Desktops-as-a-Service: Is It Right for Your Business?

CHANNEL PARTNERS June 2013 US$39.00 S P E C I A L R E P O R T Desktops-as-a-Service: Is It Right for Your Business? By Art Wittmann COMMUNICATIONS

Table of Contents Introduction...3 Hosted Virtual Desktops...4 Desktops-as-a-Service...6 The Business Case for DaaS...8 Questions to Ask About DaaS...9 About... 11 The Author Business Value Toolbox Copyright 2013 VIRGO Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. The publisher reserves the right to accept or reject any advertising or editorial material. Advertisers, and/or their agents, assume the responsibility for all content of published advertisements and assume responsibility for any claims against the publisher based on the advertisement. Editorial contributors assume responsibility for their published works and assume responsibility for any claims against the publisher based on the published work. Editorial content may not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. Materials contained on this site may not be reproduced, modified, distributed, republished or hosted (either directly or by linking) without our prior written permission. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of content. You may, however, download material from the site (one machine readable copy and one print copy per page) for your personal, noncommercial use only. We reserve all rights in and title to all material downloaded. Channel Partners Business Value Toolbox Desktops-as-a-Service 2 toolbox.channelpartnersonline.com

Introduction One of the biggest IT costs in any organization is end-user computing. If yours is like most IT departments, you replace desktops and laptops about every four years and update your desktop productivity tools at least that often. That in itself is a major expense, but it s just the beginning. There are also security software, patch maintenance, backups, trouble shooting, support, industry or business-specific applications and more. The upgrade cycle is even worse for remote offices and home workers. With no IT staff on-site, support cost for these users is generally much higher than for those back at headquarters. As frustrating as that can be, for most business leaders the really galling thing is that none of that spending represents a competitive advantage. It all amounts to table stakes for most businesses, and therefore anything that helps control those costs is worth a good, long look. Enter hosted virtual desktops (HVD). Besides cost control, there are other reasons to consider hosted desktops, including providing better security for key applications, supporting one-app users such as those in call centers, providing a more consistent user experience, supporting multiple users of a single station such as nurses on a hospital floor, and supporting BYOD devices. All of these business use cases could benefit from remotely hosted applications and desktops. However, many organizations have found that implementing HVD on their own is complex, so increasingly they are turning to service providers for a cloud-based option called desktops-as-a-service (DaaS) for its simplicity and subscription-based pricing. How Desktops Are Moving From the Premises to the Data Center to the Cloud Data Center 1 2 3 Provider Network Internet 1 Fully equipped end-user systems can be expensive to maintain, but usually best satisfy user expectations. 2 Internally hosted virtual desktops are easier to maintain but generally come with their own four-year replacement cycle for hardware and software. 3 Externally hosted desktops, or desktops-as-a-service, can be extremely easy to maintain often allowing staff to concentrate on other aspects of the business, but long-term costs can add up. Source: Art Wittmann for Business Value Toolbox Channel Partners Business Value Toolbox Desktops-as-a-Service 3 toolbox.channelpartnersonline.com

Hosted Virtual Desktops In most companies, hosting Windows applications has been done for tactical reasons. The most common are to give employees access to applications with stringent security requirements or unique hardware or software requirements. In other words, it allows users to run applications that they couldn t normally run on the desktop hardware the company provides. For these applications with special needs, Microsoft, Citrix and VMware offer products that allow servers to run user desktop instances as virtual machines and then use either thin client terminals or some other presentation software on user desktops for end-user interaction. These solutions are known as virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) systems. Using virtualization in the data center to run multiple instances of an application has been a huge step forward in making remote desktop systems financially viable. Prior to virtualization, remote terminal systems were something of a last resort because they largely retained all of the complexity of so-called fat clients, and also cost more to run. But when security was paramount, or when unique system requirements left no alternatives, remote access was an answer. By throwing virtualization into the mix, a single modern server can host literally dozens of remote users, and that changes the financial calculation (see sidebar at right). Even with the efficiency that virtualization brings to the data center side of a remote desktop system, the total hardware and software licensing costs are comparable to simply buying and equipping desktops and laptops. In terms of staff time, what s gained through simplified configuration management and control typically is lost in the need to learn and manage the VDI system.? How Many Users Can a Single Server Support? It s one of IT s most reliable saving graces server, desktop and laptop prices regularly fall as capabilities go up. So it s natural to ask the question, How many users could be supported by a well-configured server? As with all things in IT, the real answer is, It depends. But, you can make a good approximation by looking at memory. As it turns out, memory is almost always the limiting factor when counting up the number of virtual machines a server can run. So let s look at a typical two-socket server with 128GB of RAM and how many Windows 7 instances you might run on that server. A typical Win7 system has 4-8GB of physical RAM. Simple division finds that you can support 16-32 users on that system. This is a conservative estimate of what you ll achieve in a live configuration, and if you re looking to run Windows XP desktops, the server described here could run 40-50 desktop instances. With a street price of about $17,000, the hardware cost works out to $500-$700 per user. Channel Partners Business Value Toolbox Desktops-as-a-Service 4 toolbox.channelpartnersonline.com

VDI Implementations Are Complex A Typical Configuration for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Environments Commercial Usage Scenarios: Office, Home, Mobile, Process, Knowledge, Temporary, Overseas and Partner Access Devices include Terminals, Old and New PCs, Laptops, Tablet, PCs, PDAs, UMPC, Smartphones, most Web Browsers Physical Machine and Virtual Content Management Microsoft System Centre Configuration Manager Virtual Machine Management Microsoft System Centre Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Accessed via Wired, WIR, 3G and GPRS network connections Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol or Third Party Access Protocol Viritual Desktop Infrastructure Broker, enhanced Virtual Machine Provisioning and Management - Provided by a Third Party Windows Vista Virtual Machines Physical PC Virtualization Layer - Microsoft Windows 2008 Hyper-V Data Center Hosted Blade PC End-to-End System Monitoring and Alerting Microsoft System Center Operations Manager Application Virtualization and Streaming Microsoft App-V Server-Based Application Hosting Microsoft Terminal Server Line-of-Business Applications: Email, ERP, Business Specific Security: Microsoft Active Directory, Internet Access Gateway, Third-Party Remote Access Solutions Source: Microsoft Corp. The story is different for each organization, but for the most part, you d be trading one four-year replacement cycle and set of user support needs for another. For that reason, VDI systems haven t taken off much more than did pre-virtualization remote desktop products. Those who really need them can justify the cost, but for most companies, the work of switching to an internally hosted system will involve more capital expense and probably cause more initial user consternation than it s worth. The situation is different for remote users. In their cases, with no IT staff on-site, support can mean a lot more time spent diagnosing issues from afar, shipping systems around and possibly using third parties for support. All of that implies more expense for IT and less productivity for remote users. The scenario also is different for supporting a robust BYOD policy. In a perfect world, app vendors would provide versions of their apps for every platform your users wanted to use, and they d do it at no additional cost. So much for a perfect world. HVD can be an immediate solution to the BYOD app problem. However, it s not always an ideal solution. For instance, it s hard to right click on an ipad, and users likely will balk if they only get access to Windows apps on their personal devices. Nevertheless, it s a good start. One word of caution: Remote desktops work fine on a Wi-Fi network with a good Internet connection behind it, but they can be painfully hard to use over a 3G connection. Mobile uses should be carefully evaluated; some apps will work just fine while others definitely will not. Channel Partners Business Value Toolbox Desktops-as-a-Service 5 toolbox.channelpartnersonline.com

Desktops-as-a-Service An alternative to hosting virtual desktops yourself is desktops-as-a-service (DaaS). As the name implies DaaS takes the job of hosting remote desktops out of your data center and puts it in the hands of a service provider. How DaaS Providers Deliver Cloud Desktops Desktops-as-a-Service Architectural Framework Devices & Locations LAPTOP DESKTOP SMARTPHONE TABLET ENTERPRISE SMB HOME REMOTE Multitenant SaaS/DaaS WINDOWS APPLICATIONS & DESKTOP Session Maintenance Subscriber Partition Subscriber Partition Subscriber Partition PROVISIONG INFRASTRUCTURE Virtual Application Physical IaaS WEB BLOCK OFFICE THIRD PARTY ACCESS INFRASTRUCTURE NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE Management & Dashboards CITRIX DELIVERY SERVICES CONSOLE CITRIX TOOLS MICROSOFT SYSTEMS CENTER REMOTE ASSURANCE Source: Citrix Inc. Typical offerings require a small setup fee per user and will provide the Microsoft Office suite for a base price of $50-$75 per user, per month. Email can be accessed through Outlook and can be connected to your own Exchange server or to some other email server or service. DaaS providers also may deliver SharePoint and other complex applications for an added price per user, per month. Most DaaS services require involved startup processes and will let IT managers specify how their virtual desktops are configured and accessed, what applications are available, and which virtual and physical devices will be available to the user. For instance, if you have and want to keep your Microsoft Active Directory environment for user authentication and access control, you typically can extend your AD environment to your provided virtual desktops. Administrators also can determine whether users can access local devices such as USB ports, network printers, local storage and more. One of the great benefits of DaaS is that IT policies can be enforced automatically. If you need to revoke access to a desktop (as in the case of an employee quitting or being terminated), it s a matter of administration and doesn t require actually getting a device back from the user. Channel Partners Business Value Toolbox Desktops-as-a-Service 6 toolbox.channelpartnersonline.com

As with VDI, calculating a strong savings scenario with DaaS can be problematic. At $50 per month, each user will run about $640 in the first year and nearly $2,500 over four years. You ll also need some sort of access device for the user. This could be a thin client or a Google Chromebook-like device, which will add $250 or more to the per-user cost. More commonly users will access the hosted desktop with older hardware they already have. Comparing Costs: Standard Desktops vs. Desktops-as-a-Service Our model compares the cost over a typical four-year desktop lifespan for a company with 300 employees. It assumes: The average cost of one IT professional = $90,000 per year Complex desktop support requires one IT professional for every 75 users Simple desktop support requires one IT professional for every 200 users End-user systems costs with software = $1,200 Desktop services cost $50 per month, per user Desktop terminal device is $300 with a useful life of eight years, so half the cost will be applied to the model (*). Incremental bandwidth required for DaaS users = 40KBps per user STANDARD DESKTOPS DAAS Hardware & Software COSTS IN FIRST YEAR COSTS OVER 4 YEARS COSTS IN FIRST YEAR COSTS OVER 4 YEARS 300 systems x $1,200 per system $360,000 $360,000 Service n/a n/a IT Support Incremental Bandwidth 300 users /75 per IT pro = 4 IT pros x $90,000 salary $360,000 $1,440,000 n/a n/a 300 users x $300 per device $90,000 $45,000* 300 users x $50 subscription x 12 months $180,000 $720,000 300 users /200 per IT pro = 2 IT pros x $90,000 salary $180,000 $720,000 $750 per month x 12 months $9,000 $36,000 TOTAL $720,000 $1,800,000 $459,000 $1,521,000 Source: Art Wittmann for Business Value Toolbox Channel Partners Business Value Toolbox Desktops-as-a-Service 7 toolbox.channelpartnersonline.com

The Business Case for DaaS No matter what access technology you use, you can t justify the cost of DaaS from hardware and software savings there must also be a considerable savings in staff time, as shown in the cost comparison on Page 7. But the service provider is doing a lot more than simply providing access to a server running VDI software. They should be providing an SLA in which service uptime will far exceed anything most users will achieve with equipment under their own control. Service providers also will perform backups and keep software patched and up to date. More importantly, the provisioning and de-provisioning time should be very short and most likely automated. That means it s easy to support temporary users like contractors or even customers if you should have the need. User support, then, moves from a capital-intensive budget item to an operational cost. And because the service provider lets you manage users by policy rather than requiring an IT pro to actually lay hands on the user s device, a single IT pro can support many more users than is possible with traditional fat clients. It s this last point that makes a financial case for DaaS. For organizations with identical end-user configurations and all users local to the IT team, a single IT pro can support 200 users or so. When users are scattered and configurations are highly variable, support complexity goes up and the number of users a single person can support is closer to 50. DaaS gives you the best of both worlds. Think of DaaS as champagne support on a beer budget. You ll also be able to support a BYOD policy without breaking the bank or even opening a new budget item. That doesn t necessarily mean that every user should be supported through DaaS though some organizations have made that leap. Putting DaaS in your toolbox gives you one more option for user support. Do you have a small group of users who must use Macs for their work? DaaS is a good way to give them access to the same productivity tools used by the rest of your workers. Worried about that 20 percent of users who rack up 80 percent of your help desk calls? DaaS may be the answer. Think of DaaS as champagne support on a beer budget. Channel Partners Business Value Toolbox Desktops-as-a-Service 8 toolbox.channelpartnersonline.com

Questions to Ask About DaaS Since DaaS products are fairly new, you d expect a wide variety of approaches and offerings. While there are certainly differences, there are also a lot of similarities. The technology to efficiently deliver streaming desktops is fairly complex, as is the underlying virtualization technology that makes VDI cost effective. In most cases, you ll find that service providers are using modified versions of the same VDI software that businesses would run internally. The modifications allow service providers to create multitenant VDI systems, and provide the hooks to create the self-service management portals that will be used by IT pros to administer their DaaS instance. Here are some things you should look for in a DaaS provider: Management Tools. For IT pros, the more configurable the system is, the better. You ll want to try out the tools for adding and managing users. Unless you ve completely given up on your IT operations, the ability to extend Active Directory to your DaaS users should be high on your priority list. Security. Security is always on the checklist for service offerings. To make the service practical, your service provider will use multitenant systems. That means your users will use the same servers and storage systems as other customers, so you ll want to know what their encryption scheme is and how they keep your data visible only to you. Most providers will have a chosen antivirus and antimalware system, some may provide options and some may even let you license your own products. Bringing in your own products will make sense if you are providing desktops to only a limited group of employees, but if you can live with the tools that the provider offers, it ll make the DaaS purchase that much more economical and take one more licensing burden off your plate. Applications. For almost every company, your users will need more applications than the provider offers. Some will offer a rich list of additional apps you can add in (for a price), but you ll also want to know what it will take to add in your own apps. File Backup/Restore. In addition, you ll be storing at least some of your data with the service provider, so ask about their backup policies. Can users request restoration of individual files or only the entire desktop image? Also check on the costs of restoration and the ability for IT administrators to access stored user data. You ll want to try out the tools for adding and managing users. Channel Partners Business Value Toolbox Desktops-as-a-Service 9 toolbox.channelpartnersonline.com

Connectivity. Almost all apps will run surprising well over modern network connections. A good DSL or cable modem connection will suit home and most remote office users. Private network connections might be desirable for larger offices, but an Internet connection may be just fine too. Bandwidth Required Per User PARAMETERS (MEDIUM WORKLOADS) XENDESKTOP BANDWIDTH XENDESKTOP WITH BRANCH REPEATER Office 43KBps 31KBps Internet 85KBps 38KBps Printing 553-593KBps 155-180KBps Flash Video 174KBps 128KBps Standard Windows Media Video 464KBps 148KBps High-Definition Windows Media Video 1,812KBps 206KBps Idle Minimal Minimal Source: Citrix Inc. Graphics. Some applications like streaming video or CADCAM or high-performance 3-D graphics aren t well-suited to the typical virtual desktop offering either from a service provider or in your own data center. The vendors have addressed this with protocol extensions intended specifically for high-performance graphics. Citrix calls its offer HDX, Microsoft s is RemoteFX and VMware s is PCoIP. Unless you need to use a truly graphics-intensive hosted application, you typically don t need these enhancements, so check it out before adopting them; they may cost you more. Disaster Recovery. Ask about the service provider s disaster recovery plans. What happens when they have a power outage? Do they have backup data centers, and are they located far enough away from each other not to be affected by a single natural disaster? If you know of a natural disaster in the recent past, ask about how the service provider performed better yet, ask their customers. Service Level Agreements. Finally, a word about SLAs. SLAs are important and they are an indication of the vendor s willingness to stand behind their service. But don t put too much stock in financial penalties accrued by the service provider for missed service. You don t want your $50 back, as it s a poor compensation for a day or two of lost user productivity. What you want is rock-solid availability. So sure, read the SLA, but it s even more important that you talk to other customers to find out how their experience has been. Flexibility. User performance isn t the only criterion for which you should check references. Can the vendor truly meet your needs to scale usage up and down? If you have a contractor that needs access for just a few months, can the provider easily accommodate that? How does it charge for partial months used? Talking with existing customers is a good way to learn about the quality of the service and to help you with a checklist of questions for the provider. Channel Partners Business Value Toolbox Desktops-as-a-Service 10 toolbox.channelpartnersonline.com

About The Author Art Wittmann, a freelance technology journalist, has more than 20 years of experience in high-tech publishing. Most recently, he was the director of InformationWeek Reports, where he oversaw both the business and content of InformationWeek s research and reports business. During his career, he also was editor-in-chief of Network Magazine, IT Architect and Network Computing. Prior to his work in IT journalism, Wittmann was associate director of the Computer Aided Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Business Value Toolbox Channel Partners Business Value Toolbox is designed to help solutions providers position their telecom and IT solutions as ways to create business value for their customers. This unique resource offers market information and marketing tools that agents, VARs, MSPs and systems integrators can use in their own go-to-market conversations and presentations. The Business Value Toolbox includes slides, infographics, videos, reports, calculators and more. toolbox.channelpartnersonline.com Channel Partners Business Value Toolbox Desktops-as-a-Service 11 toolbox.channelpartnersonline.com