Earlier this year, during our annual DISRUPT event, we had the opportunity to dig deeper into the issues and challenges IT faced during the onset of the global pandemic. Most specifically, we looked into how end user computing (EUC) professionals addressed the immediate need to move workers from the office to home with record speed.

Based on survey responses from 269 end user computing (EUC) professionals across North America and EMEA, 61% named user experience the most significant challenge they faced when shifting to a work-from-home model. While being the number one issue across all regions, the challenge was more prevalent in North America (66%) than EMEA (52%).

This finding was notable, considering the significance of the other challenges we ranked, including issues around security and VPNs as well as help desk impact and policy control. The takeaway? EUC professionals know that if user experience isn’t optimal, the productivity and performance of the company can suffer.

Security Still Critical Concern

Even while user experience ranked the highest, it’s still notable to see that nearly half (47%) of EUC professionals ranked endpoint security a top challenge. Combine this with other related security issues including policy control (43%), VPN issues (42%) and unpatched devices accessing the network (21%), one could argue that concerns around security, together, do claim the top spot.

What is the EUC professional’s biggest concern when it comes to security? That they can’t effectively manage remote software, OS upgrades and patching for their remote systems (34%). Fear of ransomware attacks (24%) and accidental data loss (22%) were also notable. This shows that, while the concerns may vary, fear of limited protection for remote workers and their devices from unwanted intrusion is high.

Need for a Better User Experience and Security Drives VDI Adoption

With user experience and security so top of mind, it’s not a surprise that EUC professionals, to address these needs, named virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) as a top consideration for adoption (58%) following the pandemic. This was a much more heightened consideration in North America (65%) than EMEA (25%).

Other significant technologies being considered following the pandemic are the adoption of cloud workspaces and desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) (44%), centralized endpoint management (38%) and moving Windows to the cloud and off the desktop (30%). Each of these solutions puts control back into the hands of IT for greater security and policy management, while further empowering remote users with the data and application access they need for high productivity.

Enabling technologies, including the adoption of a non-Windows based endpoint OS and the conversion of user devices into cloud-enabled endpoints also ranked as desired post-pandemic technologies, 24% and 23% respectively. As solutions to enable VDI, DaaS and the move of Windows to the cloud, these additional selections show that EUC professionals are not only looking at the future of their user workspace architecture, but how they will improve deployment speed for that architecture, while lowering costs.

Persistence of Work from Home Drives New Endpoint Priorities

Among the EUC professionals responding to our survey, one additional factor remained perfectly clear: employees will continue to work remote, long after the pandemic subsides. In fact, during the pandemic, 75% of respondents reported the more than 50% of their employees were working from home. Once the effects of the pandemic are over, as many as 39% expect more than 50% of their employees to continue working from home.

What does this mean for future EUC technology priorities? Respondents still prioritized end user experience, stating that employee experience management (EEM – 58%) technologies would become their top priority over the next 12 months. Driven by the need for increased security and a lighter IT resource load, identity and access management (IAM – 52%) and modern unified endpoint management (MUEM – 45%) were also in the top three.

Ultimately, the global pandemic has given EUC professionals a lot to deal with, in very fast order. This has accelerated many of the trends and technologies that may have already been in discussion, including VDI, DaaS and cloud workspaces. But what may not have been as anticipated is just how important a delightful user experience is to ensure business continuity and productivity.

Moving forward, close attention to the needs of users, along with ensuring security and simplified management for IT, will remain more important than ever. As we push beyond the effect of COVID-19 on the workplace, a heightened understanding of the challenges and needs to empower users to work remotely will remain. The silver lining may just be that we are more ready than ever to enable an agile work model, come what may.

The post Survey: User Experience is IT’s Top Remote Work Challenge appeared first on IGEL.

 With aging PCs and a complex IT environment generating increasing helpdesk requests, the City of Tigard has turned to IGEL and its next-gen operating system to standardize and simplify its end user computing environment for a smooth-running City campus.

“We are a small IT shop and wear every technological hat here at the City,” said Mike Nolop, IT Manager, City of Tigard. “Almost every department’s IT system was unique, running on different operating systems and with very old hardware. We had no standardization and as a result were a very reactive IT department.”

Since its incorporation in 1961, the City of Tigard has grown to become a desirable and affordable community in the Portland metro area. Its more than 53,000 city residents enjoy access to more than 16 miles of paved trails and nearly 550 acres of parks and open spaces. With roughly 350 full-time, part-time, and temporary staff, the City has helped create a diverse economy, strong schools and outstanding parks, making Tigard one of the most liveable cities in Oregon.

VDI to standardize

The team took the decision to move from a Windows client server computing model to a modern Citrix Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environment to bring standardization to City employees and to provide consistent services across the organization.

Following the deployment, the team still faced challenges. We were running Citrix virtual desktops on top of aging Windows PCs and this effectively required double management,” said Keelan Cleary, Sr. Network Administrator, City of Tigard. Users were having to log in twice, to both the Citrix virtual desktop and their Windows PC, before starting work. They were also still able to access their desktop PCs for personal applications, removing the management and security benefits of standardization.

IGEL extends hardware life

After investigation, the team realized that they could use IGEL to standardize the desktops and end user computing environment without having to invest in new hardware. They first tested the concept using the IGEL UD Pocket. No larger than a paper clip, UD Pocket can be slotted into the USB port of any PC, laptop or any compatible x86, 64-bit CPU based endpoint device and boots the IGEL Operating system. Once the user has finished accessing the IGEL Universal Desktop through the UD Pocket, they could simply remove it and reboot to return to using their local device desktop.

After the successful trial, the team began permanently converting all of its Windows desktops to IGEL OS endpoints; starting with soon to be end of life Windows 7 devices. IGEL OS 11 is purpose-built for enterprise access to virtual environments of all types. Currently in its 7th generation, the IGEL OS is revolutionizing computing by standardizing desktops for simple configuration and granular control, while giving users a familiar, trouble free workspace.

“It immediately increased reliability and all the issues we were experiencing on the underlying system disappeared, simplifying our support requirements,” said James Christopherson, Network Administrator, City of Tigard.

One example was the city library, where a USB-connected RFID reader for checking books in and out had stopped working because of incompatibility issues with the Windows PC and Citrix. Once the desktop was converted to an IGEL OS endpoint the system worked.

“It enabled us to simplify and standardize our VDI roll-out to all departments,” said Christopherson.

IGEL for high-end graphics applications

In addition to the conversion of existing PCs, the team is deploying IGEL UD2 endpoints to the Community Development Department, the Design team, and others that require NVIDIA graphics. These devices are ideal for handling their high-end graphics applications, for example, for CAD engineering drawings or for the graphic design of marketing materials.

Today, the City of Tigard’s virtual desktops are delivered to the IGEL OS endpoints using Citrix, backed by VMWare’s Hypervisor and vSAN Storage Platform. Liquidware is used for profile management, so that everyone’s settings can easily follow them from one desktop to another.

The IT team then uses IGEL Universal Management Suite software (UMS) to centrally manage the physical desktop hardware. Purpose-built to simplify complex enterprise environments, the IGEL UMS supports diverse operating systems, databases and directories. This smart, simple and secure management software lets IT easily manage any remote endpoint, from just a few to tens of thousands from one single console.

Christopherson said using the IGEL UMS was much simpler than updating its previous Window PCs using System Centre Configuration Manager (SCCM). “We used to use SCCM with mixed results but with the IGEL UMS it’s very different. It’s much simpler and faster to roll-out new devices and roll-back and correct any unwanted changes.”

Multiple benefits

The benefits of the IGEL deployment are very clear to everyone involved in the project at the City of Tigard. “It has brought standardization and simplification,” said Nolop. “On the IT side, we can easily manage the entire desktop ecosystem and there is much less troubleshooting. The user also benefits from the same high-quality experience, every time, wherever they are working. The users are no longer locked to their hardware. They can move around, for example, moving from a front desk to a conference room and still have access to the same virtual desktop and session.  And if something fails, we can instantly change the desktop without having to manage a stack of inventory.”

In addition, the conversion to an IGEL OS has helped the City of Tigard deal with the looming issue of End of Life Support for Windows 7. With the move to IGEL, there is no need to migrate their devices to Windows 10.

Connecting mobile workers

Moving forward, the organization is exploring the possibility of using IGEL Cloud Gateway to connect its mobile workforce, such as Parks and Utilities field crews, to the IGEL desktops, as well as increasing the deployment of virtual applications.

To watch full details of the City of Tigard’s success using IGEL, watch this video.

The post IGEL Ensures Smooth Running Computing for City of Tigard appeared first on IGEL.

IGEL’s laser focus on end user computing, with simple and consistent endpoint management, and the portability and flexibility to transform any device into a managed IGEL endpoint, make the IGEL solution unique.

Jim Veraldi, Vice President, Data Center Solutions, Ingram Micro comments,

The thing about IGEL that makes them unique is that they’re focused on end user computing. If you look at any of their competitors, it’s a side business for them. But with IGEL all their engineering resources and dollars go into end user computing and that sets them apart for anybody else.”

Matt McKinnon, Enterprise Sales Manager, Forthright Technology Partners says,

IGEL’s real secret sauce is the ability to manage the 10s of thousands from one console. They truly don’t have a competitor in that space.”

Watch their comments on this video: Working with Endpoint Pioneer IGEL on VDI and Cloud Workspaces – Part 1

But the value doesn’t stop at the IGEL solution, partners also trust working with IGEL throughout the sales and implementation process. Partners consistently tells us that we will stop at nothing to enable their success and that IGEL is not only easy to work with but a true partner in every way.

Take it from Vishal Ganeriwala, Senior Director, Product Marketing Services at Citrix, who says,

Citrix and IGEL have been long-standing partners. IGEL is really easy to work with as a partner and we have together brought in many solutions to our customers including the flexibility and low-cost options our customers enjoy especially with IGEL OS…”

Ron Lish, CEO at Cortek Services agrees,

The best part about IGEL is they only work with partners. So, they not only have a great product – arguably the best – but we can trust them in all the deals. They are great in supporting pre-sales and post-sales implementation. They are really someone we can trust both technically and on a sales side.”

Watch them in this video: Working with Endpoint Pioneer IGEL on VDI and Cloud Workspaces – Part 2

If you’re a partner supporting the rapid growth of VDI and cloud workspaces, learn more about the IGEL partner program today. We are committed to drive 100% of our sales through the channel and in doing so support our channel partners with robust sales support, marketing programs and passion. Because we know that our partner’s success is our success.

The post Why Partners Choose IGEL for VDI and Cloud Workspaces appeared first on IGEL.

Allowing employees to work differently, however, is not limited to the healthcare industry. In recent weeks, I have hosted several conversations with various organisations (across multiple verticals) about the need to change how the workspace is delivered. In particular, the impact of the global Coronavirus outbreak is bringing this topic into the light faster than before, as companies seek swift, more secure and manageable ways to support growing remote and work-from-home workforces.

Company policies to protect the health of employees are being enacted with direction to stay home if sick or work from home, if possible, to ensure worker wellbeing. In fact, the CDC last week advised that remote work could emerge as a vital public health strategy and the World Health Organization is actively now promoting the need to enable “teleworking across your organization. For some, this move is an easy one, but IT still must ensure data security, optimize employee data access and manage governance requirements, especially at the endpoint.

It’s not just the risk of global disease that’s driving the need for a more agile workforce either. Global warming, fires, sandstorms, parental care, geopolitical shifts (like Brexit), talent retention, and so many other very ‘human’ and real issues are now commonplace, forcing organizations to rethink how they attract, manage, and maintain the most precious of resources – your employees. No longer is agile working simply a ‘nice to have,’ it’s a true need.

Time for a New Way of Working

Over the last 20 years, the IT world has been perpetually developing better and better technologies to enable employees to work remotely. Dial up connectivity and flexible voice communication evolved to high-speed mobile access, robust VDI and application virtualization, and smart devices (like phones and tablets). Now the evolution has moved into the era of cloud workspaces and desktop-as-a-service solutions to further worker agility to meet new expectations for remote working.

Of course, for those of us in the end user computing (EUC) industry, this concept is by no means new. But, while the benefits of employee productivity and agility haven’t always justified the return on investment, that time has changed. Today’s workforce demands for a new way to work are tipping the scale. And IT must find a way to support this remote work movement while preserving security, adhering to compliance requirements and conserving budget by efficiently leveraging existing investments.

DaaS and IGEL

At this inflection point of the agile workforce, DaaS offers a secure, scalable solution to enable working from home. Cloud delivered Windows desktops from Microsoft (WVD), Citrix Cloud, VMware and Amazon workspaces enable IT to scale and deploy critical line of business applications and Windows 10 desktops to remote workers. To further help secure and ease the consumption of virtualized desktops, the IGEL operating system and UD Pocket can be deployed to any x86 device, turning it into a secure workspace, pre configured to connect to the cloud delivered applications. With a web browser and support for 90+ technologies built in, the read only Linux operating system ensures that users working from home are secure and yet productive, even when using their own Macbook, PC or Laptop. Secure remote configuration and management is possible thanks to the IGEL Cloud Gateway ensuring that IT has complete visibility and control from endpoint to the cloud.

To further ease the deployment and evaluation of IGEL solutions, IGEL will be releasing 11.3.500 of the IGEL OS on April 1st. This release will provide a fully functioning, time-limited (30 days) environment which no longer requires registration on boot, nor requires a licence to be deployed in the 1st 30 days. Every customer can extend the overall trial period to 90 days by registering the at IGEL. This registration also enables codec packs. Should partners or customers look to extend the evaluation licence at scale, IGEL is happy to discuss on a case by case basis.

IGEL is also running a number of webinars over the coming weeks on its technology in addition to the information currently online. Evaluation software and devices are available on request at www.igel.com

• Webinar 1: “UD Pocket – a secure workspace for home working”
• Webinar 2: “Converting devices to a secure workspace”
• Webinar 3: “Scalable remote management – UMS and Cloud Gateway”

Register now for the first webinar on Tuesday, March 17 at 12 p.m. EDT to support the agile demands of your workforce, with the simple, smart and secure technology you need for your employees to thrive.

The post The Future of Work Must be Agile for Employees and Businesses to Thrive appeared first on IGEL.

The hunger for a transformation in endpoint computing is growing larger by the day. Limited IT resources and expertise exacerbated by the need for more rapid endpoint provisioning and scalability are mounting to drive more and more organizations to cook up the perfect solution for desktop virtualization. Add to that the attraction of easily integrating Azure-hosted virtual desktops with on-premises Active Directory, and you have a table set that’s ready for a tasty Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) solution.

Yet, like with any good recipe, you need excellent ingredients. And what could be better than IGEL and Citrix? How about IGEL, Citrix and Microsoft?

Citrix + Microsoft = A Perfect Combination Decades in the Making

Citrix and Microsoft have formed a formidable partnership. The depth of their relationship in delivering desktops and apps together in fact goes back more than 30 years. Today, they are building on that history by pivoting to the Microsoft Azure cloud together. And the benefits for customers and partners alike are exponential: elastic scalability, granular control, expansive geographical reach all with more efficient access to popular Office365 apps. As a result, it’s now easier than ever to deliver endpoints with location independence that supports the demands of the growing mobile workforce.

With yesterday’s GA announcement of Citrix Managed Desktops , organizations have a cloud-hosted solution that is easy to provision Windows-based applications and desktops from the cloud to any device, anywhere in a simple unified manner. The new solution provides all the benefits of a traditional Citrix application delivery solution but adds even more simplified deployment and lower cost by using Microsoft Azure cloud services. It’s an exceptional option for extending the value of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops as well as workspace solutions across the enterprise.

IGEL brings the Full Flavor of Citrix/Microsoft DaaS to Life

Enter the value of IGEL and your Citrix and Microsoft Azure-powered DaaS solution really comes to life. Offering day one support for Citrix Managed Desktops and WVD, IGEL enables organizations to benefit from the speedy deployment enterprises need to match cloud provisioning schedules. But the benefits don’t stop there. Simplified endpoint management, confident endpoint security, dramatic cost savings and support for any cloud, any platform and any device – even those old aging laptops and PCs you thought you’d have to spend a fortune to replace – all add up to the full value you need when making the switch to DaaS.

Also, with Windows 7 end of support roughly 120-days away, and counting, there really isn’t any reason not to put DaaS on the table. With IGEL, Citrix and Microsoft together you’ll be able to quickly provision desktops to any user, scale to meet changing demands, and efficiently deploy and manage workloads across multiple regions – all with the simplified endpoint experience that easy to manage and more secure than ever.

Citrix and IGEL are Already Eating at the Chef’s Table

Both Citrix and IGEL are already seeing each other’s value. In fact, Citrix uses a combination of IGEL UD3 software-defined endpoints along with the IGEL UD Pocket and IGEL Workspace Edition to give new life to old hardware in the Citrix Call Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Through IGEL OS, Citrix has been able to unify all its hardware endpoints at the OS level resulting in significant cost savings, improved end user experience along with greater manageability and security. [read the case study here]

IGEL too relies on a combined IGEL / Citrix solution to support its global user workforce with Citrix-enabled cloud workspaces powered by IGEL OS. The resulting solution delivers the flexible and secure access IGEL employees need to critical applications while enabling ultra-efficient manageability and control.

You can bet that as Citrix Managed Desktops and WVD are fully available, each organization will be adding them to their recipe for DaaS success.

It’s solid proof that DaaS’ time is here. Don’t wait any further. Read about why IGEL OS is revolutionary and then download a demo today.

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