Understanding Virtual Desktops (VDI)

More than 35 years ago, desktop virtualization – Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) – revolutionized the way organizations manage and deliver desktop computing environments. In essence, VDI allows for the virtualization of a user’s entire Microsoft Windows-based desktop experience, including the operating system, applications, and user settings. Users can access their virtual desktops remotely from any device with internet connectivity, essentially providing a familiar desktop environment regardless of their physical location.

While VDI-based remote desktops offered several benefits, such as centralized management and enhanced security, it also came with inherent challenges:

1. Resource Intensiveness

VDI requires substantial computing resources to host and maintain virtual desktop instances/virtual machines for each end user, typically on-premises in their own data centers. This can strain an organization’s IT infrastructure and result in considerable capital and operational expenses.

2. Complexity

Setting up and managing VDI environments can be complex and time-consuming, often demanding specialized expertise. IT teams must handle tasks like provisioning, maintenance, and updates for every virtual desktop.

3. Scalability Limitations

Scaling VDI infrastructure to accommodate fluctuating user demands can be cumbersome and costly. Many organizations found it challenging to adapt their VDI environments to rapid growth or unexpected surges in remote work.

The Move to Desktop as a Service (DaaS)

Recognizing the limitations of traditional VDI, businesses began embracing Desktop as a Service (DaaS) – sometimes referred to as “cloud desktops” or “cloud-hosted desktops.” DaaS combines Windows virtual desktop solutions with cloud computing, offering the promise of greater flexibility and scalability. With DaaS, third-party providers manage the underlying cloud infrastructure, freeing organizations from the burden of hardware and software maintenance.

Benefits of DaaS:

1. Scalability: DaaS allows businesses to scale their virtual desktop deployments rapidly, adapting to changing workforce needs without significant infrastructure investments.
2. Cost Savings: By outsourcing infrastructure management, organizations can reduce capital expenditures and shift to a predictable, pay-as-you-go model.
3. Accessibility: DaaS enables users to access their desktops from virtually anywhere with an internet connection, enhancing mobility and remote work capabilities.

However, despite these advantages, DaaS inherits some of the legacy issues associated with traditional VDI:

1. Resource Utilization

DaaS is a cloud service still relies on the provision of full virtual desktop instances for each user, which can lead to resource inefficiencies similar to on-premises VDI.

2. Operating System Dependency

DaaS solutions often tie users to specific operating systems, limiting the flexibility of accessing applications on various platforms.

Rethinking the Virtual Desktop: The Rise of Virtual App Delivery (VAD)

As organizations increasingly migrate to the cloud and seek efficient, user-centric solutions that provide more productive digital workspaces, the concept of the traditional virtual desktop is being re-evaluated. Instead of delivering full desktop environments, many are discovering that users primarily need access to their business applications, regardless of the underlying operating system, on any device or endpoint.

This paradigm shift has given rise to Virtual App Delivery (VAD) technologies like Cameyo, which offer a fresh approach to meeting the needs of today’s digital workforce:

1. Application-Centric Approach

VAD solutions, such as Cameyo, focus on delivering individual applications rather than full desktops. This approach optimizes resource utilization, as only the required applications are virtualized and delivered to users.

2. Platform Agnosticism

With VAD, users can access applications on various platforms, including Windows, ChromeOS, macOS, Linux, and even mobile devices. This platform agnosticism liberates organizations from OS constraints.

3. Simplicity and Efficiency

VAD technologies typically offer quicker setup and deployment times compared to traditional VDI or DaaS. This simplicity reduces the IT overhead associated with managing virtual desktop environments. VAD services like Cameyo are also available as either fully-managed services in the cloud, or can be self-hosted by an organization in any cloud, hybrid, or on-premises environment. For more about Cameyo’s fully-managed service in Google Cloud, check out this post.

4. Cost-Effective

By virtualizing and delivering only the necessary applications, VAD can be more cost-effective than providing full virtual desktops, especially for organizations looking to optimize resource usage.

Why Organizations Are Embracing Virtual App Delivery (VAD)

The growing adoption of Virtual App Delivery (VAD) technologies like Cameyo can be attributed to several compelling reasons:

1. Agility and Scalability

VAD solutions are inherently more agile and scalable, enabling organizations to respond rapidly to changing business needs without the complexity of traditional VDI or the resource constraints of DaaS.

2. Cost Savings

VAD reduces infrastructure costs and offers a more predictable pricing model. Organizations can allocate resources more efficiently and avoid over-provisioning.

3. Enhanced User Experience

VAD solutions provide users with a seamless application experience, irrespective of the device they use. End users get all the functionality of their desktop-based software, without the issues of virtual desktops. This enhances productivity and minimizes user training and support requirements.

4. Simplified Management

Managing VAD environments is more straightforward and less time-consuming than overseeing complete virtual desktop deployments. This allows IT teams to focus on strategic initiatives rather than routine maintenance tasks.

Conclusion

The world of virtual desktops has evolved significantly, from traditional VDI to cloud-based DaaS, and finally to the application-centric approach of Virtual App Delivery (VAD). As organizations increasingly prioritize efficiency, scalability, and cost-effectiveness, many are re-evaluating the necessity of full virtual desktops.

For IT decision-makers seeking a forward-looking solution, it’s clear that the virtual desktop, while valuable in certain contexts, is not always the most efficient choice. Virtual App Delivery technologies like Cameyo offer a compelling alternative, creating a better user experience where employees simply get seamless access to the applications they need, regardless of the device or operating system. With VAD, organizations can embrace the cloud era with confidence, knowing they are equipped to meet the demands of a dynamic and digitally-driven workforce. To see for yourself the difference between virtual desktops and VAD, click here to get access to a free trial.

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The Difference Between Virtual App Delivery and Virtual Desktops

Cameyo is a Virtual App Delivery platform that grants users direct access to all of their applications – including Windows, Linux, SaaS, and internal web apps – from the cloud without requiring a full Windows virtual desktop environment (like those from Microsoft’s Azure Virtual Desktop, Citrix, VMware, Nutanix, etc.). On the other hand, traditional VDI and Desktop as a Service (DaaS) solutions provide complete virtualized desktop experiences, replicating the entire operating system with applications, files, and settings delivered from virtual machines hosted in the cloud or on-premises servers. Most Virtual Desktops were not designed as native cloud services, which often results in multiple layers of complexity that reduce scalability.

Some VDI providers have begin to re-position their services as “cloud desktops”, but that is often a misnomer, as these are often not natively cloud-based services. Instead, they are the same traditional remote desktops that are complex to manage, have significant security issues, and deal with issues like latency that degrade the end-user experience.

Luckily, for most companies and use cases, virtual desktops have been rendered obsolete by Virtual App Delivery. Your people can use any device and operating system they want, and they can still access all of their apps either in the browser or as PWAs without having to sign into a virtual Windows 10/Windows 11 desktop environment first.

Eliminating the Virtual Desktop

Virtual App Delivery is superior to traditional VDI in several aspects:

1) Enhanced Security: With Virtual App Delivery, applications are delivered independently, reducing the attack surface compared to full virtual desktop environments. IT decision-makers can apply granular security measures to each application, mitigating the risk of data breaches and unauthorized access. And Cameyo’s Virtual App Delivery platform is built with a Zero Trust security model at the core to further reduce the attack surface by eliminating the need to expose firewall and server ports to the open internet.

2) Cost-Effectiveness: Virtual App Delivery eliminates the need for costly virtual desktop infrastructure, resulting in reduced hardware and maintenance expenses. The seamless application delivery model saves valuable IT resources and optimizes budget allocation. And simple, all-inclusive per-user per-month pricing makes Virtual App Delivery solutions like Cameyo more cost-effective by an average of 70% compared to virtual desktops.

3) Flexibility: Cameyo’s Virtual App Delivery provides the flexibility for users to access applications from any device or endpoint with internet connectivity. And while Cameyo’s fully-hosted solution runs in Google Cloud, it also provides the flexibility to self-host Cameyo in any cloud or in your own on-premises datacenter. Cameyo’s flexibility also extends to your existing technology investments – preventing against the vendor lock-in that comes with many virtual desktop solutions.

4) Simplicity: Compared to traditional VDI setups, Virtual App Delivery is less complex to deploy and manage. IT administrators can streamline application delivery, updates, and user permissions, reducing the burden of maintaining full virtual desktop environments.

VAD Instead of VDI on GCP

As a Google Cloud partner, Cameyo leverages the robustness and security of GCP, ensuring a powerful and reliable application delivery experience. With two options available, companies can choose between fully-hosted or self-hosted solutions:

1) Fully-Hosted Service: Cameyo’s fully-hosted service runs on GCP, with all infrastructure expertly managed by the platform. This option offers a hassle-free experience for organizations seeking a turnkey solution without the burden of infrastructure maintenance.

2) Self-Hosted Service: For companies desiring greater control and customization, Cameyo can be self-hosted in their existing GCP instance or in their own on-premises data center. This option caters to specific security and compliance requirements while benefiting from Cameyo’s cutting-edge technology.

Performance and High Availability with GCP and Cloud Orchestration

Cameyo’s integration with Google Compute Engine API ensures optimum performance and high availability for Virtual App Delivery through:

1) Elastic VM Orchestration: Through the Google Cloud Compute Engine API, Cameyo provisions VM instances on-demand, allowing for elastic scaling to meet growing user demands. This flexibility ensures smooth application delivery, even during peak usage periods.

2) Efficient Snapshot Management: Capture, duplicate, and manage VM snapshots effortlessly with Cameyo and the Google Cloud Compute Engine API. Organizations can quickly deploy consistent images worldwide, enhancing the application delivery experience for users across different regions.

Secure Transmission with Google Cloud DNS API

Cameyo prioritizes security in its Virtual App Delivery solution through integration with Google Cloud’s DNS API, including Automatic DNS Name and SSL Certificate Provisioning. This enables the platform to provide DNS names and SSL certificates to orchestrated VM instances, ensuring secure data transmission without the complexity of manual SSL setup and management.

Cloud Tunneling for On-Premises Access

Cameyo’s innovative Cloud Tunneling functionality provides secure remote access to on-premises virtualization backend servers, providing secure access to apps without the need for VPNs. Cloud Tunneling establishes secure connections between end-users and servers without the need for VPNs or firewall adjustments. This streamlined access maintains network integrity while providing a smooth user experience.

Conclusion

Cameyo’s Virtual App Delivery on GCP revolutionizes the way companies access and deploy applications. By eliminating the need for virtual desktops, organizations can provide their workforce with seamless application access from anywhere, reducing TCO. The platform’s integration with Google Cloud Platform ensures enhanced security and flexibility, resulting in the best end-user experience. As validated by the Economic Validation study by Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), companies can expect a 54% reduction in TCO compared to traditional virtual desktop solutions (download a free copy of the ESG report here). With Cameyo, the future of VDI on GCP is one where you can eliminate the virtual desktop altogether. With Google Cloud and Cameyo you can unlock the true potential of remote and hybrid work while simplifying app deployment, enhancing security, and empowering your workforce. Want to see it for yourself? Start your free trial here, or schedule a consultation call & demo here. 

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Understanding the Basic Components of Azure Virtual Desktop Pricing

Azure Virtual Desktop pricing consists of several components that contribute to the overall cost. It’s crucial to understand these elements to accurately estimate the expenses involved in the Azure cloud service. The primary components include:

1. Virtual Machine (VM) Costs: AVD leverages Azure Virtual Machines (Azure VMs) to host virtual desktops. VM and desktop costs and the Azure resources needed are determined by factors such as the VM type, the region in which it’s deployed, the scalability needed, and the VM’s size and performance capabilities.
2. User Access Licenses (CALs): CALs are required to access AVD (or any remote service hosted on Windows servers). They come in two types: per-user and per-device CALs. Per-user CALs allow users to access their virtual desktops from any device, while per-device CALs enable multiple users to share a single device. So the number of users in your organization is one factor in overall cost, as is determining upfront how many of your end-users operate on shared machines (for example, call center workers that may share the same desktop device with other workers on different shifts).

Microsoft Licenses for Azure Virtual Desktops and Associated Costs

To leverage Azure Virtual Desktop, certain Microsoft licenses are required. These licenses play a pivotal role in determining the pricing structure. Here are the primary license types:

1. Windows 10 Enterprise Multi-Session: This license enables multiple users to run Windows 10 on a single VM, optimizing resource workloads and reducing costs.
2. Microsoft 365 E3/E5: These licenses offer certain productivity and security features, including access to Office apps, advanced security capabilities, and collaboration tools. The choice between E3 and E5 depends on the organization’s specific needs.
3. Remote Desktop Services (RDS) CALs: RDS CALs are required for each user or device accessing the AVD environment. They provide access to remote sessions and virtual apps.
4. Microsoft Azure Hybrid Benefit: Organizations with existing on-premises licenses may be eligible for cost savings by utilizing the Azure Hybrid Benefit. This benefit allows customers to apply their existing licenses towards AVD deployments.
5. Azure Active Directory – Azure Active Directory P1 is available as a standalone or included with Microsoft 365 E3 for enterprise customers and Microsoft 365 Business Premium for small to medium businesses.

Azure Infrastructure Costs Associated with AVD

In addition to the VM and license costs, Azure infrastructure costs should also be considered. These costs include:

1. Storage Costs: AVD requires storage to store user profiles, OS images, and application data. Azure Storage pricing depends on factors such as capacity, redundancy options, and data transfer.
2. Network Costs: Network egress charges may apply when users access data or applications from the AVD environment. Organizations should consider potential network bandwidth requirements and associated costs.

Persistent vs. Non-Persistent Virtual Desktops and Impact on Pricing

Azure Virtual Desktop provides two deployment options: persistent and non-persistent virtual desktops. Understanding these options is crucial as they have implications on pricing.

1. Persistent Virtual Desktops: These desktops retain user-specific settings, applications, and data across sessions. Persistent desktops are ideal for users who require a personalized experience but may have higher storage costs due to individual disk requirements.
2. Non-Persistent Virtual Desktops: Non-persistent desktops do not retain user-specific changes between sessions. They offer a fresh desktop experience with each login. Non-persistent desktops are more cost-effective in terms of storage, as they utilize shared images and require less disk space per user.

As you can see, it is anything but simple to determine what the true cost of Azure Virtual Desktop will be for your organization – and the same holds true for much of the virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and Desktop as a Service (DaaS) market. But by understanding the components of AVD pricing, the necessary Microsoft licenses, Azure infrastructure costs, the functionality required, and the distinction between persistent and non-persistent desktops, it can be a bit easier to make informed choices and effectively manage expenses.

Remember, if you’re serious about looking into Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), then it’s essential to consult with Microsoft documentation and licensing experts to get the most accurate and up-to-date information on Azure Virtual Desktop pricing and licensing policies. But if you’re looking to unlock major productivity gains in your organization while optimizing costs, Virtual App Delivery (VAD) may be your best bet.

The Rise of Virtual App Delivery

While Azure Virtual Desktop is a popular choice for delivering virtual desktop experiences, recent advancements in Virtual App Delivery (VAD) have opened up new possibilities for organizations that are looking to provide their people with access to all their apps – Windows, Linux, SaaS, and internal web apps – on any device while enabling better security, a better user experience, and a dramatic reduction in cost. VAD allows users to access all of their applications remotely from any device, regardless of the operating system, eliminating the need for an entire virtual desktop infrastructure. This approach offers increased flexibility, reduced complexity, and significant cost savings.

Cameyo: A Pioneer in Virtual App Delivery

Over the past five years of serving hundreds of organizations (from Fortune 500s to hospitals to financial institutions to SMBs and everything in between), here at Cameyo we helped establish the Virtual App Delivery (VAD) category as an alternative to legacy virtual desktop solutions. With Cameyo, businesses can leverage their existing infrastructure and securely deliver all of their applications to users on any device – all without the need for complex virtual desktop deployments or VPNs. Cameyo’s user-friendly interface and streamlined management tools empower IT teams to efficiently deliver applications while reducing costs and complexity and significantly increasing security.

The TCO Benefits of Cameyo

Back in May, the analysts at Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) completed a three-month-long economic impact analysis where they interviewed organizations that have made the switch from traditional virtual desktops (VDI and/or DaaS) to Cameyo’s Virtual App Delivery (VAD) solution. In this study, the four categories examined were: licensing, hardware, operational, and subscription fees.

ESG’s model calculated the expected savings when deploying and maintaining Cameyo’s VAD solution compared to the cost of deploying traditional VDI. The model found that the annual costs for implementing Cameyo are far less when compared to those of traditional VDI. According to ESG’s economic analysis, an organization could recognize a 54% reduction in TCO by utilizing Cameyo instead of VDI. As part of this reduction in TCO, organizations can realize the following:

• 75% reduced license/application costs – Traditional application deployment methods require the purchase of a separate license for each device the application is installed on. Cameyo’s process of providing access to applications on a per-named-user basis helps companies reduce their licensing and application costs by enabling each user to access their applications on any device, without needing a license for each device. Cameyo’s practice of delivering applications also reduces IT overhead and indirect support and maintenance costs.

• 82% reduced hardware costs – VDI typically has increased infrastructure requirements, whereas Cameyo’s Virtual App Delivery (VAD) platform is cloud-native, reducing hardware costs.

• 53% reduced operational costs – Conventional VDI solutions require additional technical support and resources to manage the infrastructure. Cameyo’s cloud-native solution eliminates many of the tasks typically required to operate a virtual desktop, such as configuring applications for each personal desktop, provisioning, patching, and updating those devices, which reduces the number of resources needed to manage the IT environment over time.

• 35% lower subscription fees – Cameyo’s public cloud-based delivery, simplified management, and flexible pricing allow for lower subscription fees. Cameyo representatives are able to assist organizations in choosing the correct subscription based on their needs.

Conclusion

Determining the cost of Azure Virtual Desktops can be challenging, given the complexity of Microsoft’s licensing policies. However, by carefully considering your organization’s requirements and leveraging Microsoft’s on-demand pricing calculators, you can gain a clearer understanding of the associated costs. Additionally, exploring alternatives like Virtual App Delivery, with Cameyo as a leading example, can provide more flexibility, reduced complexity, and significant TCO benefits.

To get a simple and straightforward quote for the cost of Cameyo (which is a simple per-user, per-month pricing model), simply answer a couple of questions here and we will send you the details right away. Or if you’d rather see Cameyo in action before looking at pricing, schedule a demo with us here and within 30 minutes we’ll give you a full demo and help you evaluate if Virtual App Delivery is the right approach for your organization. In our experience, it often is (no matter how large the organization or which vertical you’re in) – but if Cameyo is not a fit, we’ll let you know right away and will even help point you in the right direction for another solution.

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This is why we’ve always prioritized case studies where you can read – in our customers’ own words – why they selected Cameyo over Citrix, VMware, and the other old-guard virtual desktop providers. 

Then, about a year ago, we started seeing reviews of Cameyo pop up organically on G2, the world’s largest site for IT peer reviews of SaaS products. G2 is a place where our customers can go and share their opinions about Cameyo freely with their peers, and they can even do so anonymously, giving everyone the peace of mind to share openly. 

Which is why we’re beyond excited that our customers’ reviews have earned Cameyo – for the third quarter in a row – the following rankings in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) & Desktop as a Service (DaaS) categories:

• #1 for “Best Estimated ROI”
• #1 for “Fastest Implementation”
• #1 for “Easiest to Do Business With”
• #1 for “Users Most Likely to Recommend”

We are honored that our customers feel so strongly about Cameyo that they take their personal time to fill out these reviews and share their experiences with their peers. Thank you to all of you who have done so!

And we’re even more honored that these customer reviews have landed us the #1 spot when it comes to ROI, implementation time, and other critical measures. If you’d like to read all of the existing G2 reviews on Cameyo, you can see them all here. 

The post G2 Reviews Rank Cameyo #1 for “Best ROI,” “Fastest Implementation,” and More for 3rd Quarter in a Row appeared first on Cameyo.

Virtualization 101

Virtualization is the process of abstracting software from the hardware on which it runs. A typical real-world example is when a user connects to a remote desktop. In this case, the user theoretically has a desktop-like experience as if the software were running on their local machine, but the operating system and all the applications are actually running on a server in a data center that could be located tens, hundreds or thousands of miles away. 

In fact, the very same server could be running multiple instances of this desktop-like environment for different remote users. That’s why these instances are called virtual machines, or VMs. Their parameters are defined by software, not the true physical hardware that’s powering them. This software used to configure VMs is called the hypervisor, a futuristic-sounding term that actually dates back to the 1970s.

What’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)?

With a basic understanding of virtualization under our belts, the concept of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) should be fairly clear. This is a technology that was developed several decades ago to give users access to a desktop-style computing environment that was independent of the machine they were using to access it.

The “infrastructure” in VDI refers to the suite of hardware and software that needs to be in place to support a VDI environment. This involves hypervisor hosts—servers that are traditionally located in on-premises data centers—to support the virtual machines. Additional servers and software solutions are needed to broker connections, handle multi-session support and facilitate remote access.

In addition to this, many organizations also provide the fleet of devices on which users will interact with these virtual desktops. These are often what’s known as thin clients, with “thin” describing the fact that their core functionality relies almost entirely on the virtual machines. Zero clients, by comparison, have no functionality without a connection to the virtual desktop infrastructure.

The de facto technology standard for accessing virtual desktop environments is called Remote Desktop Services (RDS), with the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) being a key component of that architecture. RDS was developed by Microsoft back in the late 1990s. With the emergence of cloud-based technologies, VDI morphed into desktop as a service, or DaaS. This, in a nutshell, took the infrastructure of VDI and transferred it to the cloud. The paradigm stayed largely the same. Which is why Azure virtual machines are just the cloud service version of VMs hosted on-premises.

Now view that through the lens of Microsoft Windows

Circling back to the question posed in the title of this post: Windows virtual desktop infrastructure is simply VDI framed in terms of Microsoft Windows. Here, “desktop virtualization” is assumed to mean equipping end users with Windows desktops. The hypervisor host is taken to be running some variant of Windows Server. The users themselves are presumed to be Windows users, not macOS, Linux or ChromeOS users.

And, to be honest, that’s pretty much how VDI is usually framed anyway. Every single VDI and DaaS provider—whether you’re talking Citrix, VMware, Nutanix or Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop—has the same underlying approach, which is to provide users with a virtual Windows operating system environment on (mostly) any device. They equate delivering “desktops” with providing end users with Windows desktops in their entirety.

Some of the proposed use cases of Windows VDI include:

• Remote work: Users get the full, familiar Windows desktop experience even outside the office on BYOD clients.
• Workspace standardization: Virtual machines and VDI enable IT to create and manage a uniform computing experience across the organization.
• Cost-cutting initiatives: On account of their lower-spec hardware (e.g., CPU, RAM), thin and zero clients are less expensive than conventional workstations and laptops, making them more cost-effective.
• Dynamic or growing workplaces: Provisioning new end users with virtual desktops instead of standalone machines improves scalability and agility.

But the benefits of VDI aren’t quite as clear cut in these scenarios as the messaging would have you believe. Virtual desktop infrastructure, including DaaS, is a legacy approach to modern computing environments that would benefit more from cloud-native solutions. VDI is expensive, cumbersome and can even open up major security vulnerabilities. And as we’ll see, providing end users with a complete Windows desktop environment often just doesn’t even make sense.

Why Windows virtual desktops are a legacy approach

The fundamental issue with Windows-centric desktop virtualization is that it’s wedded to the traditional concept of the operating system. It’s not that there’s anything inherently wrong with Microsoft Windows per se. The bigger sticking point is that VDI is focused solely on giving end users a classic, old-school PC-style desktop experience — with all the potential drawbacks that entails.

Latency is just one such issue. Recreating the PC experience on a remote thin client can be far more data-intensive than just delivering a single software application. This can lead to input lag and lack of responsiveness that leads to a sub-optimal and unproductive experience for the end user. 

Security is another concern. Providing Windows virtual desktops to remote users means that malicious actors have the power of full desktops at their disposal should one of those devices be compromised. Even if steps are taken to mitigate that, like using sandboxed virtual servers, the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) and unsecured RDP ports can increase an organization’s attack surface.

And let’s not forget pricing. VDI is widely acknowledged as a huge investment. Although DaaS does take some of the on-premises hardware out of the equation, equipping users with Windows-based remote desktops still involves a significant outlay. There are much more efficient approaches that can suit varied workloads.

Finally, there’s the often-overlooked matter of ease of use. Windows-based virtual desktop environments create a bifurcated user experience where the user is on one OS, then has to use VDI to log into a Windows desktop session in order to access their apps. This bifurcation also exists in all-Windows scenarios where the user is on, say, Windows 11 and has to use a VDI environment running Windows 10.

A modern approach to virtualization: Virtual App Delivery 

Instead of pushing all the complexity and security issues of the Windows operating system onto users’ devices, Virtual App Delivery (VAD) provides end users with straightforward, streamlined access to the apps they need.

Cameyo, a pioneer of VAD, embraces this app-centric approach because it suits the more flexible digital workspaces required by modern organizations. Through Cameyo’s VAD platform, end users have remote access to all the apps that are essential for their productivity, and they can seamlessly work with those apps right within their device’s native OS environment — whether it’s Windows 10, ChromeOS, macOS, IGEL, Android, iOS or Linux. That’s because Cameyo’s virtualized apps are delivered securely through the native Web browser, or as Progressive Web Apps (PWAs). 

This creates a frictionless, high-productivity user experience even on BYOD devices. Compare that to a desktop virtualization solution like VMware Horizon or Citrix that still requires users to log back into a (virtual) Windows OS every time they need to access their apps and data. By contrast, Cameyo is quicker for IT to provision, more transparent to the end user and easier to optimize for different workloads.

That’s what makes Cameyo the only virtualization solution to move beyond the Windows operating system while still giving end users access to all of their Windows and Linux (and SaaS and internal web) apps on any device. Cameyo’s VAD platform provides a native application experience on any OS, which in turn feeds into a superior digital employee experience (DEX).

Getting started with Cameyo couldn’t be easier. Sign up today for your free trial and test drive our Virtual App Delivery solution in your own environment. If you’re not quite ready to take that step, that’s fine too. Feel free to schedule a demo with one of our engineers to have them show you the ins and outs of Cameyo.

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Not all remote desktops are VDI, but you could say that VDI is a form of remote desktop. It effectively creates workspaces—usually Windows environments—that end users can access through specially configured devices or software clients. The infrastructure (the “I” in VDI) consists of on-premises host servers running virtual machines (VMs), and it’s these virtual machines that users connect to and interact with.

What’s so wrong with virtual desktop infrastructure?

Virtual desktop infrastructure achieves a particular end, but it’s not the most elegant or efficient solution. Generally, it has three main drawbacks.

• Cost: On-premises infrastructure is expensive. The servers that host the virtual images, store data and assist with authentication during remote access sessions all have to be purchased and maintained. VDI also requires organizations to purchase specific endpoints. These can be specialized thin or zero clients or laptops that have been provisioned for use with VDI. Plus organizations will also pay to license the VDI solution and the Windows operating system on the VMs.
• Complexity: Desktop virtualization solutions claim to be optimized for easy provisioning and administration, but they don’t just manage themselves. Some organizations have entire in-house teams of trained, certified IT professionals to oversee their VDI implementation. Others have to pay to outsource that responsibility. Either way, those teams constantly have to optimize VDI deployments for particular workloads and help users troubleshoot the various problems that can emerge.
• Security: VDI has a troubled history with security. End users need remote access to the VDI host servers, and this is typically done via a virtual private network (VPN) in combination with the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). RDP in particular has several well-known vulnerabilities, and VPNs have the potential to allow complete access to the corporate network if they’re compromised. That runs completely counter to today’s zero trust best practices.

In recent years, the advent of the public cloud has enabled VDI to transition into what’s called desktop as a service (DaaS). DaaS largely follows the same model as traditional VDI except the infrastructure is transferred to cloud-based backends like Azure or Amazon Web Services (AWS). That removes some of the need for expensive on-premises data centers, but it’s not as if the SaaS-style pricing of cloud infrastructure is free.

More importantly, DaaS comes with many of the same drawbacks as traditional VDI. Even seemingly straightforward solutions like Amazon Workspaces can’t escape the steps involved in provisioning virtual desktops to end users or the licensing costs associated with operating systems.

What about Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops?

Like VMware Horizon View, Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is one of the more popular virtual desktop solutions. Because of Citrix’s long history in the desktop virtualization space, the name alone still carries a lot of weight in IT circles.

But that same popularity also makes Citrix solutions a known target for malicious actors, which raises worrying security concerns. As recently as December 2022, the United States National Security Agency (NSA) was sounding the alarm over two Citrix networking products. With the backing of the Chinese government, the APT5 hacking group was actively exploiting a zero-day vulnerability Citrix ADC, an application delivery controller, and Citrix Gateway, a remote access tool, to gain wide-ranging access to targeted networks.

These exploits can be directly attributed to the various components that Citrix uses to power its virtualization solutions. This highlights how VDI’s complexity can become its Achilles heel: The more moving parts, the greater the attack surface. 

VAD: The true virtual desktop alternative

As these issues of cost, complexity and security make clear, finding virtual desktop alternatives isn’t as important as finding an alternative to VDI itself. Even a low-cost, open-source VDI solution, if one existed, would still bear many of the inherent shortcomings of the virtual desktop infrastructure model.

The true virtual desktop alternative is one that isn’t bound to any particular operating system. It’s one that enables end users to work with ALL of their essential apps – Microsoft Windows, Linux, SaaS, and internal web apps – from any device. It’s quick to deploy, easy to provision and incredibly intuitive for end users. Above all, it’s cloud-native and supports zero-trust network architecture by design.

That’s exactly what Virtual App Delivery (VAD) offers. VAD transcends the limitations of a virtual desktop, instead creating a flexible, secure, user-optimized digital workspace. And, as a pioneer of VAD technology, Cameyo is able to provide streamlined remote access to business-critical and even legacy apps without compromising the seamless user experience or the rock-solid security that modern organizations need to stay agile and productive.

Here are just a few of the many ways that Cameyo supports zero trust practices:

• Segmentation – Cameyo separates end users’ sessions and isolates their devices from corporate networks and data. Should a device become infected with ransomware or malware, the malicious software has no way to reach the corporate network/data or the Cameyo system.
• Least privilege – All traffic is encrypted, and apps are delivered via a secure HTML5 web browser. Along with maintaining device segmentation, this eliminates the need for VPNs for remote access.
• Identity & access management – Cameyo integrates with your preferred Single Sign-On (SSO) provider. Any Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) that the SSO utilizes also applies to Cameyo.

That tight security, combined with cost-effectiveness and simplicity, is what makes Cameyo’s VAD so superior to VDI when it comes to remote work enablement. With just a click, end users can start working with full-featured desktop versions of their essential apps from any of their devices — whether it be an Android tablet, an iPhone running iOS, a Mac or a computer running a Linux operating system (including ChromeOS). You can think of it as a highly customizable, app-first cloud desktop.

These are the reasons why Computerworld called Cameyo “the new alternative to Citrix.” And it’s also why the industry as a whole is moving away from virtual desktops in favor of Virtual App Delivery. VAD is more streamlined, more versatile, more secure than VDI and easier on your bottom line, as former Citrix customers like Ur&Penn have already discovered after migrating to Cameyo.

Sign up for your free trial of Cameyo today and discover how easy it is to roll out app-centric digital workspaces to your end users. Or maybe you’d like more details on how exactly Cameyo supports your zero trust IT practices? In that case, simply schedule a demo and one of our engineers will reach out to provide you with the right info.

The post Your Options for a Virtual Desktop Alternative appeared first on Cameyo.

Microsoft’s Azure Virtual Desktop (formerly known as Windows Virtual Desktop) is certainly one. Nutanix Xi Frame, Parallels RAS and VMware Horizon are others. But the various Citrix solutions—such as Citrix XenDesktop and Citrix XenApp, now rebranded and offered as part of the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops product suite—often occupy a large chunk of mindshare. Wherever a list of virtual desktop solutions exists, you can bet you’ll find Citrix.

One of the reasons Citrix evokes such strong mental associations with desktop virtualization is because the company has focused on virtualization technology since its inception over 30 years ago. Three decades can seem like millennia in the tech world, so to have a company stick with its initial business proposition for that long is definitely something worth noting.

What does all that mean for IT departments and CTOs who are looking to support their remote workforces? Should Citrix be the natural go-to choice when you’re looking for virtualization solutions? How does the company’s longevity affect the desktop virtualization products it offers today? And is virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) even the right virtualization technology for you to begin with?

Let’s answer those questions with a quick trip to the past.

A brief history of Citrix VDI

Citrix was founded in 1989 by a tech entrepreneur who had previously led the design teams for the OS/2 and IBM DOS systems. These projects were foundational in giving us the multitasking-capable PC operating systems we use today. From the start, Citrix had its sights set on developing remote access solutions for Microsoft operating systems—specifically Microsoft Windows. This OS-centric model would become an enduring theme.

Bear in mind, too, that these were the very early days of modern personal computing. Windows 95, which most of us would recognize as the grandfather to our current desktop and laptop OSes, wouldn’t appear for another five years.

Through acquisitions as well as its pioneering work in virtualization, Citrix grew by leaps and bounds over the coming decades, a growth that was accelerated in part by Windows’ popularity in the enterprise. Citrix VDI solutions were adopted by several major companies and were responsible for advancements like the thin client, which are low-cost, low-spec endpoints that rely on a remote hypervisor server for their functionality. In many ways, they could be considered the precursor to Chromebooks.

Much of the groundwork that Citrix laid during this period would shape the very architecture of virtual desktop infrastructure as a whole. From provisioning paradigms to authentication processes, Citrix VDI had an outsized influence not only on how organizations actually implemented virtualization solutions but how they came to think of them in the first place. 

The downsides of a long legacy in virtual desktops

With all this history comes, well, history. Three decades spent developing desktop virtualization products also means that those products have three decades’ worth of accumulated legacy technology, engineering pivots, integrations of acquired technologies that increase the overall attack surface, and marketing rebrands behind them. You can see the weight of all this history in the many components that are involved in a typical Citrix XenDesktop deployment.

• Citrix Delivery Controller. This stores configuration data as well as other settings. These are contained within a database that’s managed using Citrix Studio or Citrix Director.
• Provisioning Services. This allows the team of IT admins who oversee the Citrix implementation to distribute desktops to users in real-time from a shared master image.
• Citrix StoreFront. This functions like a software launcher. It displays the desktops and applications that have been assigned to users. End-user authentication takes place through the StoreFront portal.
• Citrix Workspace (formerly Citrix Receiver). This is the dedicated software client through which end users connect to their virtual desktops. It is installed locally on the endpoint device.
• Citrix HDX. This is a proprietary technology suite that leverages Citrix’s Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) remote protocol. ICA is responsible for handling local and remote client data traffic, compression and more.
• Citrix ADC (formerly Citrix NetScaler). Some large VDI implementations that suffer from latency and bandwidth issues will make use of the company’s dedicated load-balancing and optimization technologies for a better user experience.

These components are traditionally hosted in an on-premises data center for the sake of security and maintenance. (For more detail, see our post on “Understanding Citrix VDI.”) However, this architecture adds significantly to the upfront costs of Citrix VDI implementations, which continues to make them expensive to purchase as well as expensive to operate. Furthermore, in an age of increasing ransomware threats, the large attack surface created by these components requires even more vigilance and oversight.

Huge enterprise-scale organizations that absolutely need VDI for their specific workloads or use cases are often braced to budget for these large CapEx and OpEx outlays. But as more organizations look to virtualization technologies to support their hybrid and remote workers, it’s hard to justify this level of cost and complexity. 

In recent years, Citrix has tried to expand its traditional scope with new desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) offerings. These take conventional desktop virtualization and swap out some or all of the on-premises components for cloud infrastructure. That allows them to feature more public cloud integration and adopt something closer to SaaS pricing models (even if they are hard to parse). At the end of the day, though, these Citrix cloud-based desktop services can’t escape their roots in legacy VDI and retain a lot of the same caveats.

The modern approach: Virtualizing apps, not OSes

There’s no denying that Citrix has had a major influence on current virtualization technology. Yet a lot has changed since 1989. Heck, a lot has changed since 2019! It’s time to stop thinking that the primary function of remote desktop solutions or desktop virtualization is simply to replicate the classic operating-system-based PC desktop experience. You don’t need virtual machines and a huge array of components to keep remote users productive.

Virtual App Delivery (VAD) rethinks the remote desktop environment for the cloud era. After all, unlike VDI (whether it’s Citrix or one of its alternatives), Virtual App Delivery isn’t a legacy virtualization approach that has had to be re-engineered to take advantage of the public cloud. VAD was born in the cloud and designed from the very beginning for the cloud desktop needs of today’s organizations.

As the pioneer in Virtual App Delivery, Cameyo’s approach to application virtualization is better suited to most use cases than VDI. Instead of trying to furnish end users with Windows-dependent digital workspaces, Cameyo gives remote users secure, Windows-independent cloud desktops that deliver all of the apps they need to be productive. Because Cameyo is cloud-native, remote users can access those apps on any device with an HTML5 web browser—whether it’s a Linux laptop, a macOS desktop or an Android mobile device.

How VAD cloud desktops are reframing virtualization

Ur&Penn offers a perfect case in point. After disappointing results with a leading DaaS product and a leading VDI product, this leading Swedish watch and jewelry retailer discovered Cameyo. Within a few hours of deploying our VAD platform, Ur&Penn’s employees were working with business-critical apps on their Chromebooks.

According to Ur&Penn CIO Emir Saffar, they found Cameyo’s virtual app delivery to be:

• Simple: “Unlike Nutanix Xi Frame and Citrix XenApp, there is no complicated infrastructure to deploy and manage. Not only were we up and running with Cameyo in less than three hours, but we can also deploy new apps almost instantly. We never have to re-image or deal with a Golden Image. Cameyo could not be easier.”
• Secure by design: “From a user experience perspective, [with Cameyo, our end users] use the same desktop version of the applications they’re used to – but those applications simply run in a browser tab instead of needing to be deployed and managed locally.”
• Cost-effective: “Right off the bat, Cameyo doesn’t require any complex infrastructure and you don’t need to hire a third-party engineer to set it up – so that’s a huge cost savings right there.”

“Citrix was even more complex to set up than [Nutanix] Xi Frame, so we had to hire an outside engineer to come set everything up, which just added more expense. Everything was difficult,” said Saffar. “The first thing we noticed when we started our free trial was that Cameyo was truly built from scratch to be a cloud solution, whereas Citrix has clearly just taken their old technology and tried to push it into the cloud.”

And Ur&Penn isn’t alone in choosing Cameyo over Citrix. Klarahill, another large Swedish business, did the same, reducing its remote desktop costs by 85% in the process.

Why go through all the hassle of rolling out VDI or DaaS solutions when you can easily start with Virtual App Delivery and test it out to see if it’s right for your use case? Sign up today for your free trial of Cameyo and begin providing your users with streamlined, customized cloud desktops in as little as a few minutes. If you’d prefer to learn more about how Cameyo achieves more than VDI with less cost and infrastructure, feel free to request a demo from one of our engineers.

The post What Is Citrix VDI, and What are Your Options? appeared first on Cameyo.

But, just like virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) itself, evaluating the expanse of different virtual desktop solutions can be a little more complicated than it first appears. The remote desktop solutions of just five short years ago are not the virtual desktops of today. Digital workspaces have evolved as the world moves to the cloud, and the way organizations deliver software to their remote users is changing.

Before we look at where virtual desktops are now and where they’re headed, it’s helpful to know how they started.

What exactly is a virtual desktop?

Remote users might be more common these days, but they aren’t a new phenomenon. Ever since the advent of the personal computer, organizations have had a growing need to provide end users with some form of remote computing environment. That need accelerated as mobile devices became more widespread. The pandemic gave it increased urgency.

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) first gained popularity as an early way to support the end-user computing (EUC) model. VDI is a server-based computing paradigm wherein the operating system—usually some version of Microsoft Windows—is not run on the local machine. Instead, the operating system is run as part of a virtual machine (VM) on a hypervisor server in a data center. This host server is often (but not always) located on-premises for reasons of security and management.

Because all the actual computing for the virtual desktop environment is done on the data center server, VDI makes it possible to use endpoint devices that might have reduced processing power and limited functionality. These are called thin clients. Endpoint devices known as zero clients have no independent capabilities and can only run the virtual operating system.

And though teasing out the differences between virtual desktops and remote desktops can be like splitting hairs, the distinction can be important. Whereas VDI solutions provide a desktop via the hypervisor virtual machine, solutions that leverage Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Services (RDS) work a bit more like sharing software from one machine to another.

The long legacy of VDI

As a pre-cloud virtualization technology, VDI set the tone for how individuals and organizations thought of virtual desktops for many years. This idea was still very much centered around replicating the familiar user experience by virtualizing the entire operating system (OS), whether Windows or Linux, on remote endpoints. Even if end users just needed one or two Microsoft Office apps for their particular workloads, they still had to interact with the full OS.

IT departments have also had to go to great lengths to make that happen. The operative word in the VDI acronym is infrastructure: Above and beyond the basic VDI platform, separate solutions are almost always needed to enhance functionality like remote access and authentication.

For example, VDI often goes hand in hand with virtual private networks, or VPNs, which allow users to “tunnel” through the organization’s firewall and onto the internal network in order to access their virtual desktop. Unfortunately, VPNs are challenging to set up, require dedicated hardware and software, and they introduce major security risks.

VDI is also surprisingly costly. There are hardware expenses (e.g., virtual machine servers, license servers, storage servers, load balancers, server peripherals) as well as operating expenses (e.g., deployment, maintenance, upgrade). In fact, most VDI implementations require a permanent team of IT professionals dedicated to overseeing and administering the solution. This explains why, even as far back as 2013, industry analysts were saying “the numbers won’t work” when trying to justify VDI from a budgeting standpoint. That’s still the case today.

However, because they provided the virtual desktop functionality that so many organizations needed, VDI solutions like Citrix and VMware Horizon did gain a foothold in the enterprise and became almost synonymous with the technology itself.

DaaS: VDI enters the cloud

With the advent of cloud computing came desktop-as-a-service (DaaS), a shift that caused the idea of virtual desktops to morph a little.

DaaS took the footprint of on-premises infrastructure and moved it into the cloud, where it acquired some of the advantages that cloud platforms are known for—things like better scalability, faster disaster recovery, automatic updates, less management overhead and more predictable pricing. Generally, DaaS provides more APIs for extensibility and smoother integration with other cloud services, including IdPs for user authentication. Those are all pluses.

But at its heart, DaaS remains very close to classic VDI with a few cloud-friendly tweaks. Well-known desktop service solutions like Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD), now rebranded as Azure Virtual Desktop, still revolve around the operating system and aim to mimic the local PC user experience. The complexity of management doesn’t go away, either, which is why solution providers have sprung up with dedicated IT teams to help organizations manage their DaaS solutions.

Like VDI, DaaS can also suffer from latency. As much as you might try to optimize every variable in the chain, you’re still trying to recreate a local Windows desktop environment over a standard Internet connection.

VAD: The evolution from virtual desktops to cloud desktops

Then software innovators started asking important questions: Why does a virtual desktop have to be tied to an operating system in the first place? Why can’t it be tailored to individual end-users and unique use cases instead of being dependent on Windows OS? Shouldn’t a true cloud-based digital workspace work with every device rather than a pool of company-issued thin clients?

Virtual app delivery (VAD) was the natural answer to those questions. By removing the longstanding dependency on the Windows operating system and all that entails, VAD marks a significant evolution from virtual desktops to cloud desktops. Organizations can implement VAD solutions to deliver select Windows apps to their remote users, of course, but now they can do so without all the administrative and infrastructural overhead.

VAD is able to take this streamlined approach because it’s fully cloud native. It’s not a legacy technology that’s been retrofitted to incorporate cloud services; it was designed to capitalize on the latest cloud technologies for unparalleled cost savings, security, flexibility and ease of use.

Cameyo was quick to develop the potential of VAD and optimize the technology for today’s hybrid workplaces and educational environments. Our Windows-independent cloud desktop solution is:

• Secure – Cameyo supports zero trust environments through the use of several industry-leading technologies, including NoVPN and Port Shield, to protect against the rising threat of ransomware and other exploits.
• Versatile –  Because it isn’t bound to the Windows operating system, Cameyo frees you to customize your digital workspaces for specific apps and workloads.
• User friendly – For end users, remote access to Cameyo apps is as simple as clicking on a browser bookmark. For admins, deploying and managing Cameyo is measured in minutes.
• Device agnostic – To access apps via Cameyo, all users need is a modern HTML5 browser like Chrome or Firefox. Cameyo runs just as smoothly on macOS and Linux computers as it does on Android and iOS mobile devices.
• Cost-effective – With lower CapEx and OpEx relative to both VDI and DaaS, Cameyo gets you more productivity for far less money.

Simply put, Cameyo is hands down a better alternative to the virtual desktops offered by VDI and DaaS.

And the industry has already taken note. In 2021, according to the “VDI Like a Pro” survey on the state of end-user computing, 17% of organizations were planning to retire their current virtual desktop solutions in favor of virtual apps. Renowned tech pundit Rob Enderle has gone so far as to call Cameyo “the future of desktop computing” in Baseline magazine. Customer after customer has gone on record praising Cameyo for its simplicity, user experience and ROI.

Sign up for your free, no-strings trial of Cameyo today to gain a firsthand understanding of how Windows-independent cloud desktops represent a huge advancement upon yesterday’s virtual desktops. Alternatively, you can request a demo and have our engineers explain why virtual app delivery might be the optimal solution for you and your end users.

The post What are Virtual Desktops, and What’s Right for You? appeared first on Cameyo.

But the enablement of remote work is only one side of the coin. It’s coupled with a growing awareness that IT has to be more vigilant than ever when it comes to cybersecurity. The number of ransomware attacks has skyrocketed. Industry statistics now hold that 1,200 organizations around the world fall victim to a ransomware attack every single week. In May 2022, Illinois-based Lincoln College announced that it would close its doors for good after 157 years of operation, in part because it couldn’t recover from a debilitating ransomware attack.

What can organizations do to strike that delicate balance between flexibility and security? How can they maintain an outstanding user experience for remote workers without putting their corporate network and data at risk?

Option #1: Virtual desktops in Google Cloud

One possible answer to those questions involves deploying virtual desktops within Google Cloud Platform (GCP). According to Google, there are several benefits to leveraging their own cloud services for virtualization solutions.

The first of these is security. With Google Cloud, organizations can choose among Google Workspace, Identity-Aware Proxy (IAP), or Active Directory for user authentication and authorization. Desktop services are delivered via encrypted streams.

The second benefit is flexibility. Google has partnered with some of the most well-known partners in the virtualization industry and has named three of those vendors – Cameyo, Citrix, and VMware – as Chrome Enterprise Recommended partners globally. The Chrome Enterprise Recommended designation indicates that those three vendors have been through extensive technology validation and integration to ensure that they meet Google’s standards. 

And the third benefit has to do with future-proofing. By moving their desktop infrastructure into the cloud, organizations can increase their agility and enjoy some of the advantages of cloud computing, such as simplified operations and a smaller on-premises hardware footprint.

The three main approaches to GCP virtual desktops

Google Cloud offers additional choices in how organizations decide to put their virtualization strategy into action. These choices are aligned with the three cloud desktop approaches we’ve described in detail before: virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), desktop-as-a-service (DaaS), and virtual app delivery (VAD).

• VDI: This is the “classic” method of delivering productivity tools to remote endpoints. Through a complex system of virtual machines (usually some version of the Windows operating system) hosted on a data center server, VDI equips end-users with a desktop-style workspace. This approach is often hindered by complexity, cost, and security concerns. 
• DaaS: As a hybrid of VDI and software-as-a-service (SaaS), DaaS moves more of the desktop infrastructure into the cloud while still retaining VDI’s focus on the Windows operating system. Because of its cloud computing roots, DaaS usually offers more APIs and the ability to automate some aspects of workspace provisioning. But it still focuses on delivering the Windows desktop to users, meaning it comes with the cost and complexity of managing and securing those Windows desktops. 
• VAD: VAD is a fully cloud-native virtualization technology that departs from traditional approaches. Although VAD leverages the next-gen capabilities of cloud services like GCP, it has evolved past the Windows operating system to provide users with secure, simple Cloud Desktops that deliver a seamless, optimized user experience on any device. Rather than delivering the Windows OS, VAD enables true Cloud Desktops that give users ultra-secure access to all of the apps & data they need to do their jobs from anywhere & any device.

Some end users will have workloads that still require full Windows-based virtual desktops, and in those specialized instances, VDI or DaaS may be the right choice. However, even with all the advantages of Google Cloud, both VDI and DaaS can be subject to issues with latency and complexity of orchestration. Those issues can negatively impact users’ day-to-day productivity and increase the resources that IT departments have to dedicate to managing their remote work solutions.

Option #2: Truly cloud-native desktops with Cameyo’s Virtual App Delivery (VAD)

Solutions that follow the Windows virtual desktop model end up hanging onto a lot of VDI’s legacy complexity, but VAD has the unique ability to provide a Windows-independent cloud desktop via Google’s proven platform. By shifting the emphasis to apps rather than the operating system, VAD enables organizations to leverage the security benefits of Google Cloud while eliminating the historical dependence on the Windows operating system.

Not sure whether a Windows-independent cloud desktop approach is right for you? Here’s what Brian Stopinski, Corporate IT Operations Director at Community Hospital Corp. (CHC) had to say about how his organization came to select Cameyo after evaluating Citrix, VMware, and Nutanix first:

“When I first started my conversation with Cameyo, my mentality was that we had to deliver full Windows desktops. It’s simply the byproduct of 25 years of experience with Windows desktops, and I think a lot of people are still stuck in the same mentality that I was,” said Stopinski. 

“It wasn’t until I saw Cameyo in action that it fully clicked that I did not need to present the entire Windows desktop. I realized that the desktop brings a lot of inherent baggage with it. There’s unnecessary stuff the user doesn’t need which actually complicates their workflow. There’s all this white noise on the Windows desktop that doesn’t make them more productive.” 

“With Cameyo, I finally realized that the user doesn’t need to see the Windows OS. As an organization, we always ask ‘What is the value add?’ whenever we’re evaluating something new. So I applied that question to something old – Windows desktops – and it became obvious that the added value was zero.” 

“In fact, the real value add is the elimination of the Windows desktop, because I don’t have to deal with all the complexity and all of the security concerns that Windows desktops bring. I can also deliver a lower cost solution because I don’t have to license Windows OS, I don’t have to license a Windows Terminal Server, I don’t have to support all of that infrastructure just to deliver the Windows desktop,” said Stopinski.

And no one does virtual app delivery better than Cameyo. After all, we pioneered and refined this technology to make it as secure, flexible and user-friendly as possible.

Cameyo’s cloud-native VAD platform allows users to access their apps via any modern HTML5-capable browser (such as Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari) or as Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), which provides a user experience that feels like the app is installed locally on the device. This provides a true cloud desktop experience that isn’t bound to any one operating system on the client side. Chromebook, Linux, Android, iOS and Mac users can all access the apps they need right from their desktop, laptop or mobile device. Every session is HTTPS-encrypted, and Cameyo uses multiple technologies to safeguard data without sacrificing a seamless user experience.

Furthermore, while Google Cloud brings amazing benefits, we recognize that different organizations have different needs. Some might want tight integration with Google Docs, whereas others might have a custom pricing agreement with a different provider. That’s why Cameyo lets you use your preferred cloud service provider, so you can pick from popular solutions like Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services (AWS) too.

If you’re looking to strike that elusive balance between security and flexibility—while also delivering the most seamless end-user experience—Cameyo delivers on all counts. Remote users as well as IT admins value its ease of use and transparency. To see how our cloud desktops offer a more streamlined, secure and cost-effective alternative to virtual desktop solutions based on VDI or DaaS, sign up for a free trial of Cameyo today. And if you’d like more details on how exactly Cameyo integrates with cloud service providers like Google, feel free to request a demo.

The post Delivering Secure Google Virtual Desktops appeared first on Cameyo.

Citrix is a company that’s become closely aligned with virtualization technology over the past two decades. Products like Citrix Workspace and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (formerly Citrix XenApp and Citrix XenDesktop) are often top of mind when IT staff are looking for ways to equip end users with flexible digital workspaces and productivity apps. Now that remote and hybrid workplaces are the norm, that need is greater than ever.

Below we’re going to examine one form of desktop virtualization—specifically, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)—and what it looks like in a typical Citrix environment. We’ll cover the user experience, the provisioning process and some performance-impacting factors like bandwidth, latency and VPNs. And we’ll close by considering whether the Citrix desktop is even necessary for all use cases, or if alternative virtualization solutions are better suited to some workloads than others.

How does VDI work?

Virtual desktop infrastructure involves desktop environments hosted on a centralized server. This server, often located in an on-premises data center, stores and runs virtual machines that themselves hold micro-environments based on operating systems like Microsoft Windows. When they’re accessed by endpoint devices via the VDI software, these virtual machines help create an experience that’s similar to using a conventional desktop PC.

If we break that concept down into its individual components, it looks something like this:

• • A centralized server hosts virtual machines (VMs). Provided the hardware resources (e.g., CPU, RAM) are up to the task, it’s possible to have multiple virtual machines running on a single host server.
  • The software that generates, runs and manages the VMs is called a hypervisor.
  • Each VM contains one or more virtual desktops based on an operating system (OS) image—essentially a software snapshot of a PC. Although that OS image is usually some version of Windows, it can be a Linux variant too.

• Endpoint devices connect to the server in an attempt to acquire a virtual desktop. Sometimes these endpoints are standalone PCs. More commonly, they are thin clients and zero clients, which are partially or completely dependent on desktop virtualization.
• An additional software layer known as a connection broker identifies a virtual desktop for each of these endpoint devices and pairs the client device with the server-based operating system image.
• Because the desktop environment originates on the host server in the data center, endpoint clients have to remain connected to it for the duration of the computing session.

In other words, there are a lot of moving parts to any VDI implementation. Having to itemize all these components just to make sense of VDI technology highlights its inherent complexity.

What is Citrix VDI?

As noted above, VDI is a form of virtualization technology. Citrix VDI is simply one company’s implementation of that technology. 

Citrix VDI therefore follows the same broad template—hypervisor, connection broker, endpoint devices—as other VDI solutions such as VMware Horizon. And, like many other virtualization solutions, Citrix leverages Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to provide users with access to Windows apps and desktops.

However, with a view to optimization, Citrix introduces a stack of proprietary components that are ostensibly designed to improve aspects like access and management. These include:

• Citrix Receiver: User-facing software for endpoints to connect to remote desktop resources.
• Citrix ADC: Formerly known as Citrix NetScaler. Helps with load balancing and performance enhancements. 
• Citrix StoreFront: Allows for end-user authentication and management of user information.
• Citrix Director: Enables support-oriented IT staff or help desk teams to troubleshoot issues.
• Citrix HDX: A suite of technologies for creating a near-native “high-def” user experience.
• Provisioning Services (PVS): Designed for provisioning remote desktops from a shared master image.

Some of these components are Citrix-specific names for standard VDI technology. Others exist on top of the basic virtual desktop infrastructure, adding even more moving parts to the already complex VDI paradigm.

What are the limitations of VDI?

VDI—whether Citrix or not—is based on legacy desktop virtualization technology and comes with a number of caveats. You can boil these down to three major categories.

Cost: VDI requires a significant investment in both hardware and software before it can be up and running. Even if an organization has an established on-premises data center, any VDI solution will require multiple dedicated servers to function as hypervisor hosts and connection brokers. End users will also need to be equipped with a fleet of compatible endpoint devices.

Security: Microsoft RDP is a common target for brute force attacks and can quickly become a serious ransomware liability if proper precautions aren’t taken. Virtual private networks (VPNs) are often used in conjunction with VDI to give off-network users access to the internal network. Unfortunately, if an authorized end-user’s machine is compromised, VPNs can give hackers access to the internal network too.

Performance: Because VDI attempts to replicate a traditional local desktop on remote endpoints, the overall experience is subject to bandwidth constraints, high latency and other common connectivity issues. IT staff routinely end up fine-tuning the VDI solution to account for ongoing changes in the computing environment. When you factor in provisioning, image maintenance and other management responsibilities, virtual desktop infrastructure can eat up even more resources, leading to snowballing costs.

A more general limitation is that VDI predates the cloud, so it wasn’t designed to natively leverage platforms like Azure. Desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) has been one way that solution providers have tried to translate classic desktop virtualization to the cloud infrastructure, but that comes with its own set of potential complications.

Citrix VDI after the acquisition

One further consideration that relates specifically to Citrix VDI is the company’s future direction. In January, Vista Equity Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital announced that they had acquired Citrix Systems with a mid-2022 finalization.

Industry analysts expressed some wariness toward that news. According to a statement released by IBRS:

“Organisations re-evaluating their VDI investments — especially in light of Citrix’s request acquisition, should consider the potential of application virtualisation, and perform a detailed RIO that includes not just the licensing and hardware, but also the operational costs over an extended period — say five years. 

It should also be noted that, with Citrix being acquired, many organisations have started to be less optimistic about new innovation coming from the platform.”

What makes that potential lack of innovation especially concerning is that VDI solutions are known for their vendor lock-in. After organizations have sunk so much time and money into all the components of their virtual desktop infrastructure, they’re in no rush to migrate away from it. But that could leave them at the mercy of a stagnating desktop virtualization solution.

Solve for VDI’s limitations with Cameyo

Cameyo addresses the limitations of VDI altogether, thanks to its versatile, cost-effective and secure Virtual App Delivery (VAD) platform. VAD enables users to access essential apps and data quickly and easily from any device.

With Cameyo, organizations of any size can easily equip their end users with right-sized cloud desktops — wherever those users happen to be. Cameyo’s pioneering approach to Virtual App Delivery eliminates time-consuming provisioning processes. It doesn’t require VPNs. It’s cloud-native. And it’s far more intuitive to administer and use.

Getting started with VAD is as seamless as its user experience. Take advantage of your free trial or schedule a demo today to see how Cameyo can free you from the constraints, cost and complexity of VDI.

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