is known as DaaS or Desktop as a Service.

It’s all about the user experience with desktop access anywhere, anytime, and on any device.

The Virtual Desktop is hosted on a data center server virtual machine and delivered across the network using a remote display protocol. ( RDP, ICA, VNC,EOP, ALP and PCoIP.  I’ll save that for another blog).

 

Lets start with ThinkGrid [1]. ThinkGrid was named in a Gartner  report “ Cool Vendors in Infrastructure Services” So I wanted to take a look at their offerings. http://www.thinkgrid.ie/hosted-desktop.aspx

We will start with the desktop specifications. They offer Windows XP, but will soon offer Win 7. Some applications come standard, like Microsoft Office 2010 and Adobe Acrobat Reader 9. You can add and install your own applications using your own licensing. Or, take advantage of using their catalogue of applications for a monthly fee. Let’s say you have some temporary workers and really only need some applications for a few months. This is the ideal situation; you pay the monthly fee instead of the full licensing cost. When you are done you no longer pay the fee. It even supports local printing. You can have multiple images just like you normally would have for your different departments. I think when you take a look at the specifications you will find these are probably more powerful devices than what you are currently using in your environment.

Specifications

Fully Isolated Customer Environment - Full Customizable - Fully Virtualized _{(Not like Terminal Services)}

CPU/Processing Power -  Intel 2.2 Ghz Quad Core

Application Memory 1 GB - 32 GB

Disk Space 5 GB Useable Data + OS

Shared Diskspace (File Server) Optional

Resources Upgradeable and On-Demand Performance Burst

With the Group Management Pack and you get 100 GB Shared Fileserver, Active Directory/GP Management, User Permissions Management.

You can connect 24x7 with Windows, Mac, Linux or the iPad and Multi Monitor support is available.

Migrating your users

Not all your users would be a candidate for a hosted desktop. With this type of service, you choose who in your organization should use the hosted desktop and who stays on their regular desktop. This is where planning and testing comes into play. You can use a phased approach moving small or large sections at a time.

Wondering how much you can save by using DaaS?  You can download their Excel calculator.  http://www.thinkgrid.ie/hosted-desktop-info.aspx

There are also some really good whitepapers so you can compare DaaS to Google Apps or Go to My PC.

Go to their website and take a test drive, it’s free!

One definition of consumerization in the business environment means that I, as an employee, am free to select and purchase whatever consumer class PC, workstation or device meeting my needs.  It also means I am then authorized to utilize that device on the corporate network.
There has been a great deal of debate recently on the topic of employee owned PC’s versus company owned PC’s.   For certain companies, specifically those that do not have sensitive or secure data, consumerization may make sense.  However, for companies with sensitive data and many enterprise applications, employee-owned PC’s may cause more headaches than benefits.

While cloud computing is continuing to gain momentum on virtually every front, especially in the SaaS area, I am still seeing some confusion or hesitancy in the market place within the buying community.

One of the biggest areas of concern for many is in the area of security in the cloud.  And like the sadistic dentist in the movie, The Marathon Man, I’ll ask again.  Is it safe…or do we need to continue drilling for the answer?

According to reports earlier this year from the Federal Reserve, non-financial companies in the U.S. are sitting on $1.84 trillion in cash and other liquid assets; which is up more than 25% from the year earlier.

Companies have curbed spending in an effort to weather the past two year’s worth of financial and economic crisis.  For many companies, this anti-spend position has resulted in a collection of cash and short-term assets. However, fears of a double dip recession notwithstanding, some company executives, especially those in select IT related industries, are actually spending on cloud-related initiatives.

According to reports earlier this year from the Federal Reserve, non-financial companies in the U.S. are sitting on $1.84 trillion in cash and other liquid assets; which is up more than 25% from the year earlier.

Companies have curbed spending in an effort to weather the past two year’s worth of financial and economic crisis.  For many companies, this anti-spend position has resulted in a collection of cash and short-term assets. However, fears of a double dip recession notwithstanding, some company executives, especially those in select IT related industries, are actually spending on cloud-related initiatives.

Hello, and welcome to our first blog on cloud computing!

Over the course of the next several months, Sondra and I will be authoring articles, offering opinions, and hosting spirited exchanges on the topic of cloud computing.

We will be covering topics such as; what it all the fuss about?, business value of cloud computing, services that can be developed and provisioned through the cloud, concepts on the various “as a Service” models, impact on IT spending, impact on hardware and software vendors, and what opportunities might exist for IT Hardware and Software service companies vying for a piece of the cloud.

Are we ready to Virtualize our Data center ?

Since this is my first Blog on Virtualization, let’s just start at the beginning. By now, we have all heard of Virtualization. If you have not heard about it, you’re probably not part of the world of IT. Maybe you have heard of, but just have not had the time to do the research. There is Desktop Virtualization, Application Virtualization, Storage Virtualization, Server Virtualization, Network Virtualization….. Need I say more?