Posted on Tue, Nov 29, 2011 @ 10:53 AM
When I tell clients or partners that I only use the iPad, they’ll often respond with arguments about how it’s impossible, or at least that it would never work for them.
“iPads are consumption devices, not production devices,” and “I need to use Internet Explorer to access a lot of our corporate programs, and IE isn’t compatible with the iPad” are some of the most common objections.
To bust these iPad myths on the spot, I launch some of my favorite applications.
iPad, the Producer
Many say that the iPad isn’t so great for producing documents or presentations, just consuming them.
In reality, I think that programs available on the iPad are able to produce more engaging and interactive content. The beauty of these applications is that they’re built for touch. I also have no issues sharing files and presentations because with the iPad you can export everything into Microsoft-Office ready files or PDFs.
I use the following basic production programs—they’re my lifeblood:
- Pages—Similar to Microsoft Word.
- Numbers—Similar to Microsoft Excel.
- Keynote—Similar to Microsoft PowerPoint.
iPad, the Connector
Some of the following apps make life with the iPad easy, and connected:
- Cisco Mobile—This application literally turns your iPad into a phone, and can be kept open all day without interfering with other applications.
- Cisco WebEx—Use it for video conferencing, document sharing and other collaborative projects and activities.
- Cisco Jabber IM: This application turns my iPad into a corporate Instant Message client, complete with my team’s presence information.
- Citrix Receiver—Access Outlook, Internet Explorer (how we access our CRM), Microsoft Office and more Windows-basedapplications.
- Virtual Private Network—The VPN client built into the iPad allows secure remote access to client networks and MCPc’s secure networks.
- FaceTime—Use it for conferencing, or to check in with the family. Even my five-year-old knows how to fire up her mom’s laptop or her own iPad to chat. We eat dinner together via video, making FaceTime an invaluable tool to me, especially with on the road.
- WirtePad: Use it for taking notes in meetings, and then converting them into text or Word documents.
- GoodReader: To view PDF’s and other files types, make annotations on the documents, and collaborate with my team.
These applications are the ones I use every day that enable my iPad to be my only computing device. What are some of the apps that you’ve used to save the day? What are you favorites for work and personal use?
In our next blog post of this series, Managing the iPad-Only Executive, we’ll discuss the more technical backend setup required to tap into corporate networks and applications securely, and enable your workforce to be more mobile.
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Darin Haines is Group President of MCPc's Advanced Technology Group, focusing on solution delivery, and has over 16 years of experience in leading the technology function in mid-sized and enterprise-level organizations. Connect with Darin on LinkedIn.
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Posted on Tue, Nov 22, 2011 @ 09:20 AM
Editor’s Note: The iPad-Only Executive series deep-dives into the daily life of Darin Haines, group president of MCPc’s Advanced Technology Group. For about eight months, Darin has been using his iPad as his only computing device—for phone calls, video conferencing, content production, presentations and more.
In this series of three blog posts, we’ll go through a day in Darin’s life as the iPad-only executive, see the applications that make it all possible, and discuss the backend considerations in securely managing “renegades” like Darin.
A Day in the Life of the iPad-Only Executive
A lot of people ask me, “are you really an iPad-only executive?” It’s the truth. At the end of the day, my iPad is my only computing device. I started using it exclusively about eight months ago because I truly believe that work isn’t a place you go—it’s something you do. The iPad let’s me do work. I believe there's a convergence of market transitions that are significantly affecting where, when and how we work. Moreover, I see a rapidly evolving workspace that is more mobile, virtual, social and visual.
Think it’s not possible? In this post I’ll share with you a day in my business life using the iPad as my only computing device, as well as some of the applications that make it all possible.
Spend a Day with My iPad
Prepare for the day …
6:00 a.m.—Good morning! One of the first things I do is check my email on the iPad…while still in my pajamas!
6:15 a.m.—Open iCal to check what’s scheduled for the day…yes, still in my pajamas, but now with a hot cup of coffee in hand!
6:30 a.m.—Launch my NYTimes and WSJ apps to catch up on daily headlines and news for the morning.
6:45 a.m.—What should I wear today? There’s a GQ app for that.
Check-in to work …
8:00 a.m.—If I’m on the road, which is typically a couple of weeks a month, (likely booked through my United Air app), I’ll fire up our virtual private network (VPN) client to log into MCPc’s corporate network.
8:30 a.m.—Launch Cisco Mobile to catch up on voicemails and calls for the morning.
9:00-11:00 a.m.—Launch Citrix Receiver to see our CRM, run through opportunities in the pipeline, catch up on where we are from a work-order perspective, and access the Microsoft productivity suite of applications that I may need
Throughout the Business Day—OpenAir to file traveling expenses; Keynote to create or modify presentations for clients; Pages for proposals; Cisco WebEx conferences to communicate via video to our teams.
Take a personal break …
4:00 pm.—Check-in with Gracie, my 5-year-old daughter, via FaceTime to see how her day at school went.
Close shop …
4:30 p.m.—Check-in with LinkedIn, Facebook and more for social networking that happened throughout the day.
Post-Dinner—HBO Go to catch up on my favorite series and movies; FaceTime with Gracie again, likely read her a bedtime story.
Before Bed—Launch Nimsoft to see our entire corporate network and identify any issues about which I may need to alert the corporate team.
The iPad does a great job of bringing together my personal and work lives. Everything I need to make it through the day lives on, or can be accessed through this one device. The form factor of the iPad makes it simple and easy for me to communicate anytime from anywhere.
Your challenge: Can you go one full day using your iPad or tablet as your only computing device?
Check out some of the applications included in the timeline above to ease the transition, or look for my next blog post, Winning Applications for the iPad-Only Executive, for more details on how to use the right applications to make life as an iPad-only executive a reality.
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Darin Haines is Group President of MCPc's Advanced Technology Group, focusing on solution delivery, and has over 16 years of experience in leading the technology function in mid-sized and enterprise-level organizations. Connect with Darin on LinkedIn.
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Posted on Mon, Nov 07, 2011 @ 12:23 PM
Each month we read tons of industry articles, then choose some of the highlights and favorite headlines to share with our readers—keeping you up-to-date in today’s tech. October’s articles featured below focus on: 2012 IT planning, the ever-changing roles of CIOs, managing BYOD and mobile, and recent industry (and vertical market IT) headlines to note.
Start Planning 2012’s IT & Business Goals
The evolution of virtualization was named No. 1 in Gartner’s 10 Key Trends for 2012. The Network World article by Michael Cooney (@NWWlayer8) notes that overall, Gartner’s trends include items that have traditionally fallen outside the regular scope of IT—like energy efficiency and social media influence—which helps illustrate the converging IT landscape.
Some of the other top trends identified in the article include: consumerization and app development, compute per square foot, and staff retention and retraining.
As your organization moves to a more virtualized environment, note the impacts of virtualization on network topology and demand, as emphasized by Josh Stephens (@sw_headgeek) in the Computerworld article, Virtualization’s Slow Creep Into Your Network, Becoming a Flood?
The Ever-Evolving Role of CIO
Is IT Facing a Leadership Crisis? That’s what Meredith Levinson (@meridith) asks in her CIO article, and she brings valid insight to the continually discussed topic with the profile of David Reynolds, a current sales manager and aspiring CIO.
While traditional CIOs managed network systems and IT troubleshooting, advances in technology—and the direct business impact potentials of that technology—calls for CIOs to develop more a more business-minded focus. In the case of David Reynolds, a background with finance and the IT help desk positions this systems manager as a business-minded professional that can speak the languages of both business and IT—necessary requirements for evolving CIOs.
Read more on the topic in the MCPc blog post: The Evolving Role of CIO.
Managing BYOD and Mobile
Forrester’s July 2011 survey noted that 60% of companies already enable BYOD. Rethinking Enterprise Infrastructure in the BYOD Era, written by Arthur Cole of IT Business Edge, reminds IT pros that BYOD doesn’t have to be a threat to the network, as long as it prompts IT to rethink basic roles and responsibilities of the organization’s IT infrastructure, such as secure access and device management.
“But after that, what? Well, securing and managing those devices, aka mobile device management, aka MDM, is necessary, of course,” says ZDNet’s Eric Lai (@ericylai) in the article, After BYOD, What’s Next? It's the Apps, Stupid.
For tips on How to Create the Best Mobile Device Management Policy, check out this ReadWriteMobile article from Mark Gentile.
Industry Headlines to Note...
Your Top Picks
What were your favorite reads from October? Feel free to post additional articles, topics of interest or questions in the comments below.
This post is an MCPc blogging team collaboration.
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Posted on Thu, Nov 03, 2011 @ 12:36 PM
Last week, Citrix announced its plan to acquire App-DNA, specifically touting the benefits of App-DNA’s AppTitude application management software as a complimentary tool for the Citrix Desktop Transformation Model and process. In short, by automating many of the manual tasks associated with application compatibility testing and migration, organizations can significantly expedite their paths toward virtualization.
How Might This Affect Your Virtualization Plans?
For companies that are already fully virtualized, there are no direct, immediate implications. However:
- If you’ve only virtualized a portion of your end users, Citrix/App-DNA may help you more swiftly get any remaining user segments on board.
- If your organization is planning an acquisition or merger, you may use the features offered by Citrix/App-DNA to more quickly analyze acquired user applications, and determine which can and cannot be virtualized.
For companies that have yet to adopt virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), this is welcome news to help overcome a significant stumbling block on the path to adoption — application compatibility. Although App-DNA has been around for some time, its acquisition by a trusted name in virtualization provides legitimicy for its tools — and VDI in general — for use within enterprise organizations, where the functionality can really be a time- and money-saver.
Regardless of VDI experience to date, IT professionals need to know the implications of Citrix’s App-DNA acquisition to fully take advantage of the technology available, and make informed virtualization decisions moving forward.
Automated End-User Segmentation and Analysis
At MCPc, we’ve believed for years that end-user segmentation is a critical first step in both physical and virtual desktop deployments. Why? To determine which applications will or will not exist in your new environment, and how to deploy them, you need a clear understanding of your user population. Consider:
- What Applications are in use or planned for roll out
- How Applications are utilized across different departments or end-user groups
- How the Applications work and inter-operate with each other
- How all end users use the Applications to connect to their data sources
After understanding the user base and preferred applications, the next step for VDI deployments is application testing for compatibility, remediation needs, packaging or repackaging for virtual environment support, etc. App-DNA’s product line is primarily used to support these and related functions, and to help IT professionals more efficiently manage and migrate applications into a virtual environment.
In essence, information provided by App-DNA does much of the end-user segmentation and related analysis for you. It helps IT professionals easily understand which users and applications are good virtualization candidates, and which are not, quickening the pace toward virtualization.
Here’s an analogy: Say I have to make bread for 5,000 people. If I make it by hand, kneading the dough is going to take a long time, but it’s a critical step in the process. If I have a Hobart machine that will do the kneading for me, the job will be completed a lot faster, meaning the bread will be ready sooner. App-DNA is like the Hobart machine for virtualization projects — it kneads the dough for you.
The Power of Collective Knowledge
In addition, there’s an added benefit of the collective knowledge stored in App-DNA’s data bank. In a fully manual assessment, your team may come across an application that it’s not familiar with from a virtualization standpoint, for which it would have to run manual compatibility tests and determine the migration potential through trial and error.
When using App-DNA, however, it’s likely that one of the thousands of users before you had experience with that application. Thus, the software has stored data on whether it can be virtualized, and how to handle the migration.
Technical Training Needed to Leverage App-DNA
Before this new toolset can reach mass adoption and potential, Citrix engineers must become familiar with it. Though the majority of engineers I know have gone through the segmentation > compatibility testing > remediation > planning process, most have not had a convenient toolset to do it with.
I don’t know what Citrix’s long-term plans are for this acquisition, but its historical approach with smaller products and tactical solutions like App-DNA has been to integrate them into an existing product set, rather than creating a separate standalone product.
Therefore, I suspect that Citrix will likely include App-DNA in a set somewhere, either within XenApp or XenDesktop, and add App-DNA training to its existing Citrix course curriculum.
In the meantime, make sure that your IT staff understands App-DNA’s capabilities, and when it makes the most sense take advantage of the solution.
Your Thoughts?
What do you think about Citrix’s acquisition of App-DNA? Does it make your decision to virtualize easier, or help you convince an executive team that its time to make the move? Share your thoughts and questions in the comment section below.
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Andy Jones is Senior Vice President of Sales. He has more than 15 years of IT industry experience, and is an expert on cloud, virtualization and managed services solutions. Connect with Andy on LinkedIn.
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