Application Readiness

Desktop Transformation Lessons Learned – Business Case, Part 2

By Greg LaVigne

In my previous post we discussed the concept and value of leveraging third party user analysis tools and application rationalization tools. These tools are invaluable for identifying which users are viable candidates for Desktop Virtualization based on their actual day-to-day PC utilization metrics as well as which applications are actively being used (vs. just installed!!). Often times these tools are explored after the virtualization infrastructure has been provisioned for further insight into the legacy physical PC environment to better understand the reasons for the lower than expected adoption rates.

My recommendation is to perform this analysis up front and early on and leverage those findings as a part of the business case development. In doing so, organizations will understand who their target users are, the amount of infrastructure to build out, the number of applications that will need to be remediated and packaged, the application preparation effort and finally, what’s required to migrate users when the time comes. All of these factors are key components of a Desktop Transformation business case to accurately level set expectations with leadership. And as an added bonus, you’ll be well on your way to building out your rollout schedule when the time comes.

Lesson #1:  Business Case Analysis (Part 2)

As you all have heard, Desktop Virtualization is not a cheap undertaking. Infrastructure expense around servers and storage along with licensing around the VDI solution and Windows is significant. When you add in the resource time, both the IT staff and possible third party assistance, to build out this infrastructure, the costs become even more elevated. 

It’s imperative to understand the goals your organization is looking to achieve on this journey. Very few organizations have reported that they have saved significant OpEx budget dollars post implementation. Therefore, Desktop Transformation should be looked at from an investment perspective as opposed to cost savings, as you are investing in your end users future.

Organizations that understand Desktop Transformation will result in many “soft” benefits will be in a better place miles into their journey as opposed to those who are simply looking to reduce desktop related expense. Can anyone realistically quantify how many hard dollars are saved by empowering end users to do their work anywhere, from any device, at any time?  That’s the Desktop Transformation vision.

Understand that there is inherent value in pulling data off of managed laptops that may get lost or stolen by moving that data into the confines of the secure data center. Understand that improving speed to market of applications through application virtualization delivery aids in productivity to end users and ultimately your business. Understand that end users like being able to use their own personal tablets of choice in the workplace. 

Desktop Transformation does add cost and complexity for IT, but when the partnership and proper perspective is built up front with the business, the vision and success can be achieved.

Next time, I’ll wrap up the business case aspects to consider. Meanwhile, I encourage you to share your stories around your early buy in conversations around desktop and related virtualization technologies.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is a hot topic

By Randy Littleson

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is in the news a lot right now. There’s this article “VMware CEO flags VDI adoption barriers” where he claims storage costs derail VDI projects. There’s this video “Steve O’Donnell & Brian Madden – why VDI projects fail” that broadly discusses the source of failures and recommendations to succeed. And then on a more promising note are these articles: “Is Microsoft set to add hosted VDI to Azure?” and “Accelerating your BYOD strategy with VDI.”

There’s a lot of momentum behind VDI today, but it also can’t seem to get out from under the cloud of past failures? Why all the failures? There are many reasons, but one key one that sticks out is the faulty notion that VDI can be universally deployed to large groups of disparate desktops and user communities. Like so many technologies, VDI is good in some situations and bad in others, but too many early projects took the approach that VDI should be used more broadly. This is not surprising in that in some respects this followed the “standard image” for desktops mindset that has dominated thinking for years. 

But, as IT moves to a more user-centric computing model and looks to leverage new technologies like VDI, the mindset needs to shift to selectively utilizing the technology only where it makes sense. And, where it makes sense needs to be based on facts and data after analyzing user communities that have common usage patterns. Doing a virtual desktop assessment to analyze this data must be a part of the planning process to make informed, fact-based decisions on who to consider leveraging VDI with. Once this is done, the articles above offer a host of other great insights on best practices to ensure a successful virtual desktop infrastructure deployment.

Lessons Learned on the Journey to Successful Desktop Transformation

By Greg LaVigne

As the Client Computing/Desktop Architect of a Fortune 100 financial services company, I spearheaded a 5+ year journey to the next generation desktop and application delivery technologies. Our desktop transformation path included technologies such as Virtualized Desktops (both VDI based and RDS), Application Virtualization, User Profile Virtualization, Thin Clients, Windows 7 then mixed in BYOD with home PC’s and iPads to name a few. To summarize, if it was out there, we were reviewing it and most likely incorporated it into our eventual solution set.

This is the first of a series of postings where I’m going to share what worked well, and what maybe not so much. What I can tell you is that we enjoyed many successes, with “success” being measured by end user satisfaction, but there were trials and tribulations getting there. My hope is that these shared lessons can start a dialog while providing guidance for your journeys.

Lesson #1:  Business Case Analysis (Part 1)

Like any well thought out IT project that is considered for pursuit, a detailed business case and/or ROI analysis should be undertaken in order to be shared and ultimately gain leadership approval. In some cases, outside consultants or vendors may be brought in to assist with its development. Whether you build it yourself or gain outside assistance, be sure to be true to your environment. 

Two areas I would urge organizations to invest in up front, even during the business case development process, are use case analysis and application rationalization. The reality is that most organizations, even the most tightly managed and locked down, don’t understand their user bases and resultant use cases to the degree they should. During business case development, it’s easy to say there is simply a marketing use case and we’ll lump everyone together for financial modeling purposes. Not only will every marketing department user take offense to this approach (as they all bring their own uniqueness to the party), it’s simply not true. The point is there is a balance and be extra diligent in trying to summarize them for financial modeling purposes. Tools such as Flexera Software’s Virtual Desktop Assessment can assist in bringing this insight into the conversation and are easily implemented.

As for application rationalization, the same holds true. With today’s system management solutions such as SCCM, a detailed inventory of installed applications can be identified. While this information is often used, it doesn’t tell the full story of which apps are actually being used. Understanding there is a significant difference between what’s installed vs. what a user actually uses is big. This delta exacerbates itself when decisions are being made around how an app is going to be delivered (streamed vs. virtualized vs. locally packaged and installed), and the associated efforts that it will take to make it deliverable. Take the time up front to develop a true master application list that has been properly rationalized.

Next time I’ll get into a few other aspects of the business case development to consider. I’m curious to know what aspects of your business case development approach were unique or unexpected, so please share them. 

Mobile, Modern Apps and Macs: We’re not in MSI land anymore Toto!

By Logan Hutchinson

I’m often asked these question by concerned IT Managers and Administrators: “How do I manage mobile apps?” followed by “I’m approving a boatload of Macs every week, but have no idea where they are going.” or “How can I deploy mobile apps?” and “How do I test compatibility, and do I need to?”    

These are all valid concerns. The proliferation of Macs throughout the Enterprise is a direct result of the exponentially growing demand for mobile apps, be it smartphone or tablet. In the case of iOS, the only way to build these apps is through Xcode, an IDE developed exclusively for iOS and OSX apps that only runs on the OSX Operating System. This leaves most IT Admins in a quandary. They now have laptops and apps proliferating the organization that are not under management, or being tested in a common Application Readiness process.     

This raises new questions with regards to application readiness. What form factor is the target device? What OS does it support? What hardware on the device is it dependent up (front facing camera, accelerometer, display type, etc.)

IT Admins now rely on the software developers to package everything correctly, for both Line of Business (LOB) and store apps, which goes against everything that has been done in packaging for the last decade or so.  

The good news is that there are currently many tools that can help IT wade through these new mobile waters. The Casper Suite from Jamf Software is the de-facto standard for managing Macs in the Enterprise, and Microsoft Config Manager 2012 SP1 supports side loading of .appx (Windows Modern Apps) and .ipa (iOS apps) files. It also supports Mac app management.  

There are also a slew of startups and established organizations that have emerged in the Mobile Device Management (MDM) space including Citrix XenMobile, MobileIron, and Airwatch. These companies are certified Apple partners and have special permissions to get access to the MDM stack built into each iOS device, offering advanced functionality that is not publically available. I have personally seen many of the management interfaces for these tools and they are really good for offering full control to the IT Admin to push Line of Business (LOB) apps to a device, send app store deep links to a user for Store downloads, and manage volume purchasing from an App Store all while enabling IT to maintain the control they need for management and compliance. Developers can also embed MDM API’s on a public App Store app for management within the Enterprise. Through deep links, users can download apps from the store and IT can maintain full control over the app to protect corporate data. This includes things like disabling copy/paste on a corporate app, or not allowing printing of corporate documents outside the firewall.     

In summary, mobile apps, modern apps and Macs bring a whole new dimension to the packaging and deployment ecosystem. IT managers should be prepared to support these new app types and formats. It will mean learning new things outside the traditional MSI and application virtualization landscape, but it’s the path down which we are headed.  

 

Desktop Virtualization without Understanding the Impact to your Datacenter – A Surefire Recipe for Failure

By Toby Martin

As we move further into the great beyond of virtual desktop infrastructure, it is becoming strikingly clear that there are some considerations being left off the table by enterprises. A key consideration that is too often overlooked when working toward hosted virtual desktops and VDI, is datacenter capacity to accommodate all of the data, computing power, and space needs.

Typically, the first thing contemplated is ‘how do I let users bring in devices and still maintain security of data?’ This of course is a primary concern. When you’re allowing anytime, anywhere access to data, you have to allow corporate risk policy to dictate, or the consequences can be dire.

Today, most organizations have realized that applying a one-size-fits all approach for virtualization is inherently flawed. So the next step is to consider the many characteristics—desktop sessions, online/offline, specific computing needs of the user, high graphics intensity, etc.—to determine if desktop virtualization is the right approach for individual needs.

After conceptualizing and internalizing a plan for migration of applications and users, the next step, sizing the servers and datacenter, is often either not given enough priority, or simply dealt with afterwards. If organizations are going to be dealing more with data in a centralized location rather than on individual devices, then a critical priority and/or failure point would be the computing power needed to handle this data and additional activity.

A few concerns to consider:

• Capacity Planning:  Can your datacenters handle the influx of storage being put through? Will you have the ability to scale up and scale down as needed, for example, if you do taxes for a living, can you handle April 1-15?
• High Availability:  How can you ensure the maximum uptime of your access to data? Will 5 9’s be sufficient, and how do you deliver continuous power and non-interrupted service?
• Disaster Recovery:  Like life insurance, nobody wants to think about this until you need it. But if you don’t, and something happens resulting in data loss, it can be incredibly damaging. In this modern computing environment, data is EVERYTHING and your most important item to safeguard is not just the CEOs PC, but the entirety of your data sitting right in the datacenter.

So, in summary, BYOD is driving desktop virtualization, virtualization should then drive datacenters to tighten up the management processes. This means before you can truly be in a virtual environment and allow users the benefits of BYOD, you need to plan out your datacenter impact, otherwise your front-end work will do nothing but expose the lack of back-end preparation.

Why do Companies Standardize their Application Packaging Processes?

By Randy Littleson

I often get asked what drives companies to standardize their application packaging and application readiness processes. I thought the best way to answer this is to give you some real-life examples of what makes this commitment a no-brainer:

One of the largest banks in France needed to prepare their applications for a Windows 7 migration and wanted to implement application virtualization to save time and effort. Challenged with 300 specific applications to prepare for Windows 7 and consider for Microsoft App-V application virtualization, they needed to accelerate and automate the complex process of packaging and converting applications to App-V and to ensure reliable Windows 7 software deployments.

The IT service department for a German Pharmaceutical Retailer with branches across Germany had 30 application packagers needing to deploy enterprise software onto over 1300 desktops and ensure that all users would have access to the same features and functionality. Additionally, the packages were expected to be deployed with no errors. They looked to standardize their application preparation process so that they could package and repackage software quickly and reliably for clients and increase software deployment success rate to >99%.

A national law firm with a small IT department responsible for preparing and managing over 200 applications across 800 desktops was in the process of rolling out a new operating system, moving to VMware's virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), migrating to Microsoft® System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) on the backend, and deploying a new version of Microsoft Office. The team's resources were tapped—they had to repackage everything, consider what and how to virtualize applications, and optimize their SCCM investment—and their current application preparation process was completely ad hoc. They required a solution to help the IT team through the current migration projects and additionally, they needed a solution that would be a best practice standard for routine software deployments. 

These are three very common examples. A typical company is faced with 30% of their applications changing annually. Each of these applications must be put through a standardized Application Readiness process to ensure consistently reliable software deployments. On top of that, most companies are also dealing with migrations, say to Windows 7, or desktop transformation initiatives that utilize application virtualization and/or desktop virtualization—all impacting applications.

For these scenarios and many more like them, companies turn to a standardized process and solution for application compatibility, packaging and preparation such as AdminStudio to increase productivity, reduce IT costs and resource requirements, integrate with SCCM, and quickly convert applications to a virtual format—and ensure reliable application deployments across the enterprise.

Desktop Transformation Considerations

By: Barb Goldworm, Founder, President and Chief Analyst at Focus LLC

Planning for your transformation efforts is critical to the success of the entire project, and this planning should start with considering who your users are, what they do currently, and what they will need going forward. The following considerations are a starting point for understanding all the requirements of all your users:

• What are the various use cases that exist within your user base? What percentage of your user base fits in each type?
• Which desktop operating systems and applications are used by which users today and in the future?
• What devices are being used to access corporate applications?
• What network connections are being used to access corporate applications?
• Who owns the PCs and other devices accessing corporate applications?
• What is the Windows upgrade status/plan (for Windows 7, Windows 8)?
• Which, if any, users have offline requirements and for which applications?
• What are the performance requirements for various users and applications
• What type of graphics capabilities do various users require?

You should add your specific additional considerations, based on your knowledge of your users. The combined list then provides a foundation for building your desktop transformation strategy, including how to select the right types of technologies to implement, and the best combination of vendors to deliver those technologies.

Desktop Transformation Recommendations

By: Barb Goldworm, Founder, President and Chief Analyst at Focus LLC

Desktop modernization and transformation today can bring many benefits. If done well, it can help IT reduce time, energy and money spent on user support while also improving the users' experience, allowing access from any device to any application, anywhere. However, if it is done badly (and there are many opportunities to do it badly), it can greatly increase the cost per desktop, and cause a big uproar in the user base.

Here are some recommendations for ensuring success:

• Examine ALL your use case requirements, understanding what your users do, what applications they run, what they need access to, and how they work every day
• Consider all access devices – PCs, thin/zero clients, tablets, mobile - and be clear on what you will support, and develop policies for supporting each type of device
• Consider storage, networking, compute and security as key parts of your decision and build cross-functional teams including representatives from each of those areas as you build your strategy
• Evaluate both the user experience and the IT infrastructure impact (storage, network, and compute) as part of your decision processes
• Don't just treat desktops like servers – the workloads and characteristics are very different. Understand the characteristics of how your users do their work
• Include both CapEx and OpEx in any ROI/TCO analysis – breakeven CapEx is a reasonable expectation, but the savings will come from OpEx.
• Consider but don't limit your solutions to your installed virtualization vendors – there are many new features coming from both big players and emerging innovators, and most successful transformation projects leverage multiple vendors. Don't be afraid of mix and match solutions, in terms of both vendors and technologies.
• One size does NOT fit all – understand your use cases, and then match the right technologies and the right vendors to each use case.

The road to desktop transformation is not an easy road, but it can bring a huge payoff, if done well. Start with understanding your users, building your list of criteria, matching the various available technologies to your needs, and only then evaluating the various vendor solutions for each appropriate technology. Focus on users' needs, assess the impact on IT, and plan carefully. Start right, to end right

What is Desktop Transformation and What Does it Mean for Applications?

By: Randy Littleson

There's a lot of hype these days around desktop transformation. What exactly is it? One of the more conventional definitions is that desktop transformation is about using technologies like desktop virtualization to better manage and deliver desktops. This frequently bleeds into a discussion about non-traditional desktops as well, since technologies like desktop virtualization enable access from devices such as iPads, Surfaces, etc.

But, there's another dimension to this that often gets overlooked in the hardware centric discussion that usually dominates, and that is, what about the applications? What is the best application deployment strategy that goes along with your desktop transformation project and how do I get there?

You should think of the application issues as separate but related to the desktop transformation discussion. They are essential to the solution since applications are at the heart of what people need to get their jobs done. However, there are unique options for desktop transformation on the hardware side and on the software/application side that need to be looked at, and then various combinations considered to see which ones make sense based on your strategy.

Case in point. I spent last week at customer and partner advisory board meetings in the UK. An observation was made was that many partners (e.g., systems integrators) were seeing a shift. A couple of years ago, they looked at application virtualization going hand-in-hand with desktop virtualization (virtual desktop infrastructure or VDI) initiatives. Now what they are finding is that this isn't the best strategy for all applications. Instead many applications are best delivered as natively deployed, MSI-based applications even in a virtual desktop environment.

Most organizations are also discovering that desktop virtualization is not a "one size fits all." Generally speaking, more static desktops (i.e., desktops with relatively simple configurations, fewer applications and infrequent changes) make the best candidates for VDI. You see these a lot in retail, financial services, call centers, etc.

The net of the story here is that you need a plan based on a virtual desktop assessment of both the desktop and the applications—which applications are being used, how are they being used, what are their infrastructure (such as bandwidth and computing resources) requirements, etc. before diving in. Then you should match the right technologies for both the desktop and the applications to those characteristics to determine the right solution.

Desktop transformation projects can yield benefits to both IT and the users if done right. But, doing it right means avoiding the assumption that one size fits all and instead involves assessment and planning to determine exactly the right combination of technologies to ensure that both needs are met. After all, if the user can't reliably and successfully use their applications to get their job done, then the desktop transformation project is doomed to fail.

For additional information and perspectives on desktop transformation, here are a couple of articles you may find helpful: "10 steps for transforming desktops to universal clients for cloud" by Jeanne Morain and "The myth of desktop transformation. Will we ever get there, or will the Big 3 lead us astray?" by Brian Madden.

 

 

Changing User Needs Driving Desktop Transformation

By: Barb Goldworm, Founder, President and Chief Analyst at Focus LLC

There are a number of strong business drivers for desktop transformation and modernization, both from IT's perspective and from the users' perspective. With changing needs in terms of mobility, use cases and new devices, users are also pushing for desktop transformation.

Increased user mobility

Users today are increasingly mobile, with fewer users working only from a single corporate desktop. Even users with a single primary location are asking for the ability to access their applications and data from different locations across corporate offices. Many users also want remote access while traveling, both to remote offices connecting inside the corporate intranet, and when connecting from outside the firewall, over the internet. Economic conditions have increased the number of contract workers being used, creating the need for companies to give contractors temporary access, often from computers that are not owned by the company, and often over international borders. And of course, with workdays no longer being nine to five, working from home has become the new norm, again often from computers not owned by the company.

Broad range of user types and requirements

Along with increased mobility in general, there are also more types of users to support, each with their own types of requirements. Task workers for example, tend to access the same few applications repeatedly, with little to no customization. These users, often reservation agents or call center workers are well suited to hosted or published applications via RDS or XenApp environments. Power users, such as developers or CAD engineers may need complete access to a full desktop that they can reconfigure and reboot as needed, and are a better fit for either traditional desktops or a VDI virtual desktop. Knowledge workers, using apps like the MS Office suite, to create data used by others, may need one or the other, or a combination. Users such as road warriors, whose main characteristic is being mobile and often disconnected from the network may be a good fit for offline VDI or client hypervisors.

The changing "Desktop"

The recent onslaught of new devices like iPhones, iPads and Android tablets is one of the biggest drivers of desktop transformation/modernization. Although most corporate users still have either a traditional desktop or laptop (or both), most also now have a smartphone or tablet (or both). They may also connect from thin clients, newer zero clients, and/or netbooks. And with many of these devices now owned by C-level executives, supporting these new devices has become a requirement, rather than an option, provided the IT user support manager wants to stay employed. It is better to be the hero offering secure access to corporate applications from all the new devices, than to be the one saying no.

Need to assess user requirements and use cases

With all the different types of devices, users, and connections, there is rarely a one size fits all solution. Assessing the user base and really knowing your users is critical. The key to success is understanding all of the different user requirements and use cases, and applying the correct blend of technologies to meet all of the various users' needs. The more you know about your users the better; what applications they are using, what horsepower they need (processing, memory, storage and networking), what devices they use and where they connect from are all important factors. Finally, knowing what percentage of users fit into which use case can be very helpful in choosing the best combination of solutions for your environment.