1. Enterprise IT continues its march away from running workloads at the endpoint, and embraces SaaS, DaaS, VDI and secure browsing
2. A move to Windows 11 will be top of mind for organizations in 2024. Not only are Microsoft recommending moving to running Windows in the cloud, they are also calling out Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365 in their earnings announcements as surpassing $1B in revenue
3. Cyber-security remains atop the headlines in terms of policy, ransomware attacks, and the impact of AI
4. 2024 sees the start of mandatory sustainability disclosures in the EU. While wholesale greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting is not mandatory in the US, many organizations are actively reporting on sustainability and California’s Climate Accountability Package enforces mandatory scope 3 reporting on any organizations with revenues of more than $1B that does business in California.

Building on our rich history of engineering excellence and industry partnerships, as we enter 2024 IGEL is uniquely positioned to help organizations meet the challenges outlined above while also reducing IT spend.

Here’s how:

Redefine Endpoint Security.

IGEL’s Preventative Security Model eliminates the endpoint vulnerabilities targeted by bad actors. IGEL Endpoint OS supports Zero Trust and SASE initiatives through:

1. Read-Only OS. Users cannot unwittingly (or wittingly) download and install malware to the endpoint.
2. No local storage of data. No customer, patient, financial or other information can be downloaded to the endpoint or exfiltrated through attached USB devices. This ensures lost or stolen devices do not create a breach investigation, or that malicious internal users are not able to surreptitiously steal data.
3. Trusted Application Platform. A secure boot process ensures no code has been tampered with. A reboot returns the device to a known good state enabling organizations to confidently restore services in minutes rather than weeks or months from a cyber-attack
4. Authentication, SSO Integration and SASE. IGEL partners with the leading authentication vendors including Microsoft, Imprivata, Okta, Ping Identity, VMware and Citrix to integrate with broader standards. We also partner with SASE and Secure Service Edge partners to optimize Zero Trust implementations
5. Modular Design. At just 2GB, IGEL OS is a much smaller attack surface than a traditional endpoint OS. IGEL OS 12 only contains what the user needs to accomplish their tasks. Additional functionality such as partner integrations with Citrix and VMware, the above security vendors and more, can be downloaded from the IGEL App Portal.

Focus on Vertical Solutions

IGEL recognizes that the challenges, workflows, governance requirements and necessary integrations can be unique across industries. We have formalized partnerships and deep integration with the major software and hardware partners in each industry vertical. IGEL is utilized by many of the largest organizations around the world including:

• Healthcare & LifeSciences: 5 of the top 5 hospital groups in Europe. 5 of the top 10 biggest Healthcare providers in the US. Many of the world’s largest Healthcare Payers/insurers and 5 out of 10 leading pharmaceutical manufacturers
• Manufacturing – 10 of top 10 in Europe. 4 of the top 10 in North America
• Retailers: 5 of the top 10 North America
• Finance: 3 of the top 10 Banks in Europe.
• Government: Used across Federal such as Defence as well as State & Local government around the world.

Minimizing TCO and Maximizing Sustainability

An analysis of real-world customer deployments from IGEL’s TCO tool reveals that before IGEL, the total cost per endpoint device including the tangibles such as device purchase, software, deployment, management etc. is approximately $1000 per device per year over a 4-year period (assumes a device refresh every 4 years). With IGEL, we are able to reduce those costs between 50% and 75% (sometimes more) through:

• Removal of the various security and management agents that need to be selected, purchased, tested, deployed, managed etc.
• Enabling the purchase of devices with less powerful processors as the applications and workloads have been moved to SaaS, DaaS or VDI
• Extending the lifecycle of the endpoint from 3 to 5 years to 6 to 8 years.

With organizations assessing whether Windows 11 in the cloud is the best option, implementing IGEL can help optimize budget spend away from the constant endpoint budget drain, to a more sustainable cloud first approach. Please contact IGEL for your customer TCO analysis

The Power of Partnership

IGEL is a partner centric company. From leading software and hardware companies, including Citrix, Microsoft, VMware, Lenovo, LG, and HP, to vertical specific partnerships including Imprivata. Through these collaborations, we can provide tailored solutions that meet requirements unique to each of our targeted industries.

IGEL is also a 100% channel-focused company. Our channel partners are a cornerstone of our business, and we are fully committed to cultivating and maintaining strong partnerships with them.

Shaping the Future of Endpoint Security and Management

In 2024, IGEL will once again host the End User Computing event of the year, DISRUPT. IGEL DISRUPT 24 will be held in Miami from April 29 to May 1. We fully expect this to be the largest event ever and will be joined by the biggest names in the EUC and Security universe. We will also host a second event in September, IGEL DISRUPT EMEA in Munich.

Looking Forward to 2024

The end-user computing market is, arguably, ripe for its biggest shake up in almost 30 years. IGEL, with our technology and channel partners, is leading the change, helping our customers meet their security, cost and sustainability goals. Reflecting this, and as a symbol of our excitement in, and commitment to this market, you may have noticed that the IGEL.com website now reflects our new branding, messaging and excitement for the year ahead.

We look forward to working with you on shaping your endpoint security strategy both for now, and next.

The post Revolutionizing the Enterprise Endpoint OS: IGEL’s Game-Changing Approach to the Secure Endpoint OS Now and Next appeared first on IGEL.

The IGEL App Portal opens possibilities for third-party software vendors to package and make apps available for the IGEL OS. Technologies like ControlUP Edge DX and Remote DX, deviceTRUST, and Liquidware Stratusphere UX have been added as the IGEL App SDK has been made available for Application vendors. Many more to come!

IGEL released the IGEL Windows 365 App, enabling easy access to Microsoft Windows 365 resources, and continues to evolve Windows 365 access together with IGEL Azure Virtual Desktop App.

IGEL has built and released the new IGEL Imprivata Agent, which makes IGEL OS the only endpoint OS enabling Imprivata Tap-and-Go for Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop.
The IGEL Imprivata app also Tap-in to VMWare Horizon, and full support for Citrix Cloud and on-prem is around the corner.

With the new structure of IGEL OS, more use-cases are fulfilled. IGEL OS is now the ideal operating system for cloud-delivered workspaces, on-premises delivered Desktops and Apps and extends with “browser only” and local apps workflows.

During 2023, what everyone in the past referred to as Citrix was joined and split up into separate business units under the name of Cloud Software Group, where Citrix is one business unit, NetScaler is one, XenServer is one, etc. IGEL has a strong business relationship with Citrix and sees that the tech release avalanche that Citrix released is mind-blowing. So many new innovations have been released over the past year and integrated into Citrix Workspace App for Linux and IGEL OS. Citrix has also switched the focus from “Cloud only” to Cloud and On-Prem = Equals, working on feature parity and giving the customer the choice of where to run the workloads. Hybrid approach! From what I see with Citrix, there is no “One fits all” anymore. Good evolution!

On that note, Broadcom has acquired VMWare, and there is a market vacuum about what will happen with VMWare EUC. Hopefully, the VMWare Horizon (EUC) value will be valued by another organization and continue its long-term success as a VDI platform.

What’s intriguing to think of when it comes to Cloud vs. On-Prem is that Citrix CVAD/Daas and VMWare Horizon/Horizon Cloud have been making efforts to give the customer the Hybrid choice, Microsoft also has an answer: Azure Stack HCI, and with the ongoing development on Azure Virtual Desktop on Azure Stack HCI Microsoft is also acknowledging the hybrid choice. You might ask yourself why does anyone need on-prem when you have the hyper-scalers to run your workloads? The simple answer is twofold – Latency and legal requirements of the organizations.
Let’s quickly break this down: Latency – Depending on the type of workload you are delivering, low latency is key for good End User Experience. It can be about accessing local peripherals but also about delivering Rich media session streams. Think about the complexity of delivering multi-screen 4K resolutions at 60 frames per second; latency will be devastating. The legal side of things? Can governments put workloads and data in a cloud originating from another country?

With all the changes in the market that have been going on during 2023, this has also affected #Community. Looking at IGEL Community, it’s a growing resort for people discussing ideas and challenges. It is such a valuable platform, as when digging deeper into IGEL, what you see on the surface when test-driving the OS and management, there is so much more on the capabilities. When you start looking at scripting and customization, the IGEL Community is a resource to count on! The IGEL community grew 10% YtD in 2023.
Some of the Citrix User Groups announced changes from the CUGC brand to more of an EUC forum. I’ve seen that in the Nordics and the UK, at least. Citrix also announced changes to CUGC.

On a personal level, when it comes to community activities, I have been recognized by Citrix to become a CTP (Citrix Technology Professional) for my work in sharing knowledge with the community. IGEL also recognized me for my contributions and awarded me to become an IGEL Community Insider. I added my renewal of Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) for my third year and my NVIDIA NGCA (NVIDIA vGPU Community Advisor) for my fifth year.

The #AI revolution has started! Microsoft made an enormous footprint in making AI available for anyone, anywhere. Just look at Bing Chat. It gives anyone access to AI datasets and the possibility to leverage the new technology. Then, Co-Pilot rolled out to virtually all apps in the Microsoft portfolio. You are right; Microsoft wasn’t the main driver in the early stages of AI, though, by tight collaboration with OpenAI, they rapidly extended the AI use cases. All were announced at Microsoft Ignite mid-November -23. I’d say it has started!

IGEL has been going through organizational changes over the last year, including adding Klaus Oesterman as CEO and making significant changes to the leadership team. Exciting to see the changes in market focus. Keep your eyes out for all the changes that are in the pipeline!

So, what about 2024? My view of what’s coming!

IGEL will undoubtedly continue expanding the IGEL APP Portal portfolio. More apps from 3^rd party software vendors will be made available. I’m thinking of Enterprise Browsers as they will play a more prominent role going forward. I know that we will see a remake of IGEL OS desktop GUI (Graphical User Interface) that takes the User Experience to a new level. We have already started to see usability improvements in IGEL OS supporting the mobile use case, and that journey will accelerate. Of course, IGEL will continue to update the Apps we package for OS 12.

I have seen numbers of 700 Million Windows 10 machines still alive. Those 700M (?) devices are facing the EOL of Windows 10 in 2025. It’s mind-blowing to think about the IT waste that will be created for all the machines that need to be replaced, as the hardware requirements for Windows 11 are different and more demanding. IGEL has the solution for you, together with Virtualization technologies and the delivery of virtual apps and desktops. What if you re-image your Windows 10 devices that will go out of support and instead put your Windows desktop in a data center, be it in the cloud or on-premises? You will be able to extend the lifetime of your existing machines and save lots of money, as you won’t need to buy new hardware. Your budget changes from CAPEX to OPEX and will be much more predictable. Did you know that somewhere around 85% of the carbon footprint results from the manufacturing and shipping of the unit? By not “rip and replace” your hardware, you will contribute to a greener world. Yes, some of the devices might need to be refreshed, and over time, devices need to be refreshed. That’s why IGEL is teaming up with manufacturers like Lenovo, LG, and HP. When the time comes, you will replace your hardware units with slimmer devices, again contributing to less emissions.
The race for Windows 11 upgrade will have to increase rapidly in 2024 for corporations to have a chance of avoiding running unsupported operating systems at mass in late 2025, which is a jeopardizing game. Hybrid work will continue to evolve, and I’m sure you want to ensure your users have a trouble-free endpoint in their hands. IGEL OS gives you good protection from Ransomware and other rouge code.

I believe we will see an extension of offloading technologies as optimizing the User Experience is still becoming more requested. New Microsoft Teams has just been released, indicating that new technology is coming to the virtualization EUC space.

The evolution of AI will probably introduce more players in the market on the GPU side. NVIDIA is leading this space, though I believe AMD and Intel can potentially deliver alternatives. At Microsoft Ignite, Satya Nadella announced Azure Maia AI chip. It will be interesting to follow this evolution!

IGEL will extend its MSP (Managed Service Provider) offering to expand its footprint in this segment. Broadening the usability and the licensing possibilities will be key to success.

I look forward to seeing more niche players in the IGEL App Portal as diversity adds value. I’m looking at Parallels RAS, HP Anywhere, Amazon Workspaces, and others. Would be really interesting to see more alternative VDI offerings. Citrix has a nice integration with Linux Desktops and Apps for VDI. ThinLinc is already part of the IGEL App Portal, which gives you Linux VDI. I’m also looking forward to seeing more local apps offered, where we today have Zoom, for instance. Why not give every customer the possibility to package their own apps?

With that said, I wish you happy holidays, a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! See you in 2024!

/Fred

The post O’Boy, what a year! 2023 is almost in the books; let’s look in the rearview mirror. appeared first on IGEL.

Recently, we demonstrated IGEL OS for healthcare environments in our offices in Augsburg, Germany, in partnership with deviceTRUST, HP, Lenovo, and LG. The purpose of the event was to showcase the importance of future-proofing IT environments to provide the best possible patient care. Our team presented various concepts, technologies, and solutions that can meet the strictest requirements for safety, availability, and cost-effectiveness, which are vital in the healthcare sector.

During the event, we asked attendees about the most critical challenges facing healthcare organizations today. Their responses highlighted the importance of remote work, security, and cost pressure. Attendees emphasized the need for secure end devices and stable systems to support remote work. They also noted that on-site presence is still required for medical care. Furthermore, they stressed the importance of transparent login to ensure user acceptance of security measures, with data security being a top priority. Other important points raised included managing endpoints outside the network, the importance of manageability, and the need for two-factor authentication and biometric tokens for client security.

Ransomware is an ongoing threat

When asked about the specific challenges and opportunities for their organizations in 2024, attendees’ responses included the need for ISO certification and process customization to mitigate risks. Ransomware was identified as an ongoing threat, which in one case is being addressed by implementing LAN segmentation, zero trust mechanisms, and attack detection software. To prevent unauthorized executable files, one organization is restricting users from launching these types of files. The company is also implementing software solutions, such as XDR, training employees/raising awareness on cybersecurity, and deploying thin clients to improve protection.

When explaining the ransomware threat, one attendee who uses Citrix in combination with IGEL OS and Windows 10/11-powered endpoints said: “Our systems are largely protected from attacks and unauthorized access by technical measures such as firewall, proxy, 3-stage filtering of emails with a sandbox for email attachments, MFA, conditional access and administrative measures such as a role-based authorization concept and much more.”

The user is still the weakest link

They continued, “We regularly have penetration tests carried out to uncover security gaps and vulnerabilities, which we can then specifically close. In addition, all user data is secured via a system that technically prevents the backups from being compromised. There is no such thing as 100% security if people have access to the systems – the user is always the weakest link in the security chain. Ultimately, it is a matter of time when it hits us. However, we feel quite well prepared with our security measures.”

Overall, attendees enjoyed the event, with one organization saying, “The lectures were very interesting, and the customer presentations were very good. It was a relaxed environment for the exchange of ideas with manufacturers and customers.”

For more information on how IGEL is helping healthcare organizations achieve better patient outcomes with a simpler and more secure end-user computing approach visit:  https://www.igel.com/customer-stories/healthcare/.

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