VDI – What about when you go offline?: Import and Export Personalization and Application Settings Into and Out of Virtual Desktop Sessions

Desktop Virtualization is set to revolutionize the way in which desktops are managed and delivered to many of the worlds corporate knowledge and power workers.  But, what happens when these particular users leave the office and go ‘offline’ as they work on their local laptop when out on the road?

Without an enterprise scalable offline VDI offering and client hypervisor, the first stumbling block can be seen in that the server hosted virtual machine session is unable to run on an offline physical device.. however that could all change as per Martin Ingrams predictions for 2010.

But, what if we don’t want to take our virtual machine offline, what if it was better suited to run a locally installed OS and application set, but have all your personalization and application settings available in the local installed offline session?  This would mean the application settings changed and made in a corporate virtual desktop, are now available to the worker to use when out on the road, and, any further changes made offline will be re-sync’d into the virtual desktop session upon reconnection to the network.  This may sound a little far-fetched, but is actually relatively simple and being used in earnest by thousands of users around the world  -  AppSense Environment Manager’s Offline Mode ensures mobile users have access to the latest version of their personalization settings when not inside or connected to the corporate network.

The process behind this is relatively simple and utilizes a ‘local virtualization cache’.  When a user is logged on to a managed computer, their personalization data is stored locally in the virtual cache on the endpoint device.  By default, when the user logs off or shuts down the device, the cache is deleted, and recreated when they next log on.

To enable offline availability of the settings stored within the local virtualization cache, the AppSense Environment Manager console provides an option for the administrator to specify, on a per-machine basis, that the user is working in offline mode and requires their cache to be permanently available on the device, thereby not deleting it at logoff or shut down.

The settings are now available to the user for the duration of their disconnected state, any further changes the user makes to their desktop or applications during this time are automatically captured, redirected from the local registry and file system, to the local virtualization cache.  Upon reconnection to the network, these new settings (the delta’s) are automatically synchronized back to the SQL database and are now available to be streamed into any other concurrent session.

As you may be aware, personalization settings are only one half of the user personality, the other half being ‘Policy’.  Policy remains active on the end point at all times, regardless of whether the managed computer has offline mode enabled or disabled.  Policy remains as it is part of the AppSense Environment Manager Configuration, which resides on the end point device at all times to set up, maintain and self heal the environment.

 If you have any questions or comments, as ever please do feel free to post them below.

Many thanks!

SpeedyHire saves over £2m on Microsoft Licenses by using AppSense

Licensing Microsoft Applications in a SBC or VDI environment can be a tricky matter, and a costly one too as many applications are licensed on a per device basis, regardless of whether the user actually executes and runs the application or not.  This often leads to many organizations having to purchase surplus application licenses for DEVICES that can potentially access the application, even if the USER is blocked from running the application, as the authorized users can still access the application from ANY DEVICE and therefore all devices would need licensing.

Fortunately, there is a cost effective way to control application access at a DEVICE level to enable organizations to reduce the amount of application licenses they require – it comes in the form of AppSense Application Manager.

SpeedyHire now use AppSense Application Manager to control Application Access at a DEVICE level and have reduced their license costs by £2m.

They found that only 60% of their 3,500 staff required access to Microsoft Office, and so blocked the devices where users do not need access to Office from running the application set.

Read more on this particular case can be found via this link

Further information about License Control and AppSense can be found here

You can download a branded PDF copy of this overview below:

SpeedyHire _pdf

AppSense 2010 predictions – Updated: One prediction may already be coming true.

*** Update 3rd Feb ’10::  It would appear prediction #9 may already be coming into play.  Please see #9 for more info. ***

At the end of last year I made some predictions for how I think desktop virtualization will develop in 2010. People who have listened to Brian Madden TV’s prediction show ( http://www.brianmadden.com/blogs/tv/archive/2010/01/22/brian-madden-tv-27-2010-trends-and-predictions.aspx) will have heard references to some of them and I think the time is right to share the whole list with our broader readership. I am interested in your thoughts too, feel free to comment whether you agree or disagree.

Martin Ingram

1. The Proof Year for Hosted Virtual Desktops

From talking to our numerous customers and partners around the world, we see there is now general acceptance that the componentized desktop model is the way to go, and there is a good understanding of the sorts of benefits we will see.  We believe 2010 will see a distinct move to non-persistent, component-based desktops in large enterprises as challenges such as how to manage the user experience in a standardized desktop environment are solved by software providers.  We see more and more enterprises moving from PoC to full implementation.  As they say ‘the proof of the pudding is in the eating’ and 2010 will be the proof year for hosted virtual desktops.

2. DV implementations will move from PoC to full implementations (the first >20K seat implementation will occur in 2010)

With over 4000 customers around the world, we are seeing many of our PoC implementations start to convert to full roll outs.  This is important because it means the business case for virtualized client computing is being proven by delivering independent, quantifiable, benefits.  As with any new technology, it is only at this stage that it becomes easy for the majority of organizations to make decisions on future technologies.  We believe that the first 20,000+ seat implementation of a virtualized desktop will go live in 2010.

3. Client Virtualization starts to take off

The principal area of innovation in 2010 will be client virtualization, specifically virtualization of laptops. Client hypervisors from Citrix and VMware will ship and join those from Neocleus and Virtual Computer. These products support very different management models and the big debate of the year is going to be ‘how do we actually want to manage users on virtualized clients?’.  The hypervisor itself is only a small part of a client virtualization solution and most of the benefits come from changes to how we manage the platform rather than the introduction of the hypervisor itself. The model that will be ultimately successful will be based on componentization, similar in many ways to the model that is being implemented now in hosted desktop virtualization, but with some modifications. The modifications will be necessary to take account of the basic difference between a mobile device such as a laptop and a server in the data center – intermittent network connectivity. Key to success will be to preserve the essential features of componentization such as getting economies of scale across software components and delivery of the user environment in this more challenging platform. There are several techniques that are good candidates for this and we will see active debate throughout the year on their pros and cons. Given the proportion of laptops in business today and the imperative to get to a single management methodology across both hosted and roaming users, this will be an important and lively discussion. One of the outcomes will be the importance of choosing a user environment management solution that delivers across all of the platforms in use in the business be they hosted or client, virtualized or traditional.

4. The first commercially viable UIA solution

Since we believe that the non-persistent, component-based desktop model will be the prevalent virtual desktop model in 2010, we also believe that the emergence of a commercially viable solution to manage users ‘personal’ applications will happen in 2010.  By standardizing the corporate desktop and separating it into its constituent parts, (corporate OS, corporate apps and user), the problem with non-corporate user apps remains.  User-installed applications in a non-persistent desktop model is a real challenge and cannot be solved easily.  The inevitable adoption of the non-persistent desktop model will bring a solution to market in 2010.

5. DaaS will begin the move to a more economical non-persistent, standardized desktop model

DaaS solutions out there today are based on a 1:1 user to desktop model.  Although many organizations benefit from subscription-based desktop management, the costs associated with managing and storing many unique desktop images will inhibit the adoption of this model.  By moving to a standardized desktop and separate user personality, significant economies of scale will be realized and DaaS will become a reality for more organizations.

6. Cloud Computing will show little progress in client computing (DaaS being just the first step and the only area of activity)

The Cloud Computing model for client computing will take several years to progress to a mainstream solution, depending primarily on Cloud Orchestration standards and high availability bandwidth.  We do believe, however, that the advent of non-persistent desktops in the newly-emerging DaaS model will begin the move of Cloud from theoretical hype to serious business case consideration. However DaaS is only part of the Cloud model of client computing and there is still plenty that needs doing to enable integration of services across multiple service providers

7. BYOPC morphs into HAPC

While the concept of BYOPC is attractive, in reality, this model is unlikely to be widely adopted by employees.  Support and warranty issues will cause unnecessary headaches for users and many will inevitably contact their own company support desk for assistance anyway.  What is more likely is the use of desktop virtualization in HAPC (Home Access PC).  Employees will be more likely to use their static home PC for work use out of hours and keep their work PC at the office.  A non-persistent virtual desktop model works well in this scenario, as long as the employee has a predictable and personal experience across both devices. These users will be served by either hosted solutions(SBC/HVD) or local execution, the ‘new thing’ here is local execution.

8. Desktop component delivery commoditizes

As non-persistent corporate desktop images become the norm, the standardization and automation of the delivery of these assets will become less valuable and the updating of the source image and the management of the user’s individual environment will increase in value.  Platform providers will deliver efficient means of delivering desktops and corporate applications from a standardized source image, with the management of these source images becoming the value-add in the mid-term.

Longer term, image management will move to become a service that is provided by software vendors and will be part of our contracts with the vendors. Configuration and personalization of applications will remain inside the business because so much of the information involved is business and user specific. This becomes a major direction for user environment management.

9. We reach a decision point on the mobile platform for client computing – virtualization or a de-facto standard. – Updated

Currently there are few corporate applications available to run on phone platforms. In part this is a result of the platform variance that has existed to date which would have required an application developer to support each platform separately. For a number of years vendors have been working on hypervisors for mobile devices that would allow a single common view across all the devices. VMware bought Trango a year or so back and investment was rife. This year we will either see virtualization get adopted for mobile platforms or a single platform adopted instead. If not virtualization what would the platform be? Android is too new, Microsoft suffers from platform variance perhaps leaving Apple or RIM to become the de facto standard for mobile devices – there is a sizable chance of Apple ousting Microsoft because of a lack of consistency in the Microsoft platform. Whoever moves to take this position will have to find a better, more business focused, way of selling applications than AppStores.

*** Update 3rd Feb ’10: It would appear this may be coming true with the recent new of Citrix and OK Labs, please see my latest blog post on this matter here ***

10.  Stand-alone application virtualization ISVs will find 2010 a real business challenge

Application virtualization is an increasing important component in desktop virtualization, and this will continue through 2010 and beyond.  Such is the importance of this mechanism, that we expect smaller, independent ISVs specializing in this area to become either swallowed up by the platform vendors (like Softricity and Thinstall) or find new directions.

New Videos on the AppSense YouTube Channel

I recently came across some old demo videos of AppSense Environment Manager that were created by fellow AppSense Blogger & Product Manager Oliver Sills.  These were created quite some time back and so the terminology may be slighted outdated, and Windows 7 was not available to demo on back then.. but the need for a User Environment Management solution for Personalization remains just as important none the less.

The videos have been uploaded to the AppSense YouTube Channel and are as follows:

Link to main AppSense YouTube Channel home page

New Videos

AppSense - Save & Apply Settings In a Non-Persistent VDI Model

 AppSense – User Personalization Profile Rollback

AppSense – Stream Personalization between OS Platforms

Hope this are of use / interest.. for more info – please visit www.AppSense.com

AppSense Named 2010 Hot Companies Finalist by Network Products Guide

Innovative provider of User Environment Management solutions among wide-range of information technology vendors evaluated based upon Products, People, Performance and Potential

Wow, so, I recently blogged about  winning Silver in the Desktop Virtualization category of the SearchServerVirtualization.com 2009 Product of the Year Awards ,winning the TechWorld Best Desktop Software Product of the Year 2009 award, and Best Desktop Virtualization Product at VMworld 2009 - I am now thrilled to also announce another great achievement.  

AppSense, the leading provider of user environment management solutions for the enterprise, today announced that it has been named a 2010 Hot Companies finalist by Network Products Guide.  Selected from a global industry analysis of information technology vendors which included established large companies, mid-size and new start-ups around the world,  AppSense has advanced to the finalists stage based on the “4Ps” selection criteria—namely Products, People, Performance, and Potential. The coveted 2010 Hot Companies analysis encompasses companies in all areas of information technologies including security, wireless, storage, networking, software and communications.

The “Hot Companies” 2010 evaluation process also assessed candidates for entrepreneurial spirit, seasoned executives with relevant experience, clear understanding of the segment of IT market they are currently active and plan to stay active, products and solutions that are positioned to take advantage of the emerging market opportunities, well developed revenue-growth model and clearly planned expansion strategies.

“AppSense’s industry-leading user environment management solutions are used by enterprises all around the world,” said Rake Narang, editor-in-chief at Network Products Guide. “Being named as a Hot Companies finalist solidifies their position as a company to watch as they continue to provide award-winning solutions.”

The 2010 Hot Companies winners will be announced and honored at the Technosium 2010 Presentations and Dinner at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco on March 18, 2010. AppSense will be amongst the other key industry players at this event. The executives from finalists will be presenting their company’s 4Ps criteria to an audience of end-users, leading entrepreneurs, other IT companies, venture capitalists, corporate strategists and industry associations. To see the complete list of finalists please visit www.technosium.com

“We are delighted that our company has reached the 2010 Hot Company finalist stage,” said Peter Rawlinson, vice president of worldwide marketing at AppSense. “This further validates our position as a company playing a leadership role in desktop virtualization and the management of user data. We are proud of this accomplishment and look forward to presenting at the 2010 Technosium 2010 Presentations and Dinner.”

About Network Products Guide Awards
As industry’s leading technology research and advisory publication, Network Products Guide plays a vital role in keeping decision makers and end-users informed of the choices they can make in all areas of information technology. You will discover a wealth of information and tools in this guide including the best products and services, roadmaps, industry directions, technology advancements and independent product evaluations that facilitate in making the most pertinent technology decisions impacting business and personal goals. The guide follows conscientious research methodologies developed and enhanced by industry experts. To learn more, visit http://www.networkproductsguide.com/

About AppSense
AppSense is the leading provider of user environment management (UEM) solutions for enterprise organizations. UEM is a proven method of reducing desktop management costs by treating the user environment separate from the desktop and delivery method. This separation enables IT to standardize the corporate desktop and automate the delivery of the user’s working environment, significantly reducing operational costs. AppSense technology is used around the world by companies such as JPMorgan Chase, Lowes, United Airlines, Wachovia, Wal-Mart, ESPN and CB Richard Ellis. AppSense has main offices in New York and Manchester, England with additional offices in Palo Alto, London, Munich, Melbourne and Amsterdam.

PR Contact:
Heather Fitzsimmons
Mindshare PR
+1 (650) 947-7400
heather@mindsharepr.com

AppSense Environment Manager Testimonials Overview Document

In light of all the recent coverage of AppSense Environment Manager -  from case studies and analyst reports to winning awards and press releases, I thought it best to consolidate some of the highlights into a single, high level over view document..

This is a great resource for our dedicated Channel Partners, Press and Analysts, End Users and fellow Bloggers..

It is available in PDF format on the official AppSense.com website and can be found via this direct link

AppSense Wins Again – SearchServerVirtualization.com Products of the Year Award

Hot off the back of winning the TechWorld Best Desktop Software Product of the Year 2009 award, and, Best Desktop Virtualization Product at VMworld 2009 - AppSense are pleased to announce another great achievement by winning Silver in the Desktop Virtualization category of the SearchServerVirtualization.com 2009 Products of the Year Awards.

These awards are conducted annually and are presented and judged by the editors of TechTarget’s Data Center and Virtualization Media Group. Products are judged based on ease of integration into existing environments, functionality, innovation, manageability, performance and value. The award recognizes companies that the publication and its judges believe are best positioned to provide great products in 2010 and beyond.

“AppSense Environment Manager addresses some nagging pain points for users. One of the biggest complaints from users about virtual desktops is the lack of personalization,” according to SearchServerVirtualization.com 2009 Products of the Year judges. “AppSense has found a unique answer to this criticism with Environment Manager. By decoupling the user profile from the desktop and putting it on a server, personalization persists even across a pooled desktop environment. No matter which client is used to connect to a desktop – whether it’s a desktop, laptop, thin client or smart phone – the personalization carries over to the next login.”

AppSense Environment Manager is the only enterprise solution that enables standardized desktop environments to be fully configured and personalized without the need for cumbersome profiles or scripts. From server-based computing environments through to virtual and physical desktops, AppSense Environment Manager ensures users always receive a consistent, predictable and personalized working experience. Full desktops can now be configured and business rules applied on-demand, enabling compliant, personalized virtual desktops to be quickly delivered to thousands of users at lowest possible cost. Additionally, AppSense technology is used in conjunction with many third party systems integrators, including CSC, HP, EDS, Dell and IBM.

“We are pleased that AppSense Environment Manager is recognized by SearchServerVirtualization.com as one of the top desktop virtualization products to watch in 2010,” said Peter Rawlinson, vice president of worldwide marketing at AppSense. “Receiving the 2009 Product of the Year award further validates AppSense’s unique approach in managing all aspects of the user on the corporate desktop. As desktop virtualization adoption continues to increase, we are eager to continue providing award winning technology enabling increased user productivity at a low per-user cost.”

For more information about the SearchServerVirtualization.com 2009 Products of the Year Awards and to view the complete list of winners, please visit this link

It would appear the world is really starting to see the importance of UEM within a Virtual Desktop Environment, and we at AppSense are extremely happy to be acknowledged as the world leading UEM solution provider to the enterprise.. :)

DABCC Video Podcast – Citrix XenDesktop + AppSense = Enterprise Desktop Virtualization Solution

As you may be aware, Citrix recommend AppSense as the leading User Environment Manager solution and together we promote a joint XenDesktop + AppSense solution for large enterprise environments.

Further to the joint Citrix XenDesktop & AppSense collateral that can be found on the Citrix webpages, leading industry analyst and commentator Doug Brown from DABCC brought Derek Cheung (Senior Product Marketing Manager for XenDesktop, Citrix) and myself (Product Marketing Manager, AppSense) together to record a Video Podcast.

The podcast covers an overview of Citrix XenDesktop 4 and when, why and how AppSense is essential in certain environments and has enabled some of the largest Citrix deployments where we together share some 4,000+ customers.

“In this video Derek and Gareth discuss the requirements to create an enterprise desktop virtualization solution along with where AppSense fits in to Citrix’s solution stack.”

For further information and to see this video podcast in full, please visit DABCC via this link.

 Hope you enjoy the podcast as much as we did making it :)

Citrix XenDesktop + AppSense User Environment Management

You Know Where The Door is – Use It!.. But Do You Have To?

Yes. Something that has happened  several times before has happened again this week.

A Reseller/Solution Provider implements a Citrix/Terminal Services/VDI/Streamed Application solution for an end user client.  The end user  has since received a Software Asset Management review, and at the end of it, the client receives a big un-budgetted invoice from Software Vendor XYZ because their Citrix/Terminal Services/VDI/Streamed Application solution does not enforce a ‘Per Device’ based application access control and licensing model.  As a result, the end user client gets upset and in the case this week, the Reseller/Solution Provider was shown the door and lost the Client.

As mentioned, I have seen this many times before, and I must sound like a broken record to my reseller techies, but this scenario keeps happening and can be avoided!

Now, before you blame it all on one particular application vendor, just remember that MOST if not ALL of your typical Software Vendors have a DEVICE based model for licensing, not user based.  It’s pretty simple, if a device can potentially access the application (regardless of where the actual code executes, or, even if it executes or not) that device needs a licence.  Even if you try and block access to the application at the user level with GPO’s, SRP’s or white and black lists at a user level, this does not comply as the authorized users can still access the application from all devices and so all devices still require a licence.

For example, If I own 50 PC’s and install Application A on each PC I need to buy 50 licenses. I can’t just say I only have one user login, so I only need one license – the world doesn’t work like that.

And “network techniologies” (CTX/TS/VDI/STREAMED APPS) are no different. If I can run the application for any single one of my 400 thin clients, then either I need to buy 400 device licenses of the application, or I need a way of enforcing the number of devices that can execute it.

If you want to see this explained you can can see me white board this on the AppSense YouTube Channel here -> Whiteboarding a per device licence scenario

Now I understand not everyone sees things the same way, but my experience is the Reseller/Solution provider is often the scape goat in these scenarios when it all goes pear-shaped.  So, for the partner to protect their rear end, and be a bit proactive, some of our Aussie Solution Providers highlight this to the end user by sending a short email, not only to the IT Manager who may be running the project, but also to the CFO and CIO who sign the cheques.

This email points out that the Solutions provider is bound by their status with Software Vendor XYZ to inform the client that the solution they are looking to implement does not fulfill the licensing requirements of the Software Vendor they are wanting to use and they may be liable for additional licence fees and even financial penalties in the event of an audit.. if, they do not also include a per device application access control solution as part of their overall SBC or VDI solution.

I was having this discussion in the office this week when, Hey Presto – in jumps AppMan with his  favorite AppSense product Application Manager - he’s a jovial fellow, looking resplendent in his red outfit.  Sure he’s not the tallest guy in the office, he could do with a few visits to the gym (couldn’t we all?) and yes I agree some of his hair has left the building for greener pastures but everyone with a wife and kids has that issue :-)

However, his heart ‘s in the right place.  He wants everyone to be compliant with their software licensing, he doesn’t want to see companies paying out for licences they don’t need, and he only wants to see Trusted/Authorized Applications running on corporate architecture (more info on how AppMan and his solution Application Manager can help with per device software licensing can be found here).

In addition, there’s a side benefit – not only will AppSense Application Manager enforce a per Device licensing model, it’s also one of the most effective security products on the market.  Trusted ownership ensured only software that is installed by a Trusted Owner (typically the IT Team) it’s allowed to run. Any file installed by a user will instantly be blocked.

Effective and bullet proof, that’s AppSense Application Manager. And as I always say when the subject of security comes up, It’s not that the security team at your organisation has done a bad job, it just they don’t know what they don’t know, so how can they protect against something they do not know about, or some piece of code that has only just been written today by someone they dont know of?  On the other hand,  AppSense Application Manager will show you EVERY file users try to execute, so you do now know what is going on.

And maybe, just maybe, if we all work harder at helping our clients, we can all join a Gym, take some measures to stop our hair falling out, avoid any software licensing issues and costs.. and all live happily ever after :-)

For more information on cost reduction in your environment, please visit the cost reduction pages on the AppSense website.

AppSense win TechWorld Best Desktop Software Product of 2009 Video Interview

Further to my blog post covering AppSense Environment Manager winning the TechWorld Best Desktop Software Product of the year for 2009, we have since attended the awards ceremony  where Michelle Craven, AppSense Channel Marketing Manager, was interviewed as part of the awards evening.

We have uploaded the video to the AppSense Channel on YouTube and can be viewed here  

This award comes after a great 2009 for AppSense where we achieved record growth and won many other prestigious awards in addition to this one…