The Best Approach to Desktop & Application Virtualization
Posted on Tue, Mar 15, 2011 @ 02:47 PM
Application and Desktop Virtualization have exited the hype cycle and become one of today’s mainstream technologies. You know when Cisco, Dell, HP, Microsoft, Lenovo, and IBM are doing all they can to position themselves within these solutions, it’s time to get serious.
But where do you start? Who is the vendor of choice and what technology should you deploy? Maybe you‘re contemplating how to roll out this time and money saving technology, or how to support it once it’s in place?
These are all important questions; however, it may be wise to first consider your approach. Desktop and application virtualization can be disruptive and overwhelming technologies if an organization does not develop a foundational design to build upon. For a few moments, let’s put aside the vendors and technologies and focus on the strategic side (approach) of the coin.
The Right Approach is Critical
From an end-user PC perspective, distributed desktop computing has been the norm. The PC (include Macintosh in this general acronym) brought us a rich, graphical and interactive experience, and enabled things like complex spreadsheets, the World Wide Web, and 3D graphical rendering. Unfortunately, this grand technology also has its drawbacks, including limited flexibility. For a more detailed explanation of the shift in PC usage, see my previous post, The Future of Desktop Computing: 2011 and Beyond.
The concepts around Desktop and Application Virtualization will require a new IT mindset that permeates the entire organization if they are to become truly beneficial to your business.
Two of the basic tenets of a successful approach are:
- End-user segmentation
- End-user computing environment assessment
Let’s take a high-level look at each of these.
End-User Segmentation
End-user segmentation is a type of assessment that looks at the people who use the technologies, not necessarily the technology itself. When conducting an end-user segmentation exercise, a set of criteria is agreed upon and then used to divide end users into groups. A very basic form of end-user segmentation is done today in most businesses.
For example, you may have users who need the ability to work remotely and those who do not. The users who require mobility to accomplish their jobs get put into one segment, and those who do not are put into another segment. From that division, decisions are made about who gets laptops (mobile users) and who gets desktops (office workers).
The difference between a full end-user segmentation assessment and the basic one described above is that many different criteria are used to determine the segmentation in the full assessment, such as:
- Job functions
- Location of job
- Data to which the end user needs access
- Programs used to execute one’s job
To use job function as an example, a user who is required to build detailed specifications for a new product is going to require very different tools (technologies) than those a financial analyst will need.
End-user segmentation provides you the foundation for doing technology segmentation because it helps you define what tools each end-user segment requires, and allows you to right-size the technology provided to them.
The future, based on end-user segmentation, will have IT departments providing only the tools (technologies) an employee needs to do their job and nothing more. Herein lies the true benefits of end-user segmentation: efficiency and cost reduction.
End-User Computing Environment Assessment:
Is Virtualization the Right Move?
An end-user computing assessment is simply the review, over time, of your organization’s current end-user computing environment, typically performed as one component of a desktop and application virtualization assessment. The information gathered helps you determine what applications can be virtualized and which end-user segments can benefit from virtualization. Without the data provided by this assessment, a proper solution design is not possible.
There are additional benefits to this type of assessment, including the ability to define application standardization, resource right sizing, and power savings based on technology use. For a better look at all of the benefits of conducting assessments, please see the MCPc technology assessments services page.
Conclusion
By approaching virtualization through the basic tenets described herein, you will begin to understand where these technologies can best suit your company’s unique needs and objectives. End-user segmentation and assessment are just the beginning of the long road to a scalable, sustainable virtualized environment. But starting out right will ensure a much smoother journey.
Do you see virtualization as a part of your organization’s IT and business strategy? What are you doing to get started?
 |
Jason Dell is a Converged Network Solution Consultant at MCPc, and is responsible for developing and programming custom solutions for clients. His expertise includes network security and security for mobile devices in the enterprise. Connect with Jason on LinkedIn.
|