Archive
#Microsoft – On the right track! – #Windows, #BYOD, #Citrix
I don’t know if you all agree but I find that Microsoft is making some really good strategic decisions to align themselves and be ready for the “next generation” workplace and client services. Everyone has been talking about BYOx and that everyone will bring their own device and consume business services and functions on that device in parallel to doing personal stuff.
But has BYOD taken off yet?
I personally think that it hasn’t to the extent that many thought it would, there are some companies in some countries that have adopted it for some use cases and user categories, but the majority is still struggling with it though their business apps and functions aren’t really there to support this way of working yet.
Even if they have a NetScaler or similar remote access capabilities with some sort of Desktop and App virtualization (like Citrix XenDesktop) to run the apps it’s still not enough. How do you solve the offline working scenario? And isn’t hosted apps and desktops just a legacy workaround until those business processes have been SaaS’ified? And what about “dropbox” alternatives, H: drives and G: drives, Sharepoint data etc. There is still a user data mess (read my earlier post on this) that needs to be solved and especially a “mega aggregator” tool for getting data/content and synch across devices in a secure manner (data also encrypted at rest on ALL devices and not just mobiles)…
Microsoft is kind of stepping up here I must say from a strategy point of view that makes me believe in them, even though I’ve said that no one ever will take my MacBook Air from me! Have a look at the features that are coming with Windows 8.1 to support a more “semi-controlled” or “semi-trusted” device, and the new cloud services like Azure AD, Windows Intunes offerings in combination with the online messaging and collaboration Office 365 services. And they are apparently also working on a “legacy” cloud service to offer desktops as a service (DaaS) as I wrote in a previous blog post as well.
I think that Microsoft is moving in the right direction towards offering the next generation enterprise IT services and to support the new way of working, and fast!
Have a look at these posts/articles on the news in Windows 8.1:
Everything you need, right from (the) Start
Microsoft is focused on delivering one experience across all the devices in your life. The centerpiece of that strategy and experience are the Microsoft services and apps that come right from (the) Start on your new Windows device.
This is the first blog post in a series that will highlight the apps and services driving toward this “one experience” vision. This experience comes to life through more than 20 new and improved Microsoft apps and services that come as part of Windows 8.1, including a new one that we are announcing today – Skype, right from (the) Start!
It’s where you want to go today….
#Citrix #Receiver 5.7.2 for iOS released
Yet another Receiver have been released!
What’s new
The 5.7.2 release gives you the following improvements:
– You can download an @Work app, even when your Receiver has a poor connection.
– You can now see the correct name of the UTC time zone on your device when the “Use local time of client” policy setting is configured on the desktop.
– On the iPad when connected to a session, you can rotate your iPad many times and the session continues to run.
– When connected to a WiFi network with your iPad, you can roam from one WiFi network to another and continue to access apps through Receiver.
//Richard
Future Workplace Formula = 1 person x 6 devices @ two-thirds of a desk
This was an interesting news/announcement from Citrix, and I must agree with it! We’re moving into a new workplace era!
Get ready for redesigned offices that reduce real estate through fewer desks, redesigned space, increased mobility and use of BYO devices
SANTA CLARA, Calif. » By 2020 organizations are set to reduce office space by almost a fifth (17 percent) according to a new study by Citrix, a leader in mobile and cloud technology. The workplace of the future will provide just seven desks for every ten office workers, with each person accessing the corporate IT network from an average of six different computing devices. The figure for 2020 is as low as six desks for every ten workers in Singapore, the Netherlands, the USA and the UK. Some of the highest desk to worker ratios in 2020 will be in Japan (8.77), South Korea (7.95) and Germany (7.90).
Almost every organization says they will redesign office space to be more appealing. The workplace of the future will foster creativity, be inspiring and encourage collaboration by enabling people to work from wherever, whenever and on whatever device so that work becomes something people do, not a place people go.
The Citrix Workplace of the Future report, which polled 1,900 senior IT decision-makers across 19 countries, shows that a third of people (29 percent) will no longer work from their traditional office. Instead employees will base themselves from various semi-permanent locations including the home (64 percent), field and project sites (60 percent), and customer or partner premises (50 percent). People are also expected to access corporate applications, data and services from locations such as hotels, airports, coffee shops and while in transit.
The trend towards fewer office-based employees – who use multiple computing devices to access corporate apps, data and services from a range of locations outside of the traditional office – is part of a global trend called mobile workstyles. Globally, a quarter (24 percent) of organizations have already fully adopted mobile workstyles. By the middle of 2014, 83 percent of organizations will have embraced mobile workstyles.
Mobile workstyles have been adopted widely and rapidly because it offers a number of benefits.
- For organizations, workshifting – where people move work to more optimal times and locations – creates a more flexible, agile workplace (73 percent), lower employee-related costs (53 percent), reduce real estate costs (48 percent) and help attract (47 percent) and retain (44 percent) top talent.
- Employees benefit from workshifting with more flexibility (65 percent), increased personal productivity (62 percent), less commuting time (61 percent), and abetter work/life balance (55 percent). It also…
Continue reading here!
//Richard
Webinar – #Citrix Mobile Device Management – #CloudGateway – @RobSanders
How to secure native iOS and Android email as well as other apps for business use
Thursday, 24th January 2013, 3:00pm GMT (4:00pm CET)
Citrix provides two new mobile apps to support mobile workers with secure email and web browsing on their BYO and corporate mobile devices – @WorkMail and @WorkWeb.Come to this technical webinar to learn more about how these and other native iOS and Android applications can be securely distributed and managed for your business.
Topics include:
- Managing, securing and controlling web and native mobile applications and data
- Secure mobile containers
- Seamless app integration
- Policy-based access controls
- Application-specific Micro VPN
This live webinar presented by Rob Sanders and will be followed by a live Q&A session.
Space is limited.
Register here!
//Richard
The IT Melting Pot! 