The idea of hosting your computer virtually isn’t new, but the fact that Microsoft has just entered the arena is. On September 30, 2019 they launched the new Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) globally and it promises to revolutionize the way companies provision employee desktops.
Currently the idea of hosting all your computers in a cloud environment, including the operating system, files, settings, and software, is one that hasn’t yet seen widespread adoption, but just as Office 365 helped advance cloud computing adoption, WVD will inevitably be doing the same for virtual desktops.
Virtualization services allow you to work from anywhere and basically take your computer with you. Whether you’re in your office in Fresno, CA or traveling across the country, you can log in to the same main PC environment from any device, including mobile.
Advantages of using virtual desktops include:
Lower hardware costs
Convenience of working on your PC from anywhere
Faster application and computer performance
Less space requirements
Protection of your PC data in the event of a natural disaster or device malfunction
The mobility of cloud software has done wonders for office productivity. 63% of global enterprises say that mobility is the most significant factor that helps them gain a competitive edge. 70% cite increasing mobility as a top priority for their company.
So, is Windows Virtual Desktop going to encourage organizations to take that next step to complete mobility? We’ll go through the advantages that Microsoft is bring to the virtualization table next.
Windows Virtual Desktop Overview (Features & Benefits)
WVD allows you to easily scale and deploy Windows desktops and apps on Azure in just minutes. It takes your Windows PCs to a virtual cloud environment to help your team work more efficiently, offer easier administration of technology, gives you additional security advantages, and more.
Here’s an overview of the features and benefits of Windows Virtual Desktop.
Set Up a Scalable & Flexible Environment
WVD allows you to setup a multi-session Windows 10 deployment that offers full scalability. An Azure subscription allows you to run a full desktop virtualization environment without needing any additional gateway servers.
Each virtual desktop can be completely unique and offer individual ownership through personal (persistent) desktops.
It’s easy to add new users and ensure they have a new computer environment all ready to go, and deployed with everything they need. No need to purchase expensive physical computers, since all files are stored on the cloud server.
Provide all the resources your team needs at a lower cost due to pooled, multi-session resources.
Easier PC Administration
Maintaining multiple physical PCs, including software deployment, updates and patches, and diagnostics, is time consuming. Each computer is located in a different place and could have slightly different software or hardware that you’re working with on each one.
When you use Windows Virtual Desktop environments you can manage all your desktops from a single control panel and use built-in delegated access to assign roles and collect diagnostics.
Patch and update management and software deployment can all be accomplished easily from the same administration area, and you have full control over user assignment and roles.
Additional Optimizations for Office 365 ProPlus
The virtual optimizations using WVD and Office 365 ProPlus allow you to run multi-session virtual desktop scenarios to provide the most productive virtualized experience for your users.
ProPlus gives you unique features beyond other Office 365 products that utilize intelligent capabilities. These include:
Ideas in Excel, which gives you more insight and high-level visual summaries for your data
Researcher in Word, which helps you find and cite reliable sources for a research project in a few simple steps.
App Virtualization
Are there some applications you use that you wish were cloud-based, but aren’t? Running them on WVD allows you to virtualize apps as well as your desktops for a more collaborative and flexible workflow for all your business applications.
This gives you both the mobility for everything in your PC environment (which used to be housed on a physical computer) and offers a unified management experience as well.
Consolidate Existing Remote Desktop Services (RDS) and Windows Server Desktops
If you use Remove Desktop Services and Windows Server Desktops, you can bring these all together with Windows Virtual Desktop. Migrating RDS and apps to Azure simplifies your management and deployment of the services and keeps everything under one umbrella.
FSLogix Tools
Microsoft recently acquired FSLogix and their tools to enhance, enable, and simplify non-persistent Windows environments have been available to Microsoft 365, Windows 10 Enterprise, and RDS customers since July.
Now, the FSLogix Tools are fully integrated into WVD, offering capabilities like:
Profile Container
Office Container
Application Masking
Java Version Control
Additional Windows 7 to Windows 10 Upgrade Time
The end of life for Windows 7 is on January 14, 2020 and that’s when general support for the OS ends. If you’ve been sweating that date and wondering how you can transition your office in time, WDV is going to throw you a lifeline.
Windows Virtual Desktop will include free Extended Security Updates (ESU) through January 2023, giving companies three more years to make the transition, while keeping important security update protections.
Interested in a Windows Virtual Desktop Upgrade? We Can Help!
Unity IT offers virtualization services for your Fresno, Clovis, Visalia, or Madera, CA business. We can show you exactly what working on a Windows Virtual Desktop looks like, help you with a strategic transition plan, and migrate all your data safely from hard drives to cloud desktop environments.
Schedule a free virtualization consultation online or give us a call at 559-297-1007 to take that first important step.
