During Microsoft Ignite Microsoft announced their Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) offering, available on Microsoft Azure exclusively. It provides users with a full, multi-user Windows 10 experience virtualized in the Cloud and always up to date and available on every device.
Offering IT management the ability to quickly virtualize and deploy modern and traditional desktop app experiences in minutes with unified management in the Azure Portal. Of course, we as IT admins know better. There’s a lot more to consider when deploying and managing a Windows desktop, either from the Cloud or on-prem, this is where Liquidware can help.
Partners matter
In the official announcement, it is mentioned that Microsoft will work with various software partners to optimize the Windows Virtual Desktop experience where needed. Liquidware is one of those partners, an important one.
Traditionally, building, deploying, and managing a Windows-based VDI deployment is no easy task, there’s a lot to consider. Simply spinning up a couple of VM’s doesn’t cut it. Even though Microsoft has optimized the way Windows 10 is now deployed (open for discussion), the fact that it’s now a multi-user platform, and can be consumed as a 100% DaaS solution, still leaves a bunch of ‘loose ends’ to be taken care of.
According to Jason Smith – VP Product Marketing with Liquidware – the collaboration between Microsoft and Liquidware didn’t just fall from the sky. Throughout the past couple of months, both parties have been working closely together to fully support Microsoft’s internal testing of the WVD.
Liquidware’s full product stack, which includes FlexApp Application Layering, ProfileUnity User Environment Management, and Stratusphere UX monitoring and diagnostics, has been thoroughly tested and tightly integrates with Windows 10, which is good to know – read more here as well.
Time will tell, but…
It’s still early days and the exact launch date of the WVD is still to be decided upon (somewhere in the first half of 2019) meaning that the details are not yet written in stone, so to speak. I can imagine that the issues surrounding the Windows 10 October 1806 release, which still haven’t been fully resolved, might have somewhat delayed the process as well.
One thing is for sure though, Microsoft has never done a very good job when it comes to managing user data, profiles, monitoring, and the overall desktop experience in general. And even though they’ve now acquired Fslogix to take care of some of these challenges, there’s more to consider. This is where the earlier mentioned software partners come in, Liquidware in particular.
Their whole portfolio
At first, I thought the collaboration would be mainly around ProfileUnity, but it turns out their entire portfolio is involved, great. I’ve seen ProfileUnity in action multiple times and the way it can harvest (and reapply) existing user profile, application, and policy data make the transition from on-premises virtual desktops to Azure-based Windows Virtual Desktops a lot more straightforward.
And what about on-premises physical and/or virtual desktops? These will still need to be taken care of as well, right? Many think that Microsoft’s WVD offering will be big in the years to come, and I must admit, it certainly looks promising. However, that doesn’t mean companies will just ‘drop’ everything else, far from it.
For one, while WVD will work fine, or be enough for many of your users, it will never be a 100% fit. And like with everything that’s new, it will take time for large-scale adoption to take place, here I’m talking years as opposed to months, most likely.
Looking at what Liquidware has to offer from a UEM perspective, UX and infrastructure monitoring, application delivery, plus the fact they work on-premises, in the Cloud (basically all of them, and multi-Cloud scenarios are supported as well), or a combination of both, makes them an ideal candidate.
If you’re considering to explore WVD’s or any other type of Cloud, or hybrid solution, I would encourage you to at least give them a spin. It would be a waste of money and time to use two or even more solutions to take care of all this – physical, virtual, on-prem, Cloud-based. Moving between clouds, from on-premises to cloud, or vice versa will than be optional as well, without to much hassle.
Liquidware is about enabling organizations to deploy a user desktop strategy that is adaptive and supports their business requirements – in other words, adaptive workspace management is key.
Rumor has it…
It’s also rumored, on Twitter and various other channels that as of Jan 1st, 2019 Fslogix will no longer be available for purchase, at least new licenses. Renewals shouldn’t be a problem. Many were afraid that after the acquisition by Microsoft it would become an Azure/WVD only product, it’s hard to tell at this stage.
If the above turns out the be true Liquidware might find themselves in an even better position since they’re the only ones offering a similar solution (plus a lot more), which is straightforward to configure while keeping the footprint as small as possible. Something to consider.
Liquidware will have your back
Perhaps Microsoft’s newly acquired profile solution isn’t mandatory when purchasing WVD’s. If that’s the case you still have options. And who doesn’t like options, right? Of course, Liquidware’s ProfileUnity solution does more than handle your user’s profiles, never mind if profile disks/containers are used or not – they have those too, by the way.
Even if WVD’s does come with a built-in ‘cost-free’ user profile solution there’s a lot more with which Liquidware can help. It is a full-blown User Environment Management solution with all the bells and whistled needed to make everything run as smoothly as possible from a user perspective.
Next to all his their User Experience monitoring solution and FlexApp application layering product can optimize the overall experience even further, and not just from a user’s perspective but from a management point of view as well – not to be underestimated.
Throughout 2018 Liquidware has been heavily focusing on Cloud and hybrid solutions. As a result, their entire portfolio is available as an on-premises offering as well as on all major Cloud platforms. So whatever happens, whichever route you, or your company choose(s) to take Liquidware will be there to have your back, in 2019 and beyond.
