Strategic Uses of Virtual Desktop Technologies in Small Business

The Who, What, Why, When and How of VDI* MTUG Presentation November 6th, 2013 *Not necessarily in that order

2 Cloud Client Computing Marketing Business Considerations for Virtualizing IT

Business Considerations for Virtualizing IT This is a co-presentation of the SymQuest Group and Dell Cloud Client Computing

Presenters Case Studies


Connect any user to any app on any device The What Running desktops from a centralized location in the datacenter or cloud

• Applications

• Data

• Computing


The Why Managing desktops is increasingly challenging, we’re asked how to…

…build or redesign call centers, classrooms, or branch offices? “ ”

“ ”

…secure their remote and mobile users?

…implement a BYOD program? “ ”

…increase endpoint security? ” “

“ ”

…reduce their desktop energy footprint?

…reduce the time and cost of managing user desktops? “

”

…maintain business continuity and improve disaster recovery?

“ ”


Richards Group – Brattleboro VT 70 employees serving more than 10,000 clients located throughout VT, NH, and MA

The Goal To update and replace the company’s 70-plus desktop computers in a streamlined manner that would be manageable for one person and with as little disruption to the end users as possible.

The Challenge The Richards Group had experienced growth in their employee base over the years and keeping each person’s desktop up to date with the latest patches and software was becoming increasingly cumbersome, especially considering the drive time to and from their six locations. They wanted to upgrade desktops in such a way as to not overwhelm the one-person IT department.

The Solution SymQuest has worked with Richards Group for many years and having already virtualized their servers, was able to carry that one step further by virtualizing their desktops. Now, The Richards Group has one ‘gold image’ of their perfect desktop and that image is pushed to each user’s thin client– a small device that replaces the desktop computer. The final solution included a roll out of more than 70 thin clients to the entire team over two years.



The Business Outcome

The Richards Group saved a significant amount of money by moving to virtual desktops. Not only do the thin clients cost less and have fewer moving parts to maintain, they last two to three years longer and use less energy. But the real savings comes in management of the system. They have kept their IT staff to one person (even though they’ve grown their employee base by about 40%), who manages all desktops from one location. Updates are done once to the ‘gold image’ instead of updating each and every desktop throughout the system. The rollout was managed without affecting the IT administrator’s regular responsibilities, and best of all, the employee transition was seamless, with no downtime. None!

“Everyone in the company is now focused on their job. We no longer spend time hoping for compliance from the end users on patches, upgrades, backups and the like. We know the system is strong, we know the maintenance is proactive, we know we’re saving money. We know we made the right move.”

– Rick Sorenson, System Administrator



Reasons to Adopt

• Had already virtualized servers

• File shares were set up with DFS

• Went from Terminal Server to View, now using View Horizon 5.2

• Found there were limitations to Terminal Services

• Avoid hiring another IT professional to manage 85 users in 8 offices

Challenges

• Laptop users did not benefit as they were in the field too often so all app were installed on the local Hard Drives

Process & Configuration

• Continued to use the Wyse v10L that had been deployed so they could have dual-displays

Facts & Outcomes

• Functional and manageable for easier administration


The Why Not If VDI is so great, why hasn’t everyone done it already?

Servers and storage and switches, oh my! “ ”

How do I get past 50 users? “ ”

App compatibility

Unreliable performance?

You mean this won’t save me up front dollars on my desktop refresh?!

“ ”

?

$ MS & 3rd party licensing


Cheshire Medical Center Developed a VDI plan in three phases so they could add capabilities that Citrix lacked

Outline of defining the User Experience at Cheshire Medical Center Identify products that will provide satisfaction to the end users and be supportable by the support team • Present results to CIO and the Executive Team • Identify the number and types of users

– Enriched – Basic – Satellite – Remote

• Identify types of applications used • Current applications by user type • Identify the number of medical devices used • Identify how users interact with applications • Identify the best way, by user type, to interact with computing environment • Identify specifications for devices to meet user type requirements

Identify current device types to match user type Thick Windows PC, Tablet, Virtual Desktop Thin Published Apps Published Desktop Virtual Desktop


Cheshire Medical Center Developed a VDI plan in three phases so they could add capabilities that Citrix lacked

2) Project Goals: Determine the current best-practice method of

supporting Phillips SpeechMikes in a VDI environment

Provide a roadmap for the implementation of dictation both on campus and at remote sites for the use of dictation in server based computing environments – including any additional software or hardware that may be necessary

Services Provided: Work with CMC to form a non-technical list of goals

which the solution must accomplish Perform research into any available 3rd party

bidirectional audio software that may have become available since VDI and Citrix were implemented in early 2009

Identify likely candidates for implementation at CMC and evaluate them

Based on the evaluation process, recommend a technical VDI-based dictation solution

Recommend any modifications to the current Citrix-based dictation solution as necessary

3) Project Goal: To deliver a high-performance computing

environment for PACS to 20 members of the Orthopedics department.

Services Provided by SymQuest: •Build two new servers to house VMware View Manager •Install View Manager and test •Build Windows XP Base Image •Work with inhouse IT to enhance base image with specific software required for Orthopedics Dept •Test new desktop image thoroughly •Configure two Wyse V90Ls and document configuration


Dell Cloud Client Computing: The Who

Services + Large Partner Ecosystem

Dell Wyse cloud clients (thin clients)

Data center components

Desktop as a Service

Shared, remote desktop

session host

Application streaming

VDI on-site

Desktop virtualization

software

The Who Dell Cloud Client Computing


Clark-Mortenson – Keene NH Multi-branch insurance agency with 60+ users in 8 offices

• Reasons to Adopt – Had already virtualized servers – Went from Terminal Server to Citrix

Presentation Server – Found there were limitations to Citrix

when joining meetings, installing applications, and unexpected reboots to the Citrix server from non-admins

– Avoid hiring another IT professional to manage 60 users in 8 offices

• Challenges – Did not ‘size’ the environment themselves

– asked SymQuest for a design – Upfront capital requirement was

substantial especially the cost of Microsoft OS licensing

– Replaced the non-supported endpoints – After implementation found that log-in

was still slow due to loading all user settings for non-persistent desktops (same for Term Server and Citrix, 3.5 minutes)


Clark-Mortenson – Keene NH Multi-branch insurance agency with 60+ users in 8 offices

• Process & Configuration – Defined two user scenarios – Created two desktop pools that had

different application sets – Did not use persistent desktops – Invested considerable time for user

education – Conducted a Pilot phase with two users

from each of the production departments – Selected 1 ‘challenged user’ and 1 ‘power’

user

• Facts & Outcomes • No CapEx savings, but there are OpEx savings

(employee labor) • Day-to-day support was so much easier • 1st week was a struggle with some of the

endpoints that were inadequate • 1st month, just a few little things were

understood: • During the first 20-min of business day, many

concurrent logons would slow the system considerably and sometimes double the typical time to complete boot-up

Do Differently Next Time? 1. More attention to storage I/Ops to make boot

time faster 2. Teach everyone the difference between

disconnect and log-off 3. Set the time-to-remain-live at 4-hrs, long:

enough to travel between offices or go home and resume working


The How CCC Solutions Scalable from 10 to 50000 virtual desktops

99% Fewer steps than manual(4)

Enterprise-class hardware

• Compute: PowerEdge Blades, Rack Servers

• Storage: Compellent/ EqualLogic

• Networking: Force10/ PowerConnect

Leading hypervisors

& VDI software

• Hypervisor: VMware ESX, Citrix XenServer

• VDI: VMware Horizon View, Citrix XenDesktop, Dell vWorkspace

End-to-End VDI solution

• Deployment & unified support services for infrastructure

• Flexible infrastructure configuration choices

• Ultrabooks, Thin Clients, Workstations

88% Less tools to provision desktops(3)

34% Decrease in power consumption(1)

>120K engineering hours invested in 4 stacks

The How Dell CCC Solution Portfolio

Rapid deployment

Services Desktop as a Service

Dedicated Desktop as a Service

On Demand

DVS 10 seat

DVS Simplified Appliance

DVS Enterprise

Maximum flexibility

Infrastructure

DVS Managed Services

vWorkspace Citrix, Microsoft or VMware Virtualization

DVS Enterprise VRTX


Growing Medical Practice planning for VDI Southern Maine

Overview of Environment Growing medical practice looking for a bridge from their physical desktop environment of

over 300 endpoints to a centralized, virtual desktop environment. Server virtualization infrastructure already well established in the practice. Looking for ways to simplify desktop management, flexibility in deployment of new software and operating systems, and creating a more robust remote access solution to distribute a seamless desktop experience to end-users regardless of location.

BEFORE: Technical Landscape & Components Remote Access - Utilizing SSL VPN technology to bring end users into a secure portal from

which to choose an application to run: Remote Desktop, Outlook Web Access, web-based line of business applications.

Endpoint Profile – Majority of physical desktops and laptops. Many providers and support

staff are using personal mobile devices that connect to corporate network for business purposes.


Growing Medical Practice with over 300 users Southern Maine

Process of Implementing VDI Began with a particular department that whose user population utilized applications widely

known to work well in a VDI environment – web browsing, Microsoft Office applications, etc. Started out with 10 users that received new Wyse P20 thin clients and a removal of their PCs from their desk. The next wave of 10 followed suit.

Driving Business Reasons for adopting VDI: • Physical Office Space Constraints • Augment Remote Access Solution • Proof Of Concept as viable desktop replacement for 300+ physical PCs • Ease of desktop management – only 2 IT staffers

The Action Plan is to investigate the option of turning the physical PCs into thin clients to extend the lifecycle of the PC. The rollout will be one department at a time.

100% of networks are created equal

P2V Your corporate image

Directly compare VDI $’s to desktop refresh $’s

Identify and understand how VDI will solve business problems

1 Pilot use case

The How Do’s and Don’ts Bonus Content!

Design infrastructure to handle burst, not for steady state

Don’t forget about monitoring

Always ask for relevant references

The When…

Strategic Uses of Virtual Desktop Technologies in Small Business

Small Business & Entrepreneurship

Transcript of Strategic Uses of Virtual Desktop Technologies in Small Business