82% of company leaders plan to continue offering hybrid work models (Gartner) and 73% of workers want them to continue. Source: Microsoft 2021 Work Trend Index

Virtual Apps, desktops and digital workspaces are core elements to enabling a secure and productive hybrid work model.  At IGEL, our focus is to provide a secure and consistently compatible workspace on a familiar graphical user interface making it easier for people to navigate across various devices and work sources from any location.

Citrix Workspace simplifies the job of managing apps, devices, users, and networks. It gives people a unified view of all their documents and applications, and protects company data with industry-leading security, activity monitoring, and analytics.  IGEL OS on the endpoint device delivers a compatible and intelligent solution for fast, frictionless, and secure access to Citrix Workspace.

With over two decades of experience and a dedicated team of developers with a steadfast focus on the customer’s needs, IGEL OS is purpose-built for streamlined access to virtual desktops at scale in enterprise environments. It can run on any compatible x86-64 device, and is validated on HP thin clients, LG All-in-One, and Lenovo devices. The unified endpoint management and control solution allows IT admins to deploy and manage hundreds of thousands of IGEL OS endpoints from a single console without a VPN.

As a longstanding Citrix Ready partner, IGEL stays in lockstep with the latest version of Citrix Workspace and Citrix Workspace app. The Citrix Ready team, along with Citrix and IGEL product teams, work closely to plan, integrate, test, and validate the required functionality and criteria to achieve the Endpoint Premium and Cloud levels of partnership.

Eagle-Eyed Visibility – Simplify Management and Increase IT Agility Across Your Organization

Identify the status of and manage each workspace with Citrix and IGEL through unified endpoint management and control. The IGEL Universal Management Suite (UMS) enables IT to easily configure, deploy and update up to 300,000 IGEL OS-powered endpoint devices from a single console. With IGEL Cloud Gateway, you can manage remote “off network” endpoints without requiring a VPN.

Quickly and easily access Citrix Workspace on IGEL OS endpoint devices through an embedded browser for Citrix Workspace app. Regardless of whether the workspace is deployed across a VDI or cloud (on-prem, public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud), the Citrix Cloud platform hosts and administers Citrix services. It helps IT admins extend existing on-premises software deployments by connecting to resources on any cloud or infrastructure. It allows IT to create, deploy, and manage secure digital workspaces with apps and data to end-users from a single console.

Simply Connect, Communicate, and Collaborate

Citrix and IGEL deliver an immersive and high-fidelity unified communications and multimedia user experience within VDI or cloud workspace environments, providing Microsoft Teams and Zoom as a Citrix App client with HDX optimization. IGEL OS supports offloading much of the multimedia processing to the local operating system, while running critical real-time communications components on the device.

IGEL’s ecosystem of over 120 integrated technologies validated as IGEL Ready provides seamless integration with enterprise software and peripherals.

From the Edge to the Cloud — Protect System Integrity

Citrix in the cloud, enterprise-level security, and IGEL’s unique “chain of trust” help boost end-to-end security. Moving Windows from endpoints to the cloud provides immediate security benefits by eliminating the burden of remote Windows patching.  As a modular, read-only operating system, IGEL OS presents a much smaller attack surface on the endpoint. It also features a unique chain of trust architecture that validates every step of endpoint execution – from the endpoint device to the cloud –cryptographically.
IGEL’s management console monitors every workspace in real-time and automatically pushes security updates and firmware patches, helping to mitigate fraudulent access and breaches on the endpoint.

The Citrix Zero Trust Approach equips organizations with end-to-end solutions for realizing a zero trust architecture that defends protected surfaces. From Citrix Analytics for Security to Citrix Gateway, organizations are able to implement all mission-critical components of a zero trust architecture—all in one secure digital workspace solution.

As the IT industry still faces extended delivery lead times, optimizing the hardware and resources available is the best solution for your budget, and can support you in achieving your sustainability goals. Citrix and IGEL are focused on supporting the broadest choice of apps, cloud services, and endpoint devices for our customers. Providing a secure and consistently compatible workspace on a familiar graphical user interface makes it easier for people to navigate across various devices from any location.

Watch the video on how Citrix and IGEL offer an unbeatable combination for virtual desktops

Try it out with a free demo of IGEL OS with Citrix Workspace.

The post Secure, Productive Hybrid Working From Any Endpoint Device With Citrix and IGEL appeared first on IGEL.

Why should customers get excited? Here are a few reasons:

• High-performance graphics powered by AMD Ryzen Embedded V1605Bquad-core processor with stock speed of 2.0 GHz, “turbo”better “boost”? speed up to 3.6 GHz
• AMD Radeon Vega 8 Graphics (up to 4GB shared frame buffer)
• A new integrated fiber connectivity option that supports multi-mode and single-mode transceivers and fiber-to-copper converters – a more secure connection with negligible degradation for an immersive, vibrant user experience.
• Quad DisplayPort connectors supporting Quad 4K monitors – that’s great resolution with a lot of screen size!
• A 50% smaller footprint and 20% lighter, with a chassis made of minimum 30% recycled plastic – it’s slim and powerful, and the perfect fit for compact workspaces.

Security to Match Performance

Besides its industry-leading graphics and connectivity enhancements, the IGEL UD7 gives customers ‘chain of trust’ level security beginning at the hardware layer. This cryptographic signature verification process starts just prior to the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) boot, using the AMD Secure Processor technology (AMD Secure Boot) and AMD Memory Guard. End-to-end system integrity is assured, so customers can access their cloud-delivered digital workspaces with confidence.

Shipping Now!

The IGEL UD7 comes pre-configured with IGEL OS Workspace Edition software and features built-in support for over 100 integrated partner technologies and is easily managed using the IGEL Universal Management Suite (UMS), which can securely manage up to 300,000 IGEL OS-powered endpoints.

It is now available through IGEL’s network of Elite, Expert and Entry-level Partners.

Visit us at HIMSS21 at the first annual IGEL Partner Pavilion – August 9-13 in booth #2859 – and see firsthand how our partners are using IGEL OS with the UD7 to help customers experience the best, most secure, creation and sharing graphics-intensive content.

The post Shipping Now: New IGEL UD7 Brings High Performance and Eco-friendly Design to Cloud Workspaces appeared first on IGEL.

On February 25^th, 2021, at IGEL DISRUPT Unite, IGEL announced and released a private build (fully supported) of IGEL OS containing an integration of Amazon WorkSpaces Linux client conveying to the world that all major VDI/DaaS platforms were now available.

As significant, or as insignificant, as this may seem to Citrix, Microsoft, or VMware customers, the impact is undeniable:

The next-gen edge OS for cloud workspaces now fully supports ALL public, hybrid, and private cloud mainstream virtual desktop platforms.

So, what does this mean to you, the current IGEL user, or even you, the prospective IGEL user? Let’s take a look:

Linux at the Edge is the Future of the Cloud

Just like virtualization changed the landscape of IT, and the public cloud shifted digital transformation into a key focus for leadership, the pandemic is bringing work-life balance and user experience to the forefront of a post-pandemic world.

Windows as an operating system is shifting to the datacenter. While AWS has provided Windows desktops and applications as a service for years (Amazon WorkSpaces, AppStream), Microsoft’s release of Windows Virtual Desktop solidified Windows’ future. The value Windows brings to any user, both as a consumer or a business, is critical and undeniable. Embracing Windows’ value in the new world of permanent remote users is foundational as a key business initiative. MacOS as well has started its journey into a datacenter OS with the announcement of MacOS in AWS EC2 during AWS re:Invent 2020.

Linux is now becoming the OS of choice because of its ability to run efficiently, securely, and across multiple platforms and devices. IGEL has embraced Linux since 1994 and continues to innovate with a Linux OS focused on securely connecting users to their IT resources. The IGEL approach is simple:

Provide just enough operating system to allow users to connect to their datacenter-based desktops apps, data, securely, managed anywhere the user is.

With smartphones, tablets, and even very small compute platforms like the Raspberry Pi also joining key user compute devices running Windows or Mac, IoT is now everywhere and it runs on Linux connected to your cloud (private, hybrid, or public).

IGEL Transports You From the Edge to the Cloud

Quick IGEL crash course: IGEL is a purpose-built physical device platform (OS + Management) to replace your current operating system to enable a secure and smart method to enable your user devices to:

• Run a secure environment completely within control of IT for users from anywhere
• Ensure the manageability of a user’s device from anywhere with an internet connection
• Connect to one or multiple desktop environments in parallel (more on this later)
• Repurpose your current device hardware, old, new, or even not-company owned
• Install (replace the current OS on the hard drive) or run the IGEL OS (as a USB-key keeping the current OS in place)

In a nutshell, IGEL becomes the transport for connecting your users to their desktops, data, and applications. Think a hotel courtesy van:

You and your friends are going to see your favorite band (post COVID! ). You’ve flown in, booked a hotel, and are looking forward to the concert. You’re all ready to go, and you jump in the hotel courtesy van which will take you to the venue. It’s clean, fast and ensures none of you have to find their own way there (except for your buddy Philip, he’s always late!).

The van takes you there, without hassle, and you all enjoy the concert.

In this example do you care or think about the van manufacturer? Did you get a full rundown of every feature of the van before getting on? No. You see the van as a service you can use to ensure you can get from the hotel to your event. You tell them where you want to go and then enjoy the scenery out the window, with essentially very limited criteria: that you’ll get where you want to go, safely and in a timely manner. IGEL is that fast, reliable, and secure platform for your end users to get to their digital workspace.

Tomorrow’s User Experience, Today

Post-pandemic, the technical landscape of remote work and user experience will accelerate and change drastically. User-focused technology will become as critical as the network or application environments. In parallel, organizations will certainly lift and shift more workloads to public clouds like AWS. This is where user expectation will meet tomorrow’s technologies.

IGEL’s model of being an endpoint OS and management solution for devices to transport a user to their apps, data and workspaces defines what it means to be a next-gen OS for cloud workspaces. Amazon WorkSpaces is the premier DaaS solution for running Windows-as-a-service for end users connecting them to their apps and data. When combined IGEL + Amazon WorkSpaces, provides and end-to-end customer experience that is streamlined for the user, but secured and managed for IT.

Visit igel.com/aws for more information on how to get started with IGEL + Amazon WorkSpaces.

The post Amazon WorkSpaces: Now Available on IGEL OS appeared first on IGEL.

We’ve been on a mission this year to evangelize how IGEL is making the home workspace both a cool place to work as well as a productive one.

To spread the word, we’ve given away bundles of cool home workspace technology from some of the world’s hottest brands – worth $5,000 each. We’ve also presented the winner of our customer testimonial contest with a complete home workspace makeover, worth $20,000. But don’t worry, you still have more chances to win. See the details here.

For those of you that may have missed watching the customer testimonial contest webinar, where we showcased three finalists, how their company uses IGEL and why their home office needs a makeover, you can view that here.

In summary, here are some of the great ways these finalists are using IGEL to help overcome the massive work from home migration in their company due to the COVID-19 pandemic:

Jaimie Bean, VP, IT Applications & EAS at Continuum shared how IGEL helped them resolve the security issues of their existing VPN solution. Continuum is a business process outsourcer with expertise in managing call centers and has 15,000 employees around the world. Having recently been spun off from a larger organization, Continuum had to stand up its entire IT infrastructure in just 18 months. Then the pandemic hit. As a result, Continuum had to send 9,000 employees to work from home in the span of just two weeks in March. Having been on a VPN solution at the time the company realized it wasn’t as secure as was needed. They quickly began deploying IGEL OS on home-based systems in the U.S. to improve security and manageability. Now with 3,000 users already implemented on IGEL OS the company has been able avoid overburdening its VPN while giving users the high-performance access they need from home.

Jeffrey de Krou, Systems Engineer, Cloud Specialist at Detailresult Groep provided details on how IGEL OS systems could be rapidly deployed. For the grocery holding company with over 250 supermarkets in the Netherlands, this was a lifesaver during the Coronavirus pandemic. With around 20,000 employees, the company already had 1,500 IGEL thin clients before COVID-19 hit. But the pandemic caused a new urgent need to support home workers. Within two weeks the company deployed another 1,500 laptops with IGEL OS running through the IGEL Cloud Gateway. The quick turnaround took just one hour. Using the IGEL OS creator, they were able to have the laptops running in just three minutes, compared to as much as an hour for Windows laptops using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit which also required manual configurations. Now Detailresult Groep has 80-90% of their home-working employee fleet using IGEL. The result has been significant time and cost savings!

Bill Jenkins, MTS1 Systems Engineer at eBay detailed how IGEL improved security and manageability for eBay’s call center and corporate workers as they moved to a work-from-home model. With 10,000 call center agents that “follow the sun” to provide support for eBay customers, the company has long been using Citrix. Recently they switched to IGEL-based systems from their Dell Wyse Windows-based thin clients to improve security and manageability. But when the Coronavirus hit their success with IGEL delivered a new benefit. Thousands of corporate eBay workers needed to move to a work-from-home model quickly to begin accessing Citrix workspaces for the first time. They were able to spin up 4,000 corporate employees using Citrix and the IGEL OS, using IGEL UD Pockets in no time. This relieved their VPN which was beginning to crumble under pressure. Instead, IGEL rescued these users by enabling secure and productive access to Citrix workspaces on any device their users had on hand.

Each of these customer testimonials, and their workspaces, were part of our community vote. And the winner was Bill Jenkins from eBay – congratulations Bill! Stay tuned for more on his office makeover provided by home makeover expert Vicki Norris.

Ready for your office makeover? Don’t worry, the chance to win – whether you are an IGEL customer or prospect – isn’t over yet! Enter today for our final $5,000 home workspace technology bundle and the final sweepstakes drawing for your home office makeover worth $20,000. The drawing will be held December 10, so don’t delay (winners do not need to be present to win).

It may just be the holiday surprise you’ve been waiting for this year! Good luck!

The post Making Home Workspaces Cool, and Productive, Places appeared first on IGEL.