Windows 7 and User Virtualization
Windows 7 looks set to be the next desktop operating system, with many organizations refreshing their PC estate as they migrate up. This refresh will inevitably bring about a re-assessment of the corporate desktop estate; one that is likely to consider lowering desktop management costs by moving to centrally-managed virtual desktops.
Migrating employees to Windows 7 could be a risky and expensive proposition, especially if it affects the employee's working environment. AppSense's User Virtualization technology manages all the user-specific elements of the Windows 7 migration process as well as providing an alternative approach to managing the user aspects of the PC.
There are three aspects to User virtualization that can provide significant additional benefit in a Windows 7 environment.
- Accelerated, low-impact migration to Windows 7 with a seamless user experience
- Replacement of legacy user profiles to reduce management and support costs
- Moving to low-cost, standardized Windows 7 virtual desktops with ensured user adoption
Windows 7 Migration
Upgrading to Windows 7 on the physical PC
It is unlikely that any personalization the user has done to their existing desktop will be compatible with the upgraded Windows 7 desktop. Employees will ultimately have to re-personalize – not an easy, quick or enjoyable task. One of the most important things to consider in your Windows 7 migration project is the retention of all user-specific information (we call it the "user personality") from the 'old' desktop and simply injecting this back into the new Windows 7 desktop following upgrade, ensuring a seamless experience to the user and a de-risked migration.
Migrating to a virtual Windows 7 desktop
Virtual Windows 7 desktops not only provide employees with a new OS, they can also provide significant desktop management cost reduction opportunities; no need to upgrade the desktop machine (as this can now be re-purposed as a 'thin client'), centralized desktop management etc. In the same way that physical desktops can be quickly and easily upgraded by detaching all user-specific elements from the desktop, employees can be moved from a physical to a virtual desktop with almost no change to their personal desktop experience.
Replacing user profiles in Windows 7
Your Windows 7 migration affords the opportunity to replace outdated and manually-intensive methods to manage the user experience on the desktop. Complex, often large login scripts can be replaced by simple system-level commands that are easy to administer and can execute in parallel in response to user need. The traditional Windows-based method of managing user personalization settings - user profiles - can now be replaced with a central repository of user data provided to the user’s desktop on-demand. This reduces the potential for profile corruption and can significantly reduce user login time.
Enabling low-cost Windows 7 desktops with VDI and AppSense
The bulk of desktop management cost savings can be realized in the use of a single, standard Windows 7-based desktop image across the entire company. Imagine creating one corporate Windows 7 desktop (possibly with a selection of baseline corporate applications such as Outlook and Internet Explorer) and to have this provisioned to each employee as they require it. When the employee goes home, the desktop is deleted. No need to store and manage individual desktops, instead they're delivered on an 'as-needed' basis.
However, this standard Windows 7 image is by no means personal to the user. This is where AppSense and user virtualization is key. By centrally managing the user's 'personality' independent of this standard Windows 7 desktop, it can then be applied to the desktop when needed. The result is a low cost, standard Windows 7 estate company-wide, with employees experiencing the same working environment as when they were using their desktop PC. All this across any combination of desktop delivery technology (Citrix, VMware, Microsoft etc).
By managing the user aspect of the corporate PC as a separate entity - the desktop business tools (apps and OS) are able to be standardized and their delivery automated, leading to huge reductions in cost (management, storage, licensing) and productive employees.
Overviews (US)
More Info
Contact Us
Do you have more questions?
Please email info@appsense.com for more information.
