Technology Comparisons and Reviews https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal No-nonsense technical analysis from the community! Mon, 21 Dec 2020 10:50:04 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.3.17 https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/cropped-light_on_dark_PNG-1-32x32.png Technology Comparisons and Reviews https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal 32 32 WhatMatrix QA with NetApp – Virtual Desktop, DaaS, VDI and WVD https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/whatmatrix-qa-with-netapp-virtual-desktop-daas-vdi-and-wvd/ https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/whatmatrix-qa-with-netapp-virtual-desktop-daas-vdi-and-wvd/#respond Mon, 21 Dec 2020 10:50:04 +0000 https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/?p=173485 WhatMatrix:  The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated virtual desktop sales momentum.  What are some of the big questions you are being asked to answer from companies shifting to work from home, and how are you answering those questions? How fast can I get there? Cathi Allen Product Marketing Manager at NetApp NetApp: This is a key […]

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WhatMatrix:  The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated virtual desktop sales momentum.  What are some of the big questions you are being asked to answer from companies shifting to work from home, and how are you answering those questions?

How fast can I get there?

Cathi Allen

Cathi Allen, Product Marketing Manager, Virtual Desktop Services at NetApp Public Cloud Services

Cathi Allen Product Marketing Manager at NetApp

NetApp: This is a key question, as customers are finding that not only that they do need to embrace VDI…they need to do it ‘now’.  The old adage of ‘IT is a competitive weapon to stay ahead of competition’ has evolved in the face of this pandemic; now it’s ‘Advanced IT solutions are the way to pull yourself off the floor after all of your market has been knocked down…and the fastest to get up will cross the finish line first’.

We have had customers that have given us challenges, such as to get their cloud VDI environment created and ‘stood up’ in 2 weeks; leveraging our advanced automation and machine logic, we had them productive in 2 days.

How much is this going to cost?

NetApp: Traditionally, VDI was seen as a fairly pricey OPEX line item; however, the cloud cost curve has been on a steep decline over the last few years, meaning that it’s now far less than many customers perceive. Combined with Microsoft’s Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) licensing scheme in Azure which removes the RDS CAL burden, as well as enabling multi-user Windows 10 licensing (versus the more expensive Windows Server licensing for this workload), the combination delivers a very strong ROI that was not there just a couple of years ago. Whether utilizing the cloud through as a new deployment, or via migration or expansion, this approach is now a fast and affordable option for a remote workforce environment.

How can I make sure that my user experience equates to what they are used to currently on their traditional desktop environment?

NetApp: Technology has developed to the point that you can regularly present end user’s virtual desktops as a primary mode of support – with full customization, personalization, and a performance experience that they are used to currently. However, key to ensuring the consistent user experience is that you must make sure that the underlying infrastructure is in place to support the total aggregate workload, especially since VDI is now a tier one, enterprise workload. This means enterprise-scale (versus commodity-level) storage, proper networking setup, and compute optimizations.  Resource usage must be constantly monitored to ensure that the right compute, bandwidth, and resources are allocated and delivered correctly – something that you would not generally be concerned about with traditional physical endpoints.

 

WhatMatrix:  Why do you think VDI has taken this long to really take off?  Was the use case driven model too narrow?  Was IT technology holding it back?

NetApp: We see that there have been several impediments to VDI sweeping the market and fulfilling the technology promise; they include:

Cost

On-premises VDI was always perceived to be more expensive, requiring beefy datacenter infrastructure, intricate networking setups, additional Windows Server licenses and CALs, and the VDI software costs.  Add to that the burden on IT resources and skillsets to deploy and manage this environment, and it was daunting. Today, however, the cloud infrastructure cost curve has come down and to the right, and Microsoft has aggressively addressed the licensing issue. Technologies and mass economics/commodities at scale are being addressed via the concept of global control planes for broad-based deployment and management, removing the strain on personnel resources and making VDI economically more reasonable.

Connectivity

Historically, end users have been reluctant to rely on a network connection for the daily activities.  They tended to feel the need to be tethered to their local device, holding their local data, content, and local datastores, to be productive. However, technology and culture has evolved synergistically so much over the last five years that this is now far less of an issue.  We have gotten so used to working on our smart devices/phones (i.e. our handheld computers), that we take it for granted that we are working in the cloud now. We answer email, shop, bank, communicate and socialize in the cloud every day, all day. Working on our phones is now the norm which is a similar experience to a virtual desktop. This has subtly removed one of the biggest hurdles to VDI adoption.

Personalization

End users always wanted their stuff, the way they wanted it.  A desktop set up in a way that made them comfortable, app icons where they wanted them, data at their fingertips.  The thought was, ‘I need it with me all the time.’ However, along with the cultural change noted above vis-à-vis connectivity, technology has also evolved to allow that level of personalization to be present in the virtual desktop environment – and from any device (not just a PC).

Why has it taken off? COVID-19 has forced the issue.

 

WhatMatrix:  With more companies quickly implementing remote PC and work from home initiatives, what kind of security issues should they be aware of?

NetApp : Working with large enterprises on their modern workplace environments, we see several potential risk areas that are too often overlooked:

Data loss

Just providing connection to your apps and data from anywhere does not solve the total issue.  If you have people working from home, you still face a massive risk of data loss (likely larger than if they are working from a corporate location).  They can lose data if they drop their PC, or if their learn-at-home kids download malware to the home network.  Data loss potential is magnified in this new world dynamic.

Data theft

Data loss isn’t the only issue: what about if the workstation (loaded with data worth far more than the PC itself) is stolen by someone working at the house, or taken out of the car, or picked up while working at the local Starbucks.  Not only is that data lost…it is in potentially malicious hands.  Other scenarios include someone inserting a thumb drive into an unattended PC at a library or coffee shop, or on a plane, or ‘hackware’ that is put into the home network allowing data to be siphoned off.  Most enterprises agree that ‘stolen data’ is even worse than ‘lost data’.

Unauthorized access

We’ve all seen enough incidences of hacking through IoT devices (printers, smart TVs, refrigerators), viruses on home network/home pc that proliferates, and insertion of ransomware or malware that can use a home PC as an entry point into the entire corporate network.

All these issues can be well addressed by an enterprise-scale VDI infrastructure…allowing the business to be up, running, and way ahead of the competition.

 

WhatMatrix:  Now that companies have been “pushed” into the deep end of the pool of VDI/DaaS/Remote PC with forced work from home initiatives, do you think things will go back to normal or will they continue to allow some percentage of work from home?

NetApp: We do not know for certain or to the extent but there is enough data to show that most major enterprises are going to continue with a remote workforce permanently. Business are becoming more confident with maintaining business continuity with their workforce. Users are proving to be productive, driven and have a better work life balance.

 

WhatMatrix:  Can you explain what your solution or offering does specifically to help with work from home strategies?

NetApp: Our customers are finding that, while VDI addresses a pressing issue, it can be hard and complex to do right. Especially at scale.  And even more so when companies need to figure out how to expand their on-premises environments, burst into the cloud, or migrate to the cloud.  They are finding that each locale has their own deployment, management, and orchestration tools, which do not necessarily work across instances or platforms (even if they are from the same vendor).  According to industry research done earlier this year by research firm ESG, 93% of VDI users (current and planned) must rely on 3rd party resources to deploy and manage their VDI environments, due to a lack of manpower and competency.

As VDI has evolved to a Tier-1 workload, to address these issues NetApp has invested heavily in this space, introducing NetApp’s Virtual Desktop Service, (VDS).  VDS is a SaaS-delivered global control plane that streamlines and automates the deployment, management, and orchestration of VDI environments for on-premises, hybrid, or even multi-cloud VDI environments.  VDS leverages automation and machine logic to provision and deploy the infrastructure (such as storage, compute, and networking resources), orchestrate the session hosts and user sessions, as well as to manage the application stack.  A key aspect of VDS is its ability to use algorithms and machine logic to optimize the use of cloud compute resources, saving ~ 50% off the user’s cloud infrastructure bill.

VDS also allows incorporates the ability to leverage NetApp’s enterprise-class Cloud Volumes family of storage to ensure scale, performance, and availability.  In addition, VDS allows the user to take advantage of a full suite of the Cloud Volumes platform products to monitor/report on the overall cloud environment (Cloud Insights), protect both user and shared data (Cloud Backup), as well as Microsoft 365 data (SaaS Backup for Microsoft 365), and ensure audit/regulatory compliance (Cloud Compliance).

Quite simply, NetApp’s VDS allows customers to deploy VDI faster, in a more secure manner, exploit it more fully, deliver on tighter SLAs with their users, increase their data production/compliance profile…all while cutting their overall VDI costs by up to 50%.

 

WhatMatrix:  Why should a company choose your solution?  What are your differentiators?

NetApp: Three things have become clear with regards to VDI in 2020: a) it’s evolving to a Tier 1 workload requiring the same robust infrastructure as other top-tier workloads such as SAP and Oracle apps, b) customers are embracing a hybrid/multi-cloud paradigm to ensure virtual desktop resources are available in close proximity to user populations, and c) it’s here to stay.  With those points in mind, there’s no other solution that offers the enterprise-class infrastructure that NetApp can provide, nor that can enable a truly hybrid/multi-cloud management from a single pane of glass.

This means that customers can manage all their Windows virtual desktop environments regardless of where they are, whenever need be.  VDS even allows superset groupings of users and resources that go beyond the limits imposed by the hyperscalers for a given workspace (i.e. users, API call limits, etc.) to allow seamless enterprise management.  Imagine being able to create a single workspace – governed by a set of policies – that spans multiple clouds and regions seamlessly.  That’s VDI at enterprise scale.

Furthermore, there’s no other solution set that delivers the total ROI that the NetApp family does.  VDS can reduce deployments from months to days, and management and orchestration from weeks to hours, all through utilizing automation and machine logic. The ongoing streamline management done via automation by VDS can save thousands in IT man-hours and administrative costs, versus standard operating procedure. Cloud resource usage is optimized through LiveScaling, which consolidates users into a smaller number of VMs while shutting down inactive virtual machines, saving significant cloud compute costs – which themselves are minimized by sourcing discounted reserved and spot instances through our Spot by NetApp family. Storage resources are also optimized through the Cloud Volumes family, ensuring that customers are not over or under resourcing their storage platforms.

NetApp VDS is VDI management at enterprise class scale, from a single pane of glass.

 

WhatMatrix:  Is your company doing anything specific, outside of selling your solution, to help work from home or the community in general?

NetApp: NetApp prides itself in leading in thought leadership. Not only do we try to ‘set the bar’ with regards to protecting our employees while supporting their productivity in a safe work-from-home environment, we educate others within the industry on what how the remote workforce is the new normal. We also work directly with all the of the major cloud vendors, Azure, GCP and AWS, collaborating to improve performance, resolve issues, and invent new technologies.

We continue to work with our customers to meet their challenges and creating new ways to meet their needs. To help our customers learn how to expand their use of these modern workplace technologies, we have provided free ‘sandboxes’ for customers to get familiar with and test these systems, allowing them to come up to speed quickly and test some of their own applications without the requirement of standing up a full cloud-based VDI environment.

 

WhatMatrix:  How does your solution address user concerns around data privacy and control over personal data?  Can you describe your view on these challenges?

NetApp: There are several ways that NetApp, and our vendor partners, help address our customer’s security concerns. First off, the public cloud providers include intense levels of security within the hyperscalers. The customer’s cloud tenant is completely encapsulated from other tenants, in a multi-tenant fashion. To go further, within offerings such as Microsoft Azure WVD, multifactor authentication can be enabled. When a user logs into Azure and WVD, Azure will ask for the username, password, and Azure multi-factor authentication, which delivers a token to the end user’s device. The next time the user logs in, from the same device, the client will remember the token from the Azure Active Directory (AD) Enterprise application. To further improve security, a Conditional Access policy can be implemented.

For security factors specific to NetApp, NetApp ONTAP options and AD controls incorporate encryption in rest and in flight, to improve security at the storage level. NetApp Cloud Insights includes a feature called Cloud Secure, which has the ability to protect a customer’s data with actionable intelligence against a multitude of threats. It provides centralized visibility and control of all corporate data access across hybrid cloud environments to ensure security and compliance goals are met.

From the aspect of the user’s data, NetApp offers SaaS Backup for Microsoft 365 (M365) which is easily enabled from the VDS console.  Use of Microsoft 365 is dominant with customers using tools such as Exchange, SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive, etc., and they are provided a highly resilient infrastructure with regards to the availability of these services.  But what about the security and protection of user data within those products? Microsoft is explicit about the fact that a customer’s data is that customer’s responsibility to protect from threats such as accidental deletion, user error, insider threat, applications run amok, or ransomware.  According to recent research, up to 2/3 of business don’t realize that they carry this burden – Microsoft doesn’t protect your data against these threats. NetApp SaaS Backup for M365 simply and easily protects that critical customer data through a simple service enabling data protection, restore, and rollback – completing the picture of keeping your users’ data and work safe from a variety of threats.

 

WhatMatrix:  Finally, do you have any advice to a company currently planning or in the process of implementing a VDI or DaaS solution?

NetApp:  While there are many things that many will advise when implementing a remote workforce strategy, such as VDI or DaaS, we feel that there are three that are key.

First, educate yourself. The success or failure of any VDI or DaaS project is determined by the end user. If they are unable to be productive, have latency issues, or poor performances, they will not adopt it, creating business continuity issues, higher employee turnover, and waste of time, resources, and money. Investigate what the user’s really do daily. Setup a pilot program or test environment to prove to user’s that performance, access to the apps and data, and experiences are acceptable gain user acceptance and adoption.

Second, do not do it yourself. Trying to stand up a VDI environment without understanding the proper sizing, scaling, and technologies will lead to failure. Under or over resourced environments are doomed. Find a trusted advisor to help you navigate to find the solution that works best for your situation. Have them help you scope and right size your environment. Also, talk to others in your industry that have implemented VDI. Get customer success stories or case studies. Ask for customer references. These will all give you a better chance of a successful deployments.

Finally, do not underestimate the scope and size of the necessary infrastructure (on-premises or cloud) to ensure peak performance of your VDI environment. Test tools available and try product trials to determine what will work best for the customer’s situation. Evaluate resources, including skilled IT resources, to make sure they will help drive to a successful VDI implementation and environment, in the short and long term.

WhatMatrix : Thanks Cathi, really appreciate you taking time to share your insight with our community. For anyone wanting more infomation on NetApp solutions head over to their Virtual Desktop Service site 

 

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WhatMatrix Q&A with VMware– Virtual Desktop, DaaS, VDI and WVD https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/whatmatrix-qa-with-vmware-virtual-desktop-daas-vdi-and-wvd/ https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/whatmatrix-qa-with-vmware-virtual-desktop-daas-vdi-and-wvd/#respond Fri, 04 Sep 2020 07:56:30 +0000 https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/?p=156106 WhatMatrix: The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated virtual desktop sales momentum. What are some of the big questions you are being asked to answer from companies shifting to work from home, and how are you answering those questions? VMware: The pandemic has certainly increased demand for technologies that organizations can use to provide secure access to corporate […]

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WhatMatrix: The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated virtual desktop sales momentum. What are some of the big questions you are being asked to answer from companies shifting to work from home, and how are you answering those questions?

Sachin Sharma

Sachin Sharma, Director, Product Marketing at VMware

VMware: The pandemic has certainly increased demand for technologies that organizations can use to provide secure access to corporate resources in a remote work environment. Organizations are leaning on VMware and our VMware Horizon platform to help them maintain business continuity because of the remote nature of their work, their secure access requirements, and the deployment options that Horizon provides. The biggest questions companies have as they’ve shifted to a work from home environment are: How do I embrace this new normal and become more efficient? How do I continue to refine my work from home strategy for the long-term? And how can I leverage the cloud? We are helping answer these questions by providing guidance based on our experience helping hundreds of customers deploy VDI and apps during the pandemic. For example, in March we helped a customer deploy 35,000 virtual desktops in just five days by using one of our IaaS partner clouds. Since then, we’ve learned how to make the processes even more efficient and are using those findings to help other customers deploy VDI even quicker. Furthermore, we’re educating our customers on the various deployment options they have with VMware Horizon and Horizon Cloud, including on-premises, through hybrid cloud, or a multi-cloud strategy.

 

WhatMatrix: Why do you think VDI has taken this long to really take off? Was the use case driven model too narrow? Was the technology holding it back?

VMware: I think the expectation for VDI to solve all the complexities of desktop and app management were unrealistic when VDI came out 10 years ago. To be fair, VDI was and is well leveraged by many customers, but there were specific use cases customers gravitated towards – security and compliance, centralized management, BYOD, and M&A. VDI also took off in certain verticals such as healthcare, financial services, and education. With the current landscape and focus on remote work, the spotlight is on technologies that help with secure access to remote resources. The pandemic created a perfect storm for VDI to be front and center as the technology that keeps employees productive.

 

WhatMatrix: With more companies quickly implementing remote PC and work from home initiatives, what kind of security issues should they be aware of?

VMware: Security should always be top of mind, regardless of what technology an organization uses for work from home initiatives. Companies should focus on end-to-end security, not just what’s in the data center or what’s on a device. From access and authentication, to securing BYO devices, to ensuring transport data and adding layers of security around the firewall such as micro-segmentation and load balancing, these are all topics that should be thought of when designing for employees to remotely access resources. Employees should still continue to practice security 101 in terms of being aware of and reporting on phishing, malware, and other types of attacks.

 

WhatMatrix: Now that companies have been “pushed” into the deep end of the pool of VDI/DaaS/Remote PC with forced work from home initiatives, do you think things will go back to normal or will they continue to allow some percentage of work from home?

VMware: A customer survey from Dell in April 2020 indicated that even after we go “back to normal” that over 40% of the global workforce will still primarily work from home. I agree with the percentages in this survey. Where we work from is much different than a year ago, when I’d guess 10-20% of the workforce was primarily working from home.

 

WhatMatrix: Can you explain what your solution or offering does specifically to help with work from home strategies?

VMware: Our VMware Horizon portfolio of solutions provide secure delivery of virtual desktops and apps across the hybrid cloud. Horizon helps IT teams efficiently deploy and scale virtual desktops and apps from a single control plane with rapid provisioning, automation, and simplified management to extend the best digital workspace experience to end users. These elements are critical for use cases like business continuity and remote work or work from home. Quickly provisioning desktops helps customers scale hybrid cloud resources to provide quick access to corporate apps and data, helping respond to events like the current pandemic.

VMware Horizon 8

The Horizon platform can deliver virtual desktops and apps through a multitude of deployment options – on-premises, Horizon on Dell Technologies Cloud, Horizon VMware Cloud on AWS, Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure, Horizon on Google Cloud VMware Engine, and more.

 

WhatMatrix: Why should a company choose your solution? What are your differentiators?

VMware: Horizon helps securely deliver virtual desktops and apps based on a modern platform that’s built for simplicity and speed. Key differentiators include hybrid delivery, management, and scale based on the private, public, or hybrid cloud deployment of choice. With differentiating technologies that Horizon leverages such as Instant Clones, App Volumes, and Dynamic Environment Manager, IT can take advantage of non-persistent economics with persistent user experience by rapidly provisioning desktops and apps. Built on a trusted foundation of VMware Cloud Foundation or partner solutions such as Microsoft Azure, Horizon also provides end-to-end security as part of the VMware end-user computing portfolio, which includes Workspace ONE. By using Workspace ONE and Horizon together, IT can deliver the best digital workspace experience across all apps, including SaaS, virtual, web, and more.

 

WhatMatrix: Is your company doing anything specific, outside of selling your solution, to help work from home or the community in general?

VMware: When the pandemic spread earlier this year, VMware immediately put offers in place to help our customers. For example, we extended our trials to include more users and more time. We extended the general support period for vSphere 6.7 until late 2022. We offered online/remote options for certification exams. For the majority of our VMware employees, we were already set up with Workspace ONE so the transition to working from home, from a technology and access standpoint, was seamless.

 

WhatMatrix: How does your solution address user concerns around data privacy and control over personal data? Can you describe your view on these challenges?

VMware: We take data privacy and control very seriously. As a whole, VMware is transparent about our privacy policy: See Link 

Specifically for Horizon, we have documented how we ensure privacy: See Link and what data is being collected: See Link

This topic is very important to us and we continue to evolve with best practices in data privacy and control.

 

WhatMatrix: Finally, do you have any advice to a company currently planning or in the process of implementing a VDI or DaaS solution?

VMware: First, educate yourself on the various options you have. VDI and DaaS isn’t the same as it was 10, or even 5 years ago. You can leverage the power of the cloud to quickly deploy and simplify management. DaaS is a great option for customers who don’t want to worry about managing various layers of the VDI stack. I would also recommend looking at hybrid strategies. Events like the current pandemic shed light on how important it is to ensure you have your use cases covered, from business continuity to disaster recovery, and using the cloud can help you

 

WhatMatrix : Thanks Sachin, really appreciate you taking time to share your insight with our community. For anyone wanting more infomation on VMware solutions head over to our comprehesive WhatMatrix evaluations on : Desktop as a Service, App Layering and Application Virtualization 

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5 Powerful Tips for Multi-cloud Management You Must Know https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/5-powerful-tips-for-multi-cloud-management-you-must-know/ https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/5-powerful-tips-for-multi-cloud-management-you-must-know/#respond Mon, 24 Aug 2020 12:21:11 +0000 https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/?p=154343 There are endless reasons why your organisation may what to start implementing a multi-cloud strategy, many of which include increased productivity, lower operating costs, and the freedom to benefit from all the cloud options available. However, setting up and using a system like this effectively is no easy feat. To help you along the way, […]

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There are endless reasons why your organisation may what to start implementing a multi-cloud strategy, many of which include increased productivity, lower operating costs, and the freedom to benefit from all the cloud options available. However, setting up and using a system like this effectively is no easy feat.

To help you along the way, regardless of whether you’re just getting started or you’re knee-deep into a multi-cloud setup, here are the five most essential management tips you need to know if you want to be successful in your venture.

1. Always Consider Security

Even if you’re working with a single cloud system, one of your highest priorities, you need to be thinking about is security, even more so when you’re using a multi-cloud setup. Every single point where people can have access to your data, and every point where your cloud networks connect, you need to make sure you’re looking at how protected you are.

You need to be looking into things like how your system authenticates users, how to set management and access roles, multipoint authentication (like two-step logins) and role-based access controls, all of which will help you maximise security; which of course is essential.

2. Work Legally and to Compliance Requirements

When you have auditors come to inspect your business, you need to make sure you’re able to prove that you’re operating within your country’s legal compliance guidelines. There are a ton of laws you need to think about, including data protection acts, and user data privacy laws.

If you’re unable to protect your customer’s and user’s data, among other things, your organisation can be subject to huge fines, court proceedings, and it can seriously damage your reputation as a business, so ensure you’re bearing all this in mind.

“A good example of this is that some compliances state that certain frameworks state that your user data is not allowed to leave the country. This may be followed through with all your cloud services, except one, and if there is recorded proof that the data has been transferred through this, then you’ll find your business is in trouble,” explains Sarah Manby, a business blogger at Brit student and Next coursework.

3. Ensure You’re Training Your Staff

When you’re in the process of introducing and using two or more cloud systems, you need to make sure you’re taking time to train your staff and have them on board with any changes that are made. If your staff are not using your cloud networks properly and are not keeping up with the sometimes very rapid changes that can occur, you’re going to experience problems.

Yes, training your staff in this way is an investment, but it’s a very important one. Since all your cloud networks are connected, one mistake or error on one network could have a ripple effect out to the others, and this should be avoided at all costs.

4. Make Sure You’re Automating Processes

The chances are your business is no stranger to automating processes, and since multicloud setups can have a lot to process, you need to make sure you’re automating things wherever you can (bearing in mind that security still needs to remain a top priority).

“Some examples of tasks you could automate include patching, networking, and scanning your networks for malware and potential vulnerabilities. This will free up a lot of time for your IT workers who can concentrate on more important things and higher tech-based priorities,” shares Nick Anderson, a tech writer at Australia2write and Writemyx.

5. Choosing One Central Interface

When you’re working with multiple cloud systems, it can be incredibly helpful, effective, and productive to choose one main interface where you’ll be able to monitor and manage everything. This will not only simplify any tasks you need to carry out but will also provide real-time monitoring across all networks.

There are several options out there to choose from creating and upheld by companies like Microsoft and IBM, so you can be sure you’ll be in good hands, but it’s definitely worth checking out which interface is best for you. If you’re planning on creating a much more complex network, a singular management interface is the only way to go.

Michael Dehoyos is a tech and business writer and editor at Phd Kingdom and Write my dissertation. He helps businesses understand and see what new tech opportunities are available to them to help make their lives easier. Also, he is a writer at Academic paper help.

 

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WhatMatrix Q&A with Citrix– Virtual Desktop, DaaS, VDI and WVD https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/whatmatrix-qa-with-citrix-virtual-desktop-daas-vdi-and-wvd/ https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/whatmatrix-qa-with-citrix-virtual-desktop-daas-vdi-and-wvd/#respond Sun, 05 Jul 2020 20:31:44 +0000 https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/?p=144873 Adam Lotz of Citrix Shares Expertise and Advice on Virtual Desktops, Security and Work From Home   WhatMatrix:  The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated virtual desktop sales momentum.  What are some of the big questions you are being asked to answer from companies shifting to work from home, and how are you answering those questions? Adam […]

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Adam Lotz of Citrix Shares Expertise and Advice on Virtual Desktops, Security and Work From Home

 

WhatMatrix:  The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated virtual desktop sales momentum.  What are some of the big questions you are being asked to answer from companies shifting to work from home, and how are you answering those questions?

Adam Lotz

Adam Lotz, Principal Product Marketing Manager, Desktop & Applications Group

Adam Lotz:  We’ve seen a tremendous surge in virtual app and desktop deployments, both from existing customers who are expanding their deployments, as well as new customers rolling out remote work initiatives for the first time.

For existing customers, or those familiar with VDI and app virtualization – the biggest questions we field are around scalability and resources needed to expand.  How do they go from a 500-user deployment to a 2500 user deployment?  Do they have enough compute, bandwidth, or storage – and if not, how do they get it?  Do they have these skills in house or will they need to work with a partner or service provider?   In most cases, these customers use Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service to deploy VDI in a hybrid-cloud model, leveraging their existing datacenter capacity where they can, and then adding new cloud regions to handle the unexpected excess, resulting in more predictable costs.  Because we use the same set of administrative tools for workloads hosted on-prem or in the cloud, this is an easy transition to make.  Citrix customers can choose any public cloud provider for hosting, and leverage our app and image management tools to deploy at scale across their organization.

Organizations that are new to app and desktop virtualization may have kicked the tires on VDI or DaaS use cases before, but often have a laundry list of questions and concerns.  Cost, user experience, and manageability are big unknowns for these companies.  Many don’t realize that desktop virtualization is an established industry with enterprise-class tools to simplify management, monitoring, and maintenance of their user images.  Most are shocked to learn that a well-run VDI environment can show dramatic cost reductions compared to desktop management of similar devices.  We’ve seen lots of success here with offerings like our Citrix Managed Desktops product, which is fully cloud-hosted and targeted at helping admins get up and running quickly.

WhatMatrix:  Why do you think VDI has taken this long to really take off?  Was the use case driven model too narrow?  Was it technology holding it back? 

Adam Lotz:  Citrix has been an application virtualization pioneer for more than three decades, and while our technology has evolved dramatically over time, the business challenges we tackle have remained largely the same, including business continuity, remote work, and global expansion.

The biggest shift in our space over the last five years has been the rise of cloud computing, which brings new scalability and pay-as-you-go cost modeling to the VDI.  The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the move to the cloud. This has enabled companies to expand beyond the reach of their on-premises datacenters, and grow their deployments as new users or scenarios come online.  We’ve met this demand with our Virtual Apps and Desktops service offering, which gives administrators flexibility to run their workloads on-premises or in the cloud, while using our hosted services for management.

WhatMatrix:  With more companies quickly implementing remote PC and work from home initiatives, what kind of security issues should they be aware of?

Adam Lotz:  Unmanaged endpoints are one of the biggest risks of the sudden shift from employees out of the workplace and into their homes.  We’ve heard countless stories of older devices being pulled out of basements, family computers suddenly enlisted as primary work machines, and employees powering up anything and everything to get connected to the office.  While the global response to ensure business continuity has been nothing short of epic, these devices represent a huge threat to corporate data.  Especially in cases where companies are allowing VPN connections or other “bridges” between home PCs and their internal networks, the risk of malicious attacks or malware spread goes up dramatically.  Administrators need to be on guard for both malicious and inadvertent data loss in these scenarios, and of course we believe that securing that information in the datacenter is the best way to stay protected.

WhatMatrix:  Now that companies have been “pushed” into the deep end of the pool of VDI/DaaS/Remote PC with forced work from home initiatives, do you think things will go back to normal or will they continue to allow some percentage of work from home?

Adam Lotz:  The coronavirus pandemic has, in essence, created a forced experiment. Organizations that may have been reticent to consider remote work have come face-to-face with a situation that now requires it. And while perhaps not their choice, the vast majority of respondents to a survey of 10,000 workers in six countries that OnePoll did on our behalf believe it is the future of work. When asked if they believe working from home will be more common after the crisis, roughly two thirds of employees polled in all countries responded affirmatively.

And in a separate survey of 2,000 workers, 37 percent of employees polled said they think their organizations will be more relaxed about working from home and 32 percent indicated they plan to do so more often.

Employees won’t want to go back to how it was before, and there are a couple of reasons for this:

    • Returning to the office will not mean returning to normal. It’s going to be a rough environment until there is a vaccine. 46 percent of the employees OnePoll surveyed said they won’t feel comfortable returning to the office until there is one available to the masses and that is likely a year or two away.
    • Going to the office used to be fun – you could see your colleagues and have those watercooler conversations. Now you’re going to have to wear PPE and maintain social distancing with no access to gyms and cafeterias. And a lot of people just don’t want to deal with that.
    • Research says the average person is productive for about two and a half hours a day in the traditional workplace because of distraction. 70 percent plus of the people we surveyed believe they are more productive working remote.

So, I think you’re going to see a hybrid model where people go to a physical location if they have to, but they’ll spend the rest of their time working remotely and be just as productive. And many of the organizations we talk to are confirming this. While they are still defining what “normal” may look like for 2020, 2021, and beyond, some of these companies are planning a staged return to offices, with A/B teams, time-shifting of work. A surprisingly large number have said they have no immediate plans to resume typical office behavior, and a few have even said that based on continued employee productivity, they see no particular need to return to the office at all.

WhatMatrix:  Can you explain what your solution or offering does specifically to help with work from home strategies?

Workspace App

Adam Lotz:  Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops lets companies meet their employees where they are and give them the tools they need and prefer to use to do their best work – whether they are at home, in the office or on the road. The solution offers administrators a number of options for enabling secure, remote access to corporate data from any device, on any network.  With our Virtual Apps and Desktops product line, IT can host their Windows or Linux apps or desktops in the datacenter or cloud, providing virtualized access via our Workspace App client.  Available on any platform and even in an HTML5 version, Workspace App allows end users to interact with their remote applications as if they are running locally, even on low bandwidth connections or outdated devices.  Through policy controls, admins can restrict capabilities like drive mapping, clipboard access, or printing, adding additional layers of protection for corporate data.  Unlike VPN solutions which can dangerously bridge the end user’s device with your internal network, the virtual session runs strictly on your corporate network, providing a layer of isolation while still giving end users high performance access to internal resources and data.

 

WhatMatrix:  Why should a company choose your solution?  What are your differentiators?

Adam Lotz:  Citrix is a leader in the application virtualization space and has more than 30 years of experience in providing remote work solutions to organizations of all sizes.  With Citrix, companies can provide a consistent work experience that allows employees to perform at their best – wherever they happen to be. For administrators, we have flexible offerings that can be deployed fully on-premises, in public clouds, or in a hybrid mixture of both.  Advanced tools for image and application management minimize downtime for updates, and dedicated helpdesk tools allow for easy day to day maintenance.  Desktops can be hosted in both single- and multi-user deployments, letting admins choose between maximum flexibility or density.

End users love our high-definition HDX protocol which ensures the best user experience for accessing content, regardless of connection.  Innovations here enable rich multimedia support, interactive communications such as VOIP solutions, and even specific optimizations for Teams, Skype, and Zoom.

WhatMatrix:  Is your company doing anything specific, outside of selling your solution, to help work from home or the community in general?

Adam Lotz:  We stared out anticipating in January that companies would need to prepare for and deliver remote work on a wide scale and we put a lot of different offers in place to provide very low-cost burst capacity licensing for both new and existing customers to help them scale up and drive business continuity across everything they are doing.

Our teams worked around the clock to help our customers trouble shoot, debog and really get their employees to a place where they can be safe, secure and productive. Many are now building out their infrastructure to support remote work on a wide scale and deliver a superior experience for their employees whether they are working from home of in the office using Citrix as the foundation.

We also launched a Remote Works Resource Center where companies can access insights and best practices and technology demonstrations they can use to build and manage a remote work culture.

WhatMatrix:  How does your solution address user concerns around data privacy and control over personal data?  Can you describe your view on these challenges?

Adam Lotz:  With the sudden shift to work from home, a plethora of new and old personal devices have come online to access work content.  We have seen some customers expand their remote work footprint from hundreds of users connecting a day to thousands, and certainly IT wasn’t prepared to deliver secure devices to end users at that kind of scale.  Our model is simple – the Citrix Workspace App is a small footprint native or HTML5 based client that provides all the access the user needs.  Data on the device remains on the device, and data inside the session – your corporate apps, desktops, and data – remains protected back in the datacenter or cloud.  Users don’t have to worry about invasive IT policies or accidental overreach, because their devices are simply being used as interaction points for the desktop itself.  IT, similarly, can be confident in the security of their data – customers in finance, healthcare, and legal industries trust the Citrix solution to prevent accidental data leakage.  With our App Protection technology enabled, we can even block malicious attempts at keylogging and screen scraping malware that could be running on the user’s device.  We find application virtualization to be easier for end users and more secure for IT, all while reducing the management burden of desktop deployments.

WhatMatrix:  Finally, do you have any advice to a company currently planning or in the process of implementing a VDI or DaaS solution?

Adam Lotz:  The sudden shift to work-from-home has created an immediate need for remote access technologies.  Organizations that had already invested in VDI, Application Virtualization, or DaaS technologies found themselves well equipped to ramp up those deployments and enable business continuity.  Looking forward, we see 2020 redefining our ideas on what it means to “go to work” and technology must evolve with it.  Work with vendors to understand how they can solve your immediate challenges, while providing a clear path forward for resiliency and grow

WhatMatrix : Thanks Adam some great insights there. For anyone wanting more infomation on Citrix solutions head over to our comprehesive WhatMatrix evaluations on : Desktop as a Service, App Layering and Application Virtualization 

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From Education to Small Businesses: 7 Ways How VDI Solutions Change All Spheres https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/from-education-to-small-businesses-7-ways-how-vdi-solutions-change-all-spheres/ https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/from-education-to-small-businesses-7-ways-how-vdi-solutions-change-all-spheres/#respond Tue, 16 Jun 2020 16:13:11 +0000 https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/?p=135197 It is becoming increasingly critical in the current data-driven world to find the right computing resources for your business. The post-pandemic era demands companies to be flexible while not compromising on productivity. One of the significant changes we saw in recent times is the shift to remote working. And with a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), […]

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It is becoming increasingly critical in the current data-driven world to find the right computing resources for your business. The post-pandemic era demands companies to be flexible while not compromising on productivity.

One of the significant changes we saw in recent times is the shift to remote working. And with a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), collaboration across large distances has become easier than ever before.

Over the last couple of years, VDI has been increasingly prevalent across all niches. According to tech writers at EssayPro, the COVID-19 crisis has only shed more light on its potential. It is high time that businesses take advantage of technology. But before that, here is an overview of the VDI technology.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

VDI is a technology used to create a virtualized desktop environment on a remote central server. Every VDI network has a data center set up on a powerful server. Once you install the VDI app on this computer, it creates a virtual desktop that your employees can access from any device. It essentially replicates a desktop that allows them to access the hard drive.

With VDI, everyone in an organization would be using the same computer through different virtual desktops. These desktops are hosted on Virtual Machines that are controlled by a management software.

The market size of VDI is expected to grow at over 8.9% to reach US $330.4 million by the end of 2027. The impending economic recession has a significant role to play in this rise. Nevertheless, the changing landscape of small and medium-sized businesses are predicted to drive this growth.

If you find yourself still on the fence about VDI, here are some ways that it can improve your business, no matter your industry.

1. Geographical Flexibility

Having the option to be flexible on your location could undoubtedly benefit your business, be it a crisis forcing you to work from home, or having to teach an entire semester through online lessons.

VDI enables your employees to log into their workplace from the comfort of their homes. This is immensely helpful in spheres where on-site work is required, such as in construction. Instead of having your team carry around the roles of drawings, they can sign in to your server from any device to access documents.

2. Bring your Own Device

Having a VDI set up can significantly cut the cost of infrastructure and hardware installations. As the desktops are virtual, they could run on any device, even on personal computers or smartphones.

The forecast for the BYOD trend is expected to rise at a rate of 15% in the period of 2020-2025. Reports have shown that companies can save up to 11% if they switch from an EPD (Employers that Provide Devices) to a BYOD work environment. With VDI in place, making such a change might not be so challenging.

3. Security

One of the main risks of BYOD culture was the lack of security. Using multiple devices presented a perpetual threat of cyber crimes. However, VDI technology only sends basic input and output data through these external devices. No information is stored outside the server.

Furthermore, each connection to the VDI is encrypted, meaning that even if a user connects through an unsecured network, there is no threat to any data leak.

4. Desktop Pools

A virtual desktop pool is a group of virtual desktops that are hosted on identically configured virtual machines. Pooling virtual desktops allow the administrator to simplify settings configuration and centralize management.

With VDI, you can divide desktops into different domains, each forming a separate Desktop Pool. For instance, desktop pools could be categorized into marketing, accounts, and sales. Instead of configuring different hardware and software based on the department’s needs, you can create a desktop pool that has settings and software customized to the duties of each team.

5. Collaboration

By storing workloads in a centralized location, users can collaborate efficiently from multiple sites. This is particularly useful for large file applications that cannot be stored individually on separate computers.

In fields like finance and auditing, the VDI can also make the process of record-keeping easier. Even with collaborations, VDI has all data stored and saved on the same hard drive on the network.

6. Scalable Desktop

Physical desktops come with a set of specifications that would soon be their limitations. The RAM, storage, and processor could be upgraded, but at hefty costs. Even so, updating hardware might not be as feasible as upgrading the software.

VDI technology allows desktops to scale almost instantaneously. As the tech is implemented in the cloud, its flexibility enables the virtual machines to upgrade or downgrade specifications with less effort.

7. Cost

All these advantages narrow down to the consideration of the cost factor. The return of investment on VDI reduces expenditure on client devices, energy costs, and other infrastructure.

This again would depend on the company’s working model, whether they opt for EPD or BYOD. Regardless, costs related to maintenance are mostly reduced.

Things to Consider

Shifting to VDI can entirely change your office structuring. It will allow you to save time, money, and boost security along the way. No matter the size of your organization, VDI comes with the same perks and gives you the option to expand without the infrastructure being an obstacle.

That being said, you also have to be aware of its long-term implications. You have to ensure that all products you use have a proper license that applies to a virtual environment. Another important factor is a reliable network connection, which might be challenging to control if your employees are working remotely.

On the brighter side, depending on your organization, the pros might outweigh the concerns. The benefits are multifold; VDI could be the single solution that can address all your continuity, security, and accessibility needs.

To compare the latest Desktop as a Service offerings use the independent WhatMatrix comparison. You can compare all technical capabilities, customize it and print reports that help you identify the product that is right for you.

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Why consider Windows Virtual Desktop as your next DaaS solution https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/why-consider-windows-virtual-desktop-as-your-next-daas-solution/ https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/why-consider-windows-virtual-desktop-as-your-next-daas-solution/#respond Wed, 03 Jun 2020 15:54:56 +0000 https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/?p=133269 The DaaS Comparison WhatMatrix launched its DaaS (Desktop as a Service) comparison last year initially presenting a comparison of Citrix, VMware, Nutanix and, later that year, added CloudJumper to the mix. The comparison looks at the leading DaaS platforms in the industry and helps you understand their capabilities and feature-set in a cloud delivery model. […]

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The DaaS Comparison

WhatMatrix launched its DaaS (Desktop as a Service) comparison last year initially presenting a comparison of Citrix, VMware, Nutanix and, later that year, added CloudJumper to the mix. The comparison looks at the leading DaaS platforms in the industry and helps you understand their capabilities and feature-set in a cloud delivery model. This new update adds Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) to the existing solutions.

Microsoft WVD was first announced in September 2018, available as a public preview in March 2019, and generally available at the end of September 2019. The current DaaS comparison has now been updated to include WVD. The solution is still in an early stage of adoption with many enterprises doing a pilot or proof of concept while Microsoft is releasing new features as we move along. The current release is named Windows Virtual Desktop Spring Update and released on 30th April 2020 and has entered Public Preview.

Current State of VDI

Virtual Desktops has always been there as part of the workpsace solution stack, but it was never leading the pack because of various reasons:

  • Lack of support from Microsoft on enabling this
  • Users being deskbound
  • Applications and services bound to Data center
  • Remote working not being among Enterprises’ strategy

All of the above meant that Virtual Workspaces was always part of the conversation but was limited to some use cases and not the mainstream or primary solution in the work place. Over time the above-mentioned scenario has been changing slowly. Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), which had been primarily on-premises, is making a move towards DaaS  in Cloud (services and workers):

  • Applications and services being moved to Cloud
  • Anytime, anywhere work becoming widespread
  • Microsoft getting onboard to offer its own virtualization solution
  • Contract working and Gig economy is gaining prominence

Another factor that added to all of the above, and accelerated the adoption of DaaS solutions, is the recent unfortunate outbreak of COVID-19. This will have far greater impact on how businesses and Governments will be operating in the near future. The COVID-19 outbreak has mandated social distancing which can be effectively achieved by making a Virtual Workspace enabled via VDI. In this new era of working, Virtual Workspaces enabled via VDI can be used to ensure productivity of an employee, availability of Government services, enable learning for students and many more use cases.

Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop DaaS

Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) is a desktop and application virtualization service running on Azure. The service delivers management plane, Windows 10 VDI (persistent & non-persistent desktops), multi-session Windows 10, and Remote Desktop Services (RDS) environments from Azure Cloud.

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WVD service helps solves many DaaS challenges, some of which are:

  • Enable anytime anywhere access from every device
  • Scale up and down quickly as per business needs
  • Run legacy applications a bit longer on Windows 7, while executing the move to other platforms
  • Easier management and move from OpEx to CapEx model
  • Proximity of MS applications (One Drive, Email, SharePoint Online, etc.) and Desktop (WVD Desktop) on same Cloud improves performance and end user experience

Benefits of using WVD

  • WVD is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) service hence no infrastructure hosting required to host a virtual desktop
  • Extended support of Windows 7 for next 3 years
  • Availability of both full session desktops and remote publishing of applications
  • Windows WVD is optimized for using Office 365 ProPlus
  • Windows 10 Multi session, true Windows 10 experience and multiple sessions on a machine

With the bundling of FSLogix and availability of Windows 10, multi session gives the solution a market edge in certain use cases. The service is available globally for enterprise clients, with Government Cloud predicted to be offered sometime later in 2020.

One more reason why WVD is gaining traction in the market is because of licensing. Many of the Microsoft clients are already licensed for WVD as part of their existing plans and they only need to pay for compute, storage and networking on the Azure Cloud platform.

The solution is evolving fast and in coming months focus is required on management, operations, reporting and the partner eco-system to make WVD a mature solution. Currently, management tasks are done via PowerShell and the scaling of solution for various use cases is something that is evolving. Performance and end user experience is something that would become more apparent as we move towards more and more enterprise implementations. For more information in General head over to our comparison or you can see additional information from Microsoft 

WhatMatrix Team and Community

This endeavor would not have been complete without the help of our community, a team that has contributed to this comparison, updating it and introducing new and relevant information from time to time. Thanks to Stefan Dingemanse, Rory Monaghan and David Marshall.  Please do share your feedback & ideas on how we can improve this comparison further or any other comparisons you would like to see.

 

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We hope you are well – help for vendors – free lead generation https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/we-hope-you-are-well-help-for-vendors-free-lead-generation/ https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/we-hope-you-are-well-help-for-vendors-free-lead-generation/#respond Fri, 27 Mar 2020 17:26:26 +0000 https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/?p=115555 Just a quick update. First of all we hope you and your families are OK during this ‘once in a lifetime’ event. We completely understand that priorities have shifted. We only want to assure you that we will remain “open for business” as long a we can. We want to help vendors and community members […]

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Just a quick update. First of all we hope you and your families are OK during this ‘once in a lifetime’ event. We completely understand that priorities have shifted.

We only want to assure you that we will remain “open for business” as long a we can. We want to help vendors and community members continue business if they are in a position to do so. We heard from vendors that marketing budgets are being reallocated due to major event cancellations and that they expect a significant dip in lead generation.

As simple practical step we decided to make FULL lead generation and our premium subscription available to all vendors for FREE – effective immediately!

In addition we will add full lead generation with unlimited access to all leads until further notice, for a minimum of 3 months! There will be no questions asked, no hidden lock-in or restrictions – we simply want to help if we can.

If you are a vendor listed on WhatMatrix, simply go here and submit the request or send us an email, tweet or comment.
Just make sure you have a registered user account with us so we can enable the features (it takes 10 seconds here if not).
We will enable you as soon as we receive a request, please be aware that they might be delays on our side as well, our apologies in advance.

All benefits are listed below.

We wish all visitors, vendors and contributors the best over the coming week, please stay safe.
Your WhatMatrix Community

covid essentials 1

covid essentials 1

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Landscape Report Guidance: Cloud Management Platforms https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/landscape-report-guidance/ https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/landscape-report-guidance/#respond Wed, 05 Feb 2020 14:35:51 +0000 https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/?p=111687 Landscape Report (Cloud Management Platforms) – what’s needed? This page is intended for vendors who received “notification of inclusion” for a WhatMatrix Landscape Analysis Report. Please see below for instructions on what’s needed and how to maximize the benefit of inclusion to e.g. generate additional visibility and capture leads. (If you are unfamiliar with the […]

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Landscape Report (Cloud Management Platforms) – what’s needed?

This page is intended for vendors who received “notification of inclusion” for a WhatMatrix Landscape Analysis Report. Please see below for instructions on what’s needed and how to maximize the benefit of inclusion to e.g. generate additional visibility and capture leads. (If you are unfamiliar with the nature of the Landscape Report – see details and example here.)

What are the prereqs?

All products accepted for publication on WhatMatrix are also eligible for free inclusion in our landscape reports. These products have successfully undergone full technical evaluation through an independent WhatMatrix consultant against the category taxonomy and are considered to be industry-leading and influencing solutions.

Where’s the catch?

There is no catch. We are operating under CommTrust guidelines. There is no “pay to play”, inclusion in the report is free. Purpose of the report is to give trusted advise back to the community and highlight interesting vendors.

Whats needed from the vendor?

Not much, please review below options to maximize the benefit of the report

  • Update Your Data: Review the data published for your product. If you are in need of an update work with your category or product consultant to submit the update.
    If you don’t have a contact yet simply request the input template and we’ll get you up-to-date.
  • Provide some additional data for the report:
    • Company abstract (max 100 words)
    • Annual Product Revenue
    • # of employees, Year founded
  •  Verify your vendor Account access: If you already have a “vendor” account on WhatMatrix
    1. Log in to your vendor account
    2. Select “My Listing (Vendors)
    3. Verify (or add) the vendor contact email (this is the email your analytics will be sent to). Note: This email will not be externally visible

    Don’t have this option? Click here to request an upgrade to a “vendor account” (no cost) to be contactable and receive usage stats for your listing

  • Review Marketing Options: All WhatMatrix listings are free – but vendors can enable (optional) features to make their listings more effective e.g.:
    • Generate leads and subscriptions
    • Get your vendor “showcase” page
    • Social media campaign

Interested? Request the Community  Request the sponsorship guide here (we can help you pick the most effective options). Note: The above enhancements will have no influence on product evaluation and rankings.

“Too much hassle? Request a session with us and we’ll talk you through the process and enable options you want.”

Time Line (for CMP)

We will keep vendors up-to-date with the relevant dates

    • “Submit your data” deadline: April 2020
    • Report publication: TBA

All dates are subject to change, vendors will be notified of changes independently.

Any tips?

    1. Try and schedule a chat with us (we want you to maximize the benefits of the report campaign)
    2. Ensure your data is up-to-date and review the evaluations by the dead line
    3. Consider enabling at least the “Essentials” tier to capture interest and increase visibility

We wish all vendors a successful report campaign!
As of publication the following vendors have been accepted and evaluated on WhatMatrix and will therefore be included (free) in the Landscape Study: Cisco, CloudBolt, Embotics, Hypergrid, Jamcracker, Morpheus, Rightscale (Flexera), VMware, Oracle, Platform9, Red Hat. 

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4 Steps for Mid-sized Brands to Implement Visual Search Technology https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/4-steps-for-mid-sized-brands-to-implement-visual-search-technology/ https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/4-steps-for-mid-sized-brands-to-implement-visual-search-technology/#respond Thu, 30 Jan 2020 14:23:42 +0000 https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/?p=111139 Businesses of all sizes are trying to adapt to the permanently changing technological landscape. One of the recent trends that companies will have to embrace is visual search, which is projected to change the way people look for things on the internet. While tech giants like Pinterest, Bing, and Google are investing vast amounts of […]

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Businesses of all sizes are trying to adapt to the permanently changing technological landscape. One of the recent trends that companies will have to embrace is visual search, which is projected to change the way people look for things on the internet.

While tech giants like Pinterest, Bing, and Google are investing vast amounts of money into their own visual search technology, small and medium businesses can take advantage of them and increase their products’ visibility, along with considerably growing their sales. Further, brands are also seeking ways to leverage image search technology within their own websites and online product catalogs.

In this article, we’ll take a look at how visual search has grown in recent years, and the steps midsize brands should take to start implementing this technology. Let’s dive right in, shall we?

What is visual search?

To some extent, it’s safe to say that visual search is here to turn text-based search into a secondary thing. It just makes more sense. People process visual data much quicker than they process text, which partly defines you want to look that particular thing up, but you can’t really figure out how to look for it.

The essential principle behind visual search is giving the user the possibility to take a picture and upload it to a platform and locate similar instances on the web.

Of course, visual search doesn’t exclusively relate to products; it’s projected to integrate into all fields of human activity. Imagine being on vacation and stumbling upon an astonishing monument. You’ll find all the information you need about it by simply snapping a picture of it and uploading it to a search engine. To some extent, visual search is a superior form of accessing data on the internet, mostly because there are more actual things in the world than words.

“While this technology will most certainly revolutionize the way we search for things on the web, its main field of application will be commerce. Not only because potential customers will be able to locate items in stores much quicker and easier, but stores will also be able to manage their stock much more precisely.” — Melanie Sovann, senior writer at Studicus and content editor at Trust My Paper.

In a study published by Gartner, it is projected that retailers will be implementing visual search technology to have a much more precise understanding of their current stock. That alone can help retailers save approximately $1.1 Trillion they lose annually on overstock and being out-of-stock.

However, it’s safe to assume that this will impact all businesses, irrespective of their niche. From Fintech and Blockchain startups to pizzerias and the best essay writing services — everyone needs to adapt.

Essential tips for visual SEO not to lag behind

Businesses of all sizes need to adapt to these changes as early as possible, but it’s especially true of mid-sized brands, if they’re looking to maintain steady growth. Failing to get accustomed to the latest technological standards may cost a business its future. Ecommerce sites that won’t be optimized for this type of search may simply be outperformed by smaller players.

There is a list of things you’ll have to do, in order to maintain your business’s profitability:

1. Name your images

Giving the images on your site a name is an age-old practice in traditional SEO, and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere with visual search. The mechanisms that are responsible for crawling the web use filenames to navigate the internet.

By naming your images, we’re not referring to a random alphanumeric sequence, but rather brief and descriptive syntagms. For instance, “junior-Nike-jacket-black” or anything of that sort. At least that’s what Google’s guidelines on search engine optimization recommendations. However, as visual search will become more widespread, more precise recommendations on the topic will arise.

2. Optimize them too

When it comes to image SEO optimization, there is a myriad of things that can be taken into consideration: size, format, compression rate, and so forth.

Most of the time, the best things to do are:

  • Consider using high-quality images, but be mindful of their size. Quality comes at the cost of slowing down your website.
  • Consider compressing high-quality images a little bit. This will considerably decrease their size in exchange for a tolerable decrease in quality.
  • Be mindful of different image formats as well. Understanding the differences between them will allow you to better optimize them for image search. The most commonly used ones are JPEG, PNG, and GIFs. They vary significantly in size, compression, and quality. Typically, JPEG will provide you with the best quality/size ratio.

3. Create an image sitemap

Image sitemaps are pretty much the same thing as sitemaps for web pages. It allows crawlers to access a set of essential data about the images on your site like:

  • The type of image
  • The topic of the image
  • The alt text associated with it
  • The title of the image

This is especially important for retailers since their images are generally filled with images. Not having an image sitemap may cause you to miss out on a lot of traffic.

4. Your images should be mobile-friendly

The nature of visual search implies that people will use it on a mobile phone more often than a computer. Therefore, it’s essential to ensure that your images are optimized for mobile screens.

How Brands Can Leverage Visual Search

By now, most of us have right clicked on an image, and taken the option to conduct a Google search. We’ve also dragged images into the Google Image search feature to find information. That’s because sometimes words don’t provide what we need to search for something. For example, if you see a pair of shoes you like, but don’t know the brand from the picture, how do you find them online?

Do you continue searching various colors, styles, and brand names in hopes that the right result comes up? That’s tedious, and not very efficient. This is just why visual search is so desirable, and why smart brands are taking advantage of this emerging technology.

How does this work? Imagine that you own an online store that sells fashion footwear. You have a new line of biker boots that you want to do well this season. As of now, you rank near the top for web pages about work boots. But, you still want to gain a place in the coveted ‘Image Block’ that appears at the top of many of Google text searches. You’d also like to have the image of your best brand of biker boots to appear in organic search engine results.

To do that, you have to keep in mind that Google’s visual search results depends on image recognition and using schema markup language.

Using Schema Markup Language for Visual Search

If you want your products to show up in Google’s Image block, style ideas, or similar items blocks, you have to use structured markup language for products. You’ll need to mark the following data at the least:

  • Image
  • Name
  • Currency
  • Price
  • Availability

There are other markup fields available as well. You can test the accuracy of your use of markup language using Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool.

Don’t Forget The Alternatives

In addition to leveraging Google’s image search function, you can also implement visual search directly on your own website. Also, don’t forget your ability to create conversions via your visual content on Pinterest and Instagram with the ‘Buy it Now’ option, and ‘Shoppable Posts’.

Conclusion

This technology is most certainly going to change a lot in the world of tech and business, especially the way organizations interact with their clientele and vice versa. Mid-sized companies need to keep their “fingers on technology’s pulse” and take the necessary measures to optimize their online presence and their websites for visual search in order to remain relevant on the market.
Dorian Martin is a regular contributor for Grab My Essay and  WoWGrade. He is passionate about a broad spectrum of fields like Marketing, Blockchain, and Machine Learning. In his spare time, he loves developing his own business blog.

Related Reads:

11 Cloud Services Your Development Process Needs 2019

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Best Cloud Management Platform in 2020

 

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Meet the vendor: Commvault (Data Protection) https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/meet-the-vendor-commvault-data-protection/ https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/meet-the-vendor-commvault-data-protection/#respond Tue, 17 Dec 2019 05:59:03 +0000 https://www.whatmatrix.com/portal/?p=106886 Meet the vendor: Commvault Our community is glad to announce that Commvault has been successfully evaluated under the WhatMatrix Data Protection criteria. “Complete Backup and Recovery” is now available for (free) comparison and enquiries among other industry-leading solutions in this space. Wonder how they rank? Check them out HERE.  Commvault has been a recognized leader […]

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Meet the vendor: Commvault

Our community is glad to announce that Commvault has been successfully evaluated under the WhatMatrix Data Protection criteria. “Complete Backup and Recovery” is now available for (free) comparison and enquiries among other industry-leading solutions in this space. Wonder how they rank? Check them out HERE

Commvault has been a recognized leader in the data management landscape for over 20 years. Commvault’s motto: “The right backup and recovery solution can help you solve hard problems and reimagine your potential – no matter what clouds you’re using, no matter what your stack looks like.

Commvault complete backup

The portfolio – complete backup & recovery

Commvault’s main product is called Complete Backup & Recovery. And the name says it all, it is intended to be a complete data recovery solution supporting all common deployment environments.
There is broad support for cloud, hypervisors, applications, databases and SaaS applications. There are multiple options to deploy on physical hardware, virtual server, appliances, reference architectures or simply in the public cloud. The suite supports almost any storage hardware for snapshots and replication integration. It also has the ability to use almost any platform to store your backups. Supporting cross-hypervisor restore and replication and built-in test/dev sandboxing even in the public cloud further adds to the value.

Commvault complete backup 2

 

Flexibility and automation

Commvault uses a very intelligent and global deduplication and compression mechanism delivering very efficient usage of any backup storage. To top it all off there is a very ‘lean and mean’ web-based dashboard for daily operations! If needed the solution can be extended using Commvault Activate or Orchestrate.

Activate

Ready to flip the switch on business outcomes, with maximized data value and minimized risk? Commvault Activate solution’s enforced data policy and governance has the unparalleled ability to collect and protect data from across your organization. And did we mention that Activate extends Commvault Complete Backup and Recovery with a layer of analytics, workflows, and pre-built solution accelerators? They allow you to know what data you have, contextualize it, apply rules to it, protect it, and use it.

Orchestrate

Get all your data on the same page. Commvault Orchestrate™ is end-to-end data syncing for faster disaster recovery, dev/test operations and workload migration. Your data, where and when you need it.

Looking ahead

Commvault is evolving with the demands of the industry. In the future we might look closer at their latest entry into the SaaS backup and recovery market with a new solution called Metallic  (which might deserve its own category). It is worth mentioning that Commvault clearly aren’t resting on their laurels and have acquired the “Hedvig” software defined storage solution, with a plan to integrate it into their backup offering as a new option – but it is too early to evaluate any resulting capabilities. https://www.commvault.com/hedvig.Commvault Orchestration
As always, feel fee to provide feedback using the build in change request mechanism in the matrix or in the comment section below and let us know what you think!

Martijn Moret – Community Consultant (Data Recovery)

PS Keep an eye out for the on-boarding / evaluation of additional vendors in preparation for the upcoming Landscape Report for Data Protection in early 2020.

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