Why Single Sign On (SSO) is Only Part of the Solution to Easing Clinician Pain
Single Sign On (SSO) is, almost always, mentioned as the technology that will solve the pain clinicians experience when accessing clinical workstations. Our experience has proven that SSO is only a single component in the big picture of solving the pain that clinicians associate with accessing a computer to do their job. Symantec Workspace Corporate (SWC) has integrated all of the components required to eliminate the pain and enable the clinicians focus on patient care without spending wasted time in front of the computer.
When a healthcare organization is looking at a solution to ease the pain associated with their clinical workstations, the end-to-end solution needs to be considered, not just SSO. The components and features that encompass the end-to-end solution are SSO, a consistent look a feel, roaming session containing all required clinical applications, dynamic printer creation at initial login and when roaming, fast access at login and at reconnect and the integration of third-party authentication devices.
- Instance access to desktop - SWC provides the ability to access the SWC session without having to launch a connection prior to providing credentials. This is a time savings of at least 10 seconds by reducing the number of clicks and keystrokes required by the end-users
- Badge reader integration - Badge readers are fully integrated with the SWC product. There is no need to have any third party products installed in order to utilize badge readers.
- Rapid login capabilities - By using their existing badges, users can input their passwords and, for a customizable timeframe, the user will not need to input their password again until the timeframe expires.
- Launching local applications from a full desktop - SWC has the ability to present a locally launched application seamlessly into the SWC terminal server session. This provides the ability to present an application within the user’s session that might not be compatible with a multi-user environment or an application that is not vendor support in an RDP over RDP or ICA or RDP scenario.
- ntegrated Functionality - SWC integrates, into a single product, the functionality that would require multiple vendor products to achieve the same results. A few examples: SSO, workflow, third party authentication devices and session brokering.
- Healthcare Focus - SWC was designed specifically to address the medial IT environment. The key benefits of Workflow, SSO, location awareness (printing), speed of access and session roaming are helpful in many enterprise environments. They’re critical in healthcare.
Source: Coretek Sr. Infrastructure Architect
VMware’s CTO Sketches Mobile Virtual Desktop Strategy
VMware, which already has the largest share of the server virtualization market, is building on its technology base to bring desktop virtualization to any end-user device, including iPhones or other mobile devices.
That’s the word from Steve Herrod, CTO, VMware, who recently discussed in depth how VMware is taking advantage of its vSphere offering to expand virtualization beyond the server to any user device and into the cloud.
Herrod spoke before an audience at the VMworld 2009 conference, held this week in San Francisco.
vSphere 4 is VMware’s technology for server virtualization, and is the base on which the company’s cloud computing strategy is built.
Moving to a virtual desktop infrastructure has become less about desktop-centric technology and more about how it impacts the users, especially as companies look at the importance of privacy issues and an increasingly mobile workforce, Herrod said.
At the same time, a successful virtual desktop strategy requires that the user experience closely match what the user expects from his or her current desktop devices. "If their experience isn’t as good as possible, your customers will hear about it," he said.
Herrod said that vSphere has several components that make it ideal for developing a virtual desktop infrastructure, including a common set of tools for server and desktop virtualization, proven availability for disaster recovery, a proven set of security tools and proven virtualization efficiency.
In addition, vSphere also offers centralized management capabilities, including provisioning of virtual devices, the ability to update and patch those devices and the enforcement of company policies, including security, he said.
VMware is continuing to update its virtual desktop in a number of ways, Herrod said.
Herrod on Wednesday unveiled a new OEM agreement with RTO Software, the Alpharetta, Ga.-based developer of software that improved the performance of virtual desktops and thin clients.
VMware is using an RTO technology called Virtual Profilers with its VMware View desktop virtualization technology to separate the operating system, application and personality components of a virtual desktop in order to modify or patch any of these components without impacting the others.
For instance, Herrod said, using RTO, a company can create a separate master image of the operating system used in multiple virtual desktops and patch that master image, with the changes applied to those virtual desktops, without impacting their applications or their users’ desktop personalities.
VMware also is working with Teradici, of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, to develop products that use the PC-over-IP, or PCoIP, protocol, Herrod said. VMware will ship products with a software version of the PCoIP later this year to increase the performance of mobile and remote users who use virtual desktops, he said. He also expects other vendors to start shipping hardware-based PCoIP products for high-performance applications.
VMware and its partners also are continuing to develop new capabilities to make it easier for mobile device users to get a virtual desktop experience using any device.
Herrod said VMware’s mobile strategy includes using mobile phones as thin clients, as devices for doing remote management and as virtual PCs. The result is end-user freedom to work on any device, and a reduction in management issues by corporate IT departments, which are increasingly forced to deal with multiple types of user devices.
For instance, Herrod and another VMware colleague demonstrated PocketCloud, an application from Wyse Technology, San Jose, Calif., that turns an Apple iPhone into a mobile thin client device that can be used to access virtual desktop PCs from anywhere.
VMware and credit card giant Visa also demonstrated VMware’s yet-to-be-released virtual mobile phone technology, which allows multiple virtual devices to reside on a single mobile phone and be accessed by clicking on the appropriate icon.
In the Visa application, which included a separate operating system from that of the mobile phone itself, a user is alerted any time his or her Visa card is swiped, and can receive new promotional offers based on his or her buying history. The application also used Google Maps to pull up a map showing the location of local ATMs.
"So together, we’ll make it easier to spend money wherever you are," Herrod said.
Source: CRN.com
By Joseph F Kovar, ChannelWeb
Wyse Technology Improves Virtual Desktop Environments with New Flash Acceleration Technology
Wyse Technology, the global leader in thin computing and client virtualization, today officially announced its new acceleration solution for Adobe Flash, as part of its incredibly popular TCX virtualization software suite. The new functionality improves the end user experience on virtual desktops by solving the Flash content quality challenge for VDI and Terminal Services environments.
“Every end user wants the performance of their thin client to be as good as or better than their PC,” according to Mark Bowker, Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. “Wyse has been steadily deploying software as part of its TCX suite toward that end and the addition of Flash acceleration capabilities will help accelerate virtual desktop adoption.”
With Flash applications abundant in all industry verticals, especially financial services and education, customers are thrilled that the content acceleration challenge has been solved without compromising the end user experience.
Offered as part of the Wyse TCX virtualization software suite, the new Flash acceleration extends the capabilities of the Microsoft RDP and Citrix ICA/HDX protocols for Flash Player 9 and 10 and Internet Explorer 6 and 7. Compatibility with VMware View and Citrix XenDesktop connection brokers, using Windows XP Pro, Vista or Windows 7 completes the solution.
“Wyse continues to innovate and stretch the capabilities of their thin clients to provide a rich virtual desktop experience,” said Sumit Dhawan, vice president, product marketing, XenDesktop product group at Citrix Systems. “Wyse technologies perfectly complement and extend Citrix HDX technologies to deliver an excellent, high-definition user experience and expand the ability of IT to offer virtual desktops to a wide variety of users.”
With Flash acceleration, end users’ animation, online training, YouTube, and video-rich Web sites are now seamlessly presented.
“Thin client customers using sites like CNN.com and NYSE MarkeTRAC with Flash-based tickers, are significantly improved by Wyse’s new Flash content acceleration capabilities,” says Param Desai, Product Manager at Wyse Technology. “Flash acceleration continues our efforts to make the thin client user experience even better than a PC.”
Pricing and Availability
Flash acceleration will be commercially available in October 2009, available on Wyse’s V class and R class thin clients with Windows XP Embedded, Windows Embedded Standard 2009, or Wyse ThinOS operating systems, and supported PCs. For more information on Flash acceleration and Wyse TCX, please visit http://www.wyse.com/products/software/tcx/
About Wyse Technology
Wyse Technology is the global leader in thin computing-based virtualization software and hardware solutions. Wyse and its strategic partners, including, Citrix®, IBM®, Microsoft®, Novell®, VMware®, and others deliver the innovative hardware, infrastructure software, and services that formulate the benefits of cloud computing, virtualization and Green IT. These thin computing solutions allow consumers, public and private enterprises to access the application information they need, but with better security, manageability, and at a much lower total cost of ownership than a PC. Wyse is headquartered in San Jose, California, with offices worldwide.
Wyse Technology, the global leader in thin computing and client virtualization, today officially announced its new acceleration solution for Adobe Flash, as part of its incredibly popular TCX virtualization software suite. The new functionality improves the end user experience on virtual desktops by solving the Flash content quality challenge for VDI and Terminal Services environments.
“Every end user wants the performance of their thin client to be as good as or better than their PC,” according to Mark Bowker, Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. “Wyse has been steadily deploying software as part of its TCX suite toward that end and the addition of Flash acceleration capabilities will help accelerate virtual desktop adoption.”
With Flash applications abundant in all industry verticals, especially financial services and education, customers are thrilled that the content acceleration challenge has been solved without compromising the end user experience.
Offered as part of the Wyse TCX virtualization software suite, the new Flash acceleration extends the capabilities of the Microsoft RDP and Citrix ICA/HDX protocols for Flash Player 9 and 10 and Internet Explorer 6 and 7. Compatibility with VMware View and Citrix XenDesktop connection brokers, using Windows XP Pro, Vista or Windows 7 completes the solution.
“Wyse continues to innovate and stretch the capabilities of their thin clients to provide a rich virtual desktop experience,” said Sumit Dhawan, vice president, product marketing, XenDesktop product group at Citrix Systems. “Wyse technologies perfectly complement and extend Citrix HDX technologies to deliver an excellent, high-definition user experience and expand the ability of IT to offer virtual desktops to a wide variety of users.”
With Flash acceleration, end users’ animation, online training, YouTube, and video-rich Web sites are now seamlessly presented.
“Thin client customers using sites like CNN.com and NYSE MarkeTRAC with Flash-based tickers, are significantly improved by Wyse’s new Flash content acceleration capabilities,” says Param Desai, Product Manager at Wyse Technology. “Flash acceleration continues our efforts to make the thin client user experience even better than a PC.”
Pricing and Availability
Flash acceleration will be commercially available in October 2009, available on Wyse’s V class and R class thin clients with Windows XP Embedded, Windows Embedded Standard 2009, or Wyse ThinOS operating systems, and supported PCs. For more information on Flash acceleration and Wyse TCX, please visit http://www.wyse.com/products/software/tcx/
About Wyse Technology
Wyse Technology is the global leader in thin computing-based virtualization software and hardware solutions. Wyse and its strategic partners, including, Citrix®, IBM®, Microsoft®, Novell®, VMware®, and others deliver the innovative hardware, infrastructure software, and services that formulate the benefits of cloud computing, virtualization and Green IT. These thin computing solutions allow consumers, public and private enterprises to access the application information they need, but with better security, manageability, and at a much lower total cost of ownership than a PC. Wyse is headquartered in San Jose, California, with offices worldwide.
Source: Wyse.com
Desktop Virtualization: Will Free Upgrades Give Citrix the Edge?
The set of virtual desktop system enhancements Citrix Systems announced this week is unusual not for its timing or technical acumen, but for focusing on the experience of actual end users. Analysts say that IT knows the user experience with desktop virtualization is absolutely critical to success.
“We did a study that came out just before VMworld [in August] that showed the quality of the user experience is the top criterion enterprises use to evaluate virtual desktop infrastructures,” says Andi Mann, head of systems and storage-management research at Enterprise Management Associates.
“The end user experience is critical, and there are some really clever things in what Citrix is doing address that — multiple ways to deploy desktop services and to improve performance enough to fundamentally improve what the users are actually doing,” Mann says.
Asked to rate the most important factor in choosing a desktop virtualization system, out of 10 options, 75 percent of companies chose “Ease of use for end-users.”
Citrix’s New Improvements for End Users
The improvements—in load-balancing at the server, support for graphics and peripherals at the client, and an additional way to virtualize a desktop application—come free for customers with existing enterprise license or automatic-upgrade contracts.
The most notable new feature in XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2, which is free to customers with enterprise licenses and upgrade-by-subscription plans, is VM Hosted Apps. The feature allows Citrix customers to run desktop applications on a separate virtual machine that runs on a physical host running XenServer.
Most desktop applications running under XenApps run in parallel on a Windows or Xen server. XenApps clients connect by logging in to the server and using software already running on it.
With Dynamic Application Delivery, a single application or a specific user’s whole suite of applications run on a VM without having to share resources, and without having any difficulty identifying the hardware or operating system on which they run, according to Alicia Rey, product marketing manager for XenApp.
“That’s actually a big deal because there are a small percentage of applications, maybe only five to ten percent, that you wouldn’t even think to run on XenApps,” says Ben Kohn, senior systems architect for Independent Bank, an Ionia, Mich.-based bank with 1,200 employees, 90 percent of whom are connected via Citrix virtual desktops, accessing software running mostly on VMware servers.
“Adobe Acrobat, for example, installs a service that checks on the hardware you’re running it on so you don’t move it around to different machines,” Kohn says. “You couldn’t put it on Citrix server or do app streaming with it, but you could install it on a VM and deliver it that way and still use exactly the same infrastructure you would for any other app.”
A second feature, HDX MediaStream for Flash, is designed to make graphics-intensive applications run faster by using, where possible, the memory, CPU cycles and graphics card on the end-user’s computer in addition to those on the server, Rey says. Currently XenApps only presents an image of what’s going on at the server—which Kohn calls the “equivalent of a really long video cable.”
Adding a layer of intelligence to the client software to enable it to check for and use local graphics resources takes some load off the server and, more importantly, makes the application appear to the end user to be running faster, Mann says.
Rey says traditional Terminal Services-based Citrix connections are still more secure and cost-effective, but that VM-based VDI gives users the chance to also virtualize resource-intensive applications, or legacy software that doesn’t run well in a communal environment.
Mixed Vendor Environments The Norm
That is the second big hit of this round of improvements, Mann says. There are few consistent trends in desktop virtualization except that widespread acceptance of it is at least three years later than user surveys predicted and that organizations that have implemented it have done so in many ways.
“Enterprises tend to deploy between four or five different endpoint virtualization technologies on average, and almost a quarter deploy more than six different technologies simultaneously,” Mann says. “End-user companies are adopting multiple technologies, so vendors interested in that market have to provide integration between them.”
The two leading approaches (with a penetration of 70 percent each) are to run applications on a server and let users access them through a Web browser, and the more traditional Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, in which users access full desktop functions on a server using Terminal Services or accessing a VM on a shared server, Mann’s study shows.
Despite the variety of implementations, 100 percent of the companies EMA surveyed reported some positive outcome from virtualized desktops. Almost 75 percent reported measureable cost reductions and more than half reported functional benefits such as improving staff mobility or flexibility, security, or business continuity plans.
One Bank’s Desktop Virtualization Strategy for Success
The XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 also includes power and capacity management features that are designed to allow IT to create rules describing when and how to add or delete virtual machines to keep the servers running efficiently. A capacity planning feature is designed to let IT managers not only estimate capacity demands for certain situations, but also run simulations of each setup through tests to see if capacity plans will break.
“Right now if we have a spike in demand for a particular app, our provisioning services will spin up more VMs to account for it and that would only take about 15 or 20 minutes. But it’s 15 or 20 minutes after everybody [end users] have started to feel the pain,” Kohn says. “That’s a gap that we really appreciate they’re trying to fill, to adjust capacity automatically.”
Independent Bank has been hurt less than most other banks by the 12-month economic downturn, but it has been tightening its belt and only spending money on technology where it can significantly improve efficiency and stability, according to Peter Graves, the company CIO.
This year that’s included spending “a couple of million, all told,” on a new storage area network, disaster-recovery strategy, DR site and appliances that could have the bank back online in hours rather than days, and upgrades to its 10-year-old Citrix network.
“It takes so many of our resources to maintain our network that we would like to be able to divert some of those resources to other things by making the infrastructure more efficient,” Graves says.
MediaStream for Flash could significantly pare back the $400,000 or so the bank spends to refresh desktop hardware every year. Rather than replace old PCs that act as thin clients, the feature may allow the bank to leave those machines in place and make use of memory and CPU capacity that have been wasted until now, Graves says.
The Competition with VMware, Microsoft
Features like that—as well as XenApps’ continuing superiority over VMware’s desktop virtualization technology in a feature called context switching that is used heavily by servers supporting VDI, but less so by those running server-based applications—will probably keep Citrix ahead of its competitors both in the market and at Independent Bank, Kohn says.
“We tested them head to head and Citrix, which is optimized for context switching, had something like a 25 percent advantage over VMware,” Kohn says. “ESX performs so well on the server side, though, that we’re pretty entrenched there. There are a lot of features in disaster recovery and management and business continuity planning that Citrix is still catching up on.”
That may be clear for Kohn and Graves, but most of the rest of the market will be roiled by efforts by Microsoft, VMware, Citrix and a steadily growing number of competitors hoping desktop virtualization is finally ready to become a market-dominating reality, Mann says.
“VMware is doing some great things under the covers and with partnerships and other areas, but they don’t have the variety of delivery mechanisms that Citrix has, or the focus on enhancing the endpoint, which is a real advantage,” Mann says. “Things like the policy based load balancing, some very large, mature customers of Citrix will love; mostly, I suspect, that’s not as important as having more ways to deliver apps to the user and deliver a better user experience.”
Source: CIO.com – Kevin Fogarty
Citrix Live – Secrets Lies and VDI
CitrixLive! will include a keynote and sessions from leading Citrix and industry experts along with booths from a wide range of partners and sponsors. As an attendee you will have access to downloadable resources to help drive toward next steps on executing your desktop virtualization strategy.
Attend CitrixLive! to get a 360 degree view on desktop virtualization that will shed new light on the technology, change your perceptions and turn the industry on its head.
Don’t miss out. Register now.
Agenda
Struggling to keep pace with the increasing complexity of desktops, applications, devices and user needs? The power to virtualize is right here, right now with Citrix. Hear first hand our vision for desktop virtualization and discover the Power of One: the ability to manage one copy of each application, one desktop OS image, one profile for each user, one password-identity-it is that simple.Secret: You can radically simplify desktop management.
Battle of CTOs: Server virtualization vs. Desktop virtualization Harry Labana, chief technology officer, Citrix and Simon Crosby, chief technology officer, Citrix
VDI is booming and so is the confusion surrounding it. Desktop vs. server. User centric vs. datacenter centric. Pilot vs. large scale implementation. The list goes on and on. Watch two Citrix thought leaders go head to head in examining the differences and similarities of server and desktop virtualization. Explore key considerations for selecting a solution and get an in-depth look at how VDI offerings compare.Truth: Desktop virtualization is different than server virtualization.
The fastest, most powerful XenApp yet
Mick Hollison, Vice President, Citrix
From new and innovative delivery methods to improved management capabilities to high definition experience, XenApp continues to get better with every release. Discover the latest in XenApp and explore how to deliver more applications as cost-effective, on-demand services to any user, anywhere.Truth: XenApp is the de facto industry standard in application virtualization.
What’s coming with XenDesktop
Sumit Dhawan, vice president, Citrix
Next generation desktop virtualization technologies are being unveiled. Learn about the latest innovations in XenDesktop and how you can leverage the infrastructure that you already have to start delivering virtual desktops now. One solution for any hypervisor, any delivery method, any LAN or WAN, and any device. You don’t want to miss it.Secret: Can’t tell you just yet, attend and find out.
Ensure users get a high definition experience with virtual desktops Derek Thorslund, senior product manager, Citrix and Sridhar Mullapudi, senior product manager, Citrix
Starting with the user in mind is how you can differentiate your IT organization. Get the facts about what you can now do with virtual desktops and Citrix HDX technologies to enable you to deliver the best user experience without compromise. Learn how to architect your environment for LAN and WAN and how the various technologies work in harmony on any device, on any network, with better reliability and higher availability than a traditional PC.Truth: The HDX difference is the Citrix difference.
Simple, user driven desktops and enterprise app
store is the future
Orestes Melgarejo, senior director, Citrix
Brokers and Web Interface are a thing of the past. See how you can maintain IT control and give your users simple and intuitive access to their desktops through an enterprise app store that lets them choose what they need, when they need it-applications, desktop or any IT-delivered service. Don’t wait for the future, build your plan to embrace it.Truth: Only Citrix Receiver radically simplifies desktop management for IT and gives users flexibility and independence in how and where they work.
Add XenDesktop to your XenApp environment the
fast and reliable way
Calvin Hsu, Director, Citrix
Desktop virtualization is being deployed enterprise-wide and is ready for mainstream adoption. Why wait? XenApp customers can quickly add desktop virtualization to their environment. Get an in-depth view of how to leverage existing skill sets, infrastructure and best practices to extend the benefits of centralization to the entire Windows desktop.Secret: Implementing desktop virtualization into your existing environment is easier than you think.
Architectural blueprint for a successful desktop virtualization solution Dan Feller, lead architect consulting services, Citrix
Are you contemplating adding desktop virtualization to your environment but aren’t sure how to get there? Get an in-depth view from an expert who architected the solution. Learn the secrets and explore best practices for setting up a scalable solution that gives you complete flexibility to host virtual desktops on multiple virtualization platforms. With Citrix XenDesktop, it’s all about giving customers the freedom to choose.Truth: XenDesktop works with XenServer, Microsoft Hyper-V or VMware ESX.
Virtual Workstation Solution – Symantec Workspace Corporate
Overview
Symantec Endpoint Virtualization Suite is a powerful and flexible solution with a focus on user productivity, regardless of equipment, connectivity or location. Most computing environments today are heterogeneous and complex to manage. Symantec Endpoint Virtualization Suite consolidates and simplifies endpoint management while enhancing the end user experience.
End users are the key to creating value for any business, and Symantec’s Endpoint Virtualization solutions insure that users in all roles have the most productive workspaces (desktop, applications and information) available to them at all times. Multiple configurations and computing models are generally deployed across an organization, according to the needs of the users. Desktops and laptops, rich clients and thin clients, physical desktops and virtual desktops, shared systems and dedicated systems each have their place in today’s enterprise. With all of this disparity, manageability has become the next big challenge for IT to grapple with. Symantec Endpoint Virtualization Suite turns this challenge into an opportunity with dynamic desktops and application provisioning, application conflict elimination, and proactive license compliance and optimization.
Endpoint Virtualization Suite Means Better Manageability
Virtualization enables the separation of key desktop elements for better manageability and instant desktop configuration that is based on the user who logs in and their role in the organization. Symantec Endpoint Virtualization Suite leverages three distinct virtualization technologies and a rules-based approach to proactive management to provide the best on-demand environment for the user and save time and effort for IT managers:
- Virtual Workspace — Workspace optimization provides centralized management of shared and dedicated desktop environments and delivers these securely and instantly to any device, for both corporate and remote users.
- Virtual Distribution — Streaming allows the user to acquire applications from any endpoint, according to his productivity needs, while minimizing bandwidth requirements and optimizing license consumption.
- Virtual Execution — Layering applications on disk ensures that each application includes all of its appropriate resources, eliminates conflicts with other applications and the base operating system, and enables instant repair.
- Rule-based Management — Automated system and resource management are achieved by applying a set of rules to govern user access to workspace resources across all access points, and by managing the complete lifecycle of resources
Symantec Workspace Corporate/Remote
Symantec Workspace Corporate provides a powerful set of tools to manage centralized computing environments whether Terminal Servers, Virtually Hosted Desktops, Blades or a combination. Symantec Workspace Remote provides a feature rich and easily deployed browser-based client for the Symantec Workspace Corporate architecture. Symantec Workspace Corporate provides IT staff with a streamlined, automated and cost-effective way to deploy and support computing resources and users, while facilitating the customer’s ability to comply with regulatory requirements for privacy and reporting. Local and remote users get the resources they need, whenever and wherever they need them. Their workspace follows them, and can be accessed from virtually any device.
Desktop Connection Broker
Deliver either the host OS desktop or a custom desktop within the user’s designated workspace. The custom desktop allows application allocation and standardization amongst different user groups, providing a consistent user experience and control of application licensing. Leverages and simplifies management across existing desktop infrastructures, such as those from VMware, Microsoft and Citrix. Connections supported over RDP, ICA, PCoIP, and others.
Single Sign On
Streamlines and speeds the process by which users sign on to applications. Rather than having to enter user names and passwords for every application they access, they need only sign into the system, using password, proximity sensor, biometrics, or RFID. Users are instantly delivered to their workspace and can even be brought to unique landing spots deep within the layers of applications.
Secure Shell
Lock down the workspace and provide the proper level of user access and data security by simplifying the desktop and presenting only those applications and elements needed to perform their jobs. The Secure Shell also provides the ability to provision a full workspace with locally installed, streamed and remote computing applications seamlessly presented to users.
Fast User Switching (Kiosk)
Kiosk mode lets unlimited numbers of people use the same device in rapid succession, and instantly get their own workspace each time. It enables protocols, desktop types and applications that are tailored to particular users to run off the same device.
Roaming Printing
As users roam from device to device, Workspace Corporate can direct them to assigned printers based on geographic area, eliminating the hassle of tracking down printers.
Remote Access
Symantec Workspace Remote supports users inside and outside of the corporate firewall by presenting their desktop in a browser. It gives mobile users easy access to their dedicated workspace resources via an RDP, ICA or other common protocols.
What’s New with Microsoft Exchange 2010?
Microsoft Exchange 2010 helps you achieve new levels of reliability and performance by delivering features that simplify your administration, protect your communications, and delight your users by meeting their demands for greater business mobility. With new deployment and storage options, enhanced inbox management capabilities and e-mail archiving built-in, Exchange 2010 helps you lower costs and enhance business outcomes.
Flexible and Reliable
With Exchange, choose from on-premises deployment with Exchange Server 2010, a Microsoft hosted service with Exchange Online, or a seamless mix of both. Microsoft’s commitment to Software plus Services ensures you can decide on your timeline for taking advantage of the flexibility and power of both without interrupting or changing your users’ experience.
- Remove the need to deploy complex and costly clustering and third-party data replication products for full-scale Exchange redundancy
- Automate mailbox database replication and failover with as few as two servers or across geographically dispersed datacenters
- Maintain availability and fast recovery with up to 16 Exchange-managed replicas of each mailbox database
- Limit user disruption during mailbox moves between e-mail servers, allowing you to perform migration and maintenance activities on your schedule, even during business hours
- Guard against lost e-mail due to Transport Server upgrades or failures, through new built-in redundancy capabilities designed to intelligently redirect mail flow through another available route
Lowering the burden on your help desk and yourself is a key way in which you can accomplish more and reduce costs. This motivated investments in new self-service capabilities aimed at enabling users to perform common tasks without having to call the help desk. With this functionality you can:
- Allow users to update their contact information and track delivery receipt information for e-mail messages, for example, without IT assistance
- Offer an easy-to-use Web-based interface for common help desk tasks
- Utilize the new Exchange Roles-based Access Control model to empower specialist users to perform specific tasks – like giving compliance officers the ability to conduct multi-mailbox searches – without requiring administrative control
Anywhere Access
Enhancements in the latest release of Exchange provide your users access to all of their communications from a single location while making it easier for them to collaborate with each other and their business partners. These enhancements include the ability to:
- Offer your users a premium Outlook experience across the desktop, Web, and mobile devices, including OWA support for browsers like Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox
- Unify access to e-mail, voice mail, instant messaging, and text messages enabling your users to choose the best way to communicate no matter where they are
- Add native support for virtually every mobile device, including a premium experience with Windows Mobile, through Exchange ActiveSync
- Share free/busy information with external business partners for fast and efficient scheduling, choosing the level of detail you wish to share
Exchange 2010 adds new productivity features that help your users easily organize and prioritize the communications in their inboxes. Your users will experience:
- An enhanced conversation view that streamlines inbox navigation by automatically organizing message threads based on the natural conversation flow between communicating parties
- MailTips that inform your users, before they click send, about message details that could lead to undeliverable or mis-sent e-mails, like accidentally sending confidential information to external recipients, reducing inbox clutter, extra steps, and help desk calls
With Exchange 2010, you can replace your traditional voice mail system with a unified solution integrated into the core of your communications platform. This new system will enable your users to receive their voice mail messages right in their inboxes, and manage those voice mail messages just as they do e-mail, with familiar tools like Outlook and Outlook Web Access. You will benefit from the cost-savings of voice mail systems consolidation and replacement and provide your users features like:
- Text transcription of voice mail messages, allowing users to quickly triage messages without having to play the audio file
- The power of a personalized auto attendant for their voice mail
- Tools to create call answering and routing rules for individuals or groups of callers based on Caller ID and contact information ensuring that every caller gets the experience your users intend
- Phone-based access to their whole inbox – including e-mail, calendar, and contacts – in nearly 30 languages with Outlook Voice Access
Protection and Compliance
Exchange 2010 delivers new, integrated e-mail archiving functionality–including granular multi-mailbox search, item-level retention policies and instant legal hold–making it easier to address compliance and discovery issues. Administrators get centralized control of all archives while users get direct access to their archived mail, including a familiar archive experience that does not disrupt the way they manage their inboxes every day. With these new features you can:
- Easily move unwieldy Outlook Data Files (PSTs) from the PC back to Exchange for more efficient control and legal discovery
- Simplify the classification of e-mail with new centrally definable Retention Policies that can be applied to individual e-mail messages or folders
- Conduct cross-mailbox searches through an easy-to-use Web-based interface, or through Roles-based access control, empowering your HR or compliance officers to execute targeted searches
Exchange 2010 also expands Information Protection and Control support, making it easier to encrypt, moderate and block sensitive or inappropriate e-mail based on specific sender, receiver and content attributes. Key functionality enables you to:
- Combine Exchange 2010 and Active Directory Rights Management Services (ADRMS) so that you and your users can apply Information Rights Management protection automatically to restrict access and use of information within a message–wherever it is sent.
- Enable partners and customers to read and reply to IRM-protected mail–even if they do not have Active Directory Rights Management Services (ADRMS) on premise
- Enable managers to review mail and either approve or block transmission
Gartner says Worldwide Hosted Virtual Desktop Market to Surpass $65 Billion in 2013
The worldwide hosted virtual desktop (HVD) market will accelerate through 2013 to reach 49 million units, up from more than 500,000 units in 2009, according to Gartner Inc. Worldwide HVD revenue will grow from about $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion in 2009, which is less than 1 percent of the worldwide professional PC market, to $65.7 billion in 2013, which will be equal to more than 40 percent of the worldwide professional PC market.
“PC vendors must prepare for the growth in demand for this client computing architecture by adjusting sales strategies and compensation models or they risk losing expenditure share with enterprise customers,” said Annette Jump, research director at Gartner. “Distributed computing has been the dominant client computing architecture for the past 15 to 20 years, but a number of changes in the way users can access applications and client computing capabilities are bringing a number of alternative architectures to the fore.
“Hosted virtual desktops are currently the most visible of these alternative architectures and HVD adoption is likely to be rapid during the next three to five years, particularly in mature markets where existing data center and network infrastructures will be used to offset the cost of entry,” said Brian Gammage, vice president and Gartner fellow.
This trend will have a major impact on the PC industry where enterprises that previously purchased high volumes of desktop PCs on a regular basis will now look to replace some desktop PCs with less-expensive devices and replace them less frequently. However, while PC hardware expenditure will fall in this scenario, these enterprises will require more servers, network bandwidth and software to support the new architectures.
Gartner estimates that approximately 15 percent of current worldwide traditional professional desktop PCs will migrate to HVDs by 2014, equal to about 66 million connected devices. The U.S. will reach double that of the worldwide average with over 18 million connected devices. After an initial slow start, the HVD market will rally in 2010 and 2011.
“Despite the further improvements in performance and manageability that are expected of HVDs in 2009, the current economic downturn is expected to inhibit the adoption of HVDs in the short term because HVD deployments require large upfront investments in server and network infrastructure,” Ms. Jump said. “Because of IT budget cuts, we expect many planned HVD implementations to be delayed from 2009 into 2010 and 2011.”
The current players in the HVD market come mainly from thin-client and virtualization IT areas. The largest PC vendors currently do not offer HVDs; however, some of them, such as HP and Dell, are looking to expand their presence in the segment beyond acting as hardware OEMs. Gartner expects that the HVD market will be heavily influenced by market leader VMware through 2012 and also predicts that Microsoft will become a HVD supplier in the next 18 to 24 months through its partnership with Citrix, which has the ability to offer a growing number of HVD components.
Ms Jump advised PC vendors looking to maintain their share in the professional desktop market to become solution providers and understand that the HVD solution goes beyond hardware sales. She said that to become a HVD supplier, PC vendors need to offer multiple components such as server virtualization software to host desktop software, session management software to connect users with their desktop environment and tools for managing the provision of virtual desktops.
“HVDs are part of a bigger shift in client computing from traditional thick-client distributed PCs toward more manageable, secure and centralized client computing environments among many large and midsize companies,” Mr. Gammage said. “To benefit from this shift, PC vendors don’t need to create or even own all the components themselves, but they do need to be able to sell solutions and not just a ‘bag of bits’.”
Gartner analysts said once PC vendors have the HVD solutions in place, they need to ensure that their direct sales force is fully briefed about HVD technology and the difference in value propositions versus traditional desktop PC sales as HVDs may not ultimately be appropriate for all business applications and/or users. At the same time, the channel will also need re-educating about components of HVD and selling HVD solutions. Alliances to promote and provide proper education about HVD solutions will help drive demand and growth for those solutions among business organizations.
Source: www.gartner.com
St. John Health – Virtual Clinical Workstation
Unlike traditional paper records, an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system is a fast, secure and efficient way to manage critical information. Paper records are costly to maintain, difficult to control and lack the flexibility needed to collaborate between departments and organizations. Electronic records give physicians the ability to quickly and easily access patient information, thus greatly improving the timeliness of qualitative care decisions. In spite of the numerous benefits, hospitals are often challenged with implementing EMR systems because existing network and computing environments are not equipped to handle repetitive “in and out” access.
Customer: St. John Health
Industry: Healthcare Provider
Customer Size: 25,000 employees
Website: http://www.stjohn.org
Customer Profile
St. John Health is comprised of seven hospitals plus more than 125 medical facilities in southeast Michigan. St. John Health provides services such as heart, cancer, obstetrics, neurosciences, orthopedics, physical rehabilitation, behavioral medicine, surgery, emergency and urgent care.
Business Situation
The clinical workstation infrastructure for the 1500 workstations and 15,000 users was utilizing obsolete technology. Performance issues and outages were increasing. A new system was to be implemented, but the existing infrastructure would not support it.
Genesys Health System – Achieving 33 Percent Time Savings with Symantec and Coretek Services
and clinicians waited for time on shared computers, thenspent much of that time logging on to the system and to various applications.Symantec Endpoint Virtualization Suite provides 10-second startups that openall the applications users need, and one-keystroke suspensions that allow auser to return to the exact same session on a different device. Security andcompliance are improved, and doctors find their daily rounds take two hoursless. Genesys is now rolling the application out to 700 doctors, resulting in a33% decrease in the amount of time it takes to conduct patient rounds.Coping with EMR s
Electronic Medical Records. No technology in recent history has had such an impact on the wayhealthcare providers do their work. Paper-based patient information is largely a thing of the past.The data is now stored digitally, and accessed and updated by multiple doctors, nurses, andfacility staff throughout the course of a patient’s treatment. With improved information sharingamong care providers and staff, the risk of adverse drug interactions are reduced, and practitionerscan offer better care.
EMRs mean healthcare professionals must change the way they use computers. Most medicalsettings are unlike the typical office where each user is assigned his or her own computer, andworks at it all day. Instead, staff members typically share computers, signing in to view a recordor test result, and then leaving again. This is especially true in hospitals, where doctors mustaccess EMRs in many different locations during their rounds.
