The business world of today is one in motion: a healthcare professional moving from patient to patient, a financial professional en route to client offices, and billions of bytes of data moving between them through the cloud to mobile devices.
But this newfound need for mobility presents new challenges for security. Specifically, businesses need to enforce consistent policies, protect data in environments they don’t control (e.g., public wireless networks), and provide users with a consistent set of business tools to perform their jobs from any location.
Obviously, businesses can’t move their data centers to accommodate mobility. But they can “mobil-ize” their applications by using a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). VDI solves one of the biggest challenges facing modern IT departments: How to manage thousands of different devices including desktop, laptops, smartphones, and tablets while providing the same applications and a consistent user experience across each device.
The key to VDI’s effectiveness is the power of one: one master user interface (known as a golden image) that can be rapidly duplicated across thousands of devices. For example, with VDI, a doctor could log in to a laptop in their office, a desktop computer located in a nurse’s station, or on a mobile tablet and be greeted with the same screen each time.
All of their applications and information would travel with them, as well as the corporate policies that govern data security, authorization, encrypted communications, etc. Yet—and this is important—the data would still be located in the data center rather than loaded on the device, providing an added measure of security in the event of a lost device.
VDI is clearly an attractive option for hospitals and healthcare organizations, where mobility is a daily reality and consistent policy enforcement is critical. Businesses with large call centers can also benefit from VDI, especially where remote agents and shared resources (e.g., desktops) are in play. We’ve also seen VDI benefit businesses that work closely with offshore support teams, since it allows businesses to provide secure access to business data and applications while maintaining control of that data in their data center.
As you might imagine, VDI isn’t a one-size-fits-everybody proposition; it needs to be aligned with your business environment and goals. Before planning and sizing a solution, you need to understand what kinds of applications and data will be accessed and by whom, whether devices will be shared or dedicated, the security and regulatory requirements that need to be enforced, and the impact that VDI will have on your current storage/networking environment.
One caveat worth mentioning: all virtual platforms are not created equal. I happen to be a big fan of Citrix, and with good reason: it’s one of the most robust, proven, and powerful virtualization platforms on the market. (I’m in some pretty good company in this regard—Amazon also uses Citrix for their Amazon Web Services platform.)
Citrix’ VDI solution, XenDesktop, delivers everything that businesses need in a virtual desktop platform including a slick desktop interface, simplified management of upgrades and updates, the ability to quickly “mobil-ize” legacy applications, customizable policies, and a new graphics processor that makes mobile video and 3D imaging look sharp on any device.
As your Citrix experts, Rolta AdvizeX can help you plan, build, and manage virtual environments using Citrix products including XenDesktop, XenApp, NetScaler, and Receiver. To learn more about how VDI and Citrix can help you reduce costs and simplify your IT environment, contact Rolta AdvizeX at sales@advizex.com. ▪