If you’re thinking “Big deal, I already use Citrix!” that means you also pay Citrix Contract Support fee, Licensing fee and Citrix Software on top of Microsoft TS CAL. Microsoft RDS can do 95% of what you may need with less cost. It is also blazing fast using RDC7 client challenging Citrix’s ICA protocol performance – which is a big deal! For many years, the ICA protocol was the reason many large companies stayed away from Microsoft’s RDP connection-oriented protocol as it wasn’t as efficient or as fast as ICA was at presenting data. Application Virtualization was also previously an extremely expensive application solution that cost serious ducks in licensing, support and software purchases and contracts on top of consulting. However, with recent developments at Microsoft it would seem they have been in the lab working on these issues for some time. Their hosted platform solution called RemoteApp is the ’secret weapon’ for Network Administrators; its features, applications and low cost make it a valuable solution for many of our clients and may just be a great solution for your business too!

What is RemoteApp?

As part of the RDS Server role, it works by utilizing Microsoft Terminal Services and RDP to host applications installed on the server in user profiles. Applications are launched by RDC shortcut or .MSI file at the client PC, accessing server files in a remote session managed by the TS server with secure connections if needed. It is then presented through your built-in remote client in Windows XP and 7. Your application is hosted at the server and shows up on your desktop as a managed app run from either a shortcut distributed or an installer package that can create file associations for your users. It can also be accessed by a configured web portal with customizable access for users. By using Group Policy and RemoteApp Manager, you can string multiple servers together in Server farms with the same configuration and load balance the sessions. Another previously expensive enterprise solution! These services can also be hosted via an internally hosted setup in a secure IIS intranet site for even more value for sprawled employees on the road with access to a VPN. All this with integrated windows Active Directory security and you can setup to save your account info.

The Dance of IT Admin

With RemoteApp you’re able to go from a bare bones laptop – to having applications up and running in less than 30 seconds for each user, by distributing shortcuts to each PC. If updates are needed, a phased approach can be used to make this happen with less impact to your users.

Let’s say you had to roll out an application that was hosted on a RDS Server farm, with 4 servers, for 100 users. You can take one server down and the connections will automatically be load balanced to one of the other servers. Once it is updated, place it back into production and move to the next.

Pushing out apps using Group Policy is a good idea and a new machine can have a Start menu folder automatically created for launching the app. Centralized printing is also available for this solution, and works with any local printer no matter where the remote access takes place.

Who Would Benefit?

The possibilities for who would benefit from RemoteApp are endless; Hotel Clerk and Desks, Presentation Kiosks, Law Firms, Dental Offices, Government, Manufacturing and Health Care, just to name a few! Microsoft has done a fantastic job of packaging RemoteApp with the small and mid-size business in mind.

Imagine you are testing an accounting package that will virtualize and manage all the updates and deployment for your finance division. You can roll out RemoteAPP and test it with existing or new data with no impact to your users. Or perhaps you have a time logging application for a group of lawyers that timestamps your calls and conferences with clients. Lawyers can’t afford to waste 30 minutes to install a custom application with lots of add-ons and configuring with reboots; RemoteAPP helps keep time down and value up.

What if you work for a manufacturer of goods that needs a kiosk setup for factory stations – essentially a “set and forget” scenario with little configuration. RemoteAPP would be perfect for enabling a centralized configuration for Kiosk applications and touch screens.

If you are a salesman and need access to applications for critical contact information that you can’t do without, even if Viruses or malware attack, suddenly in almost any situation you can access the application from your web browser over the VPN. This can be done in a hotel, a client site, or even from home. You save your files in your network home directory safely on the RDS server.

It is easy to see the potential for RemoteApp’s added value and how it’s resolved multiple problems in the enterprise. With the proper planning this take on Application Virtualization can save you time, money and support downtime.

The future of cloud computing and the cornerstone of a successful and efficient IT practice is in creating scenarios where the application is separated from the PC desktop. The next time someone says to you “My Application does not work – can you reinstall it for me??” Remember RDS and let 360 Visibility help you plan for it so you can work smarter not harder!

Are a new set of cloud standards starting to form?

So it is with the developing shape of cloud computing. Definition is starting to emerge in the skies with the establishment of a set of standards seeking to best facilitate its adoption. Will they eliminate the confusion that currently shrouds the stuff? It’s a subject that’s scored a whack of attention from folks anxious to corral usability within manageable parameters. We take a look at some of the organizations trying to set the tone for this game changer.

Cloud Standards Customer Council.

This end-user advocacy group claims ownership of more than 100 members. It exists to complement existing cloud standards efforts. It seeks the production of a core set of client-driven requirements that lower the barriers for widespread cloud adoption by prioritizing key interoperability issues, including cloud management, reference architecture and hybrid clouds. It also hopes, with its existence, to facilitate the exchange of real-world stories that might provide illumination and insight into the practical application of this complicated new beast. A “resource hub” on the council’s website offers case studies in which users might find a useful reflection of themselves. The site also provides a compilation of industry news stories on the cloud, and cloud-based webcasts and podcasts can be accessed here. Notable members: Citigroup, Deere & Co., Costco Wholesale, North Carolina State University.

Open Data Center Alliance.

This Intel-backed standards organization was formed last year. Principles claim the membership represents more than $100 billion in annual IT spending power. This organization is behind the recent development of eight discreet “usage models,” designed to help IT managers in negotiations with cloud providers through the provision of various standardized templates. Indeed, this independent IT consortium is dedicated to having these usage models in widespread application in order to best help newcomers comprehensively appreciate the expected delivery of identified customer requirements based on open, industry-standard and multivendor solutions. Notable members: BMW, Marriott International, Shell and Deutsche Bank.

Cloud Security Alliance.

This not-for-profit, member-driven organization is committed to promoting the best practices for security assurance provision within cloud computing. Led by a broad coalition of industry practitioners, corporations and associations, the alliance is also keen to provide education on this subject for new users struggling with its dimensions. Its site helpfully lists upcoming events, such as the Cloud Security Alliance Conference 2011 (in Orlando, November 16 and 17). A blog features entries with such titles as, “Pass the Buck: Who’s Responsible for Security in the Cloud?” and “Understanding Best-in-Class Cloud Security Measures and How to Evaluate Providers.” It also provides a highly useful forum for the dissemination of the latest news, research developments and educational opportunities. Notable members: Coca-Cola, eBay, Reed Elsevier.

So as we move into the new paradigm keep an eye out for these cloud players; who knows, they may set the standards your organization has to meet.

The virtual law office is an entirely legitimate incarnation of the bricks-and-mortar standard. Its emerging presence has been attentively facilitated by all manner of technological developments.

What’s more, it’s a new take on an established tradition that is part of a growing national and global trend. In 2009, the Canadian Bar Association estimated that there are virtual lawyers in almost every province today. And the American Bar Association’s 2010 Legal Technology Survey reported that some 14% of lawyers currently operate a virtual law office.

Benefits of Taking Your Law Practice Virtual

In the virtual model, lawyers buck the expensive modular furniture and original oil paintings in favour of an overhead-free model. This permits increased autonomy, economy, flexibility and even environmental responsibility while delivering the same services to clients. Here, lawyers conduct their business inside a secure electronic environment, freeing them from the imperative to operate a physical office.

The benefits of making such a transition are considerable. Paramount among them are the slashed expenses the virtual law office enjoys.

This reality translates into the firm’s ability to take on more work and even pass on their savings to clients. Valkyrie Law Group, a virtual law office based in BC, was reportedly able to cut its fees by about 20% when it recently made the choice to go virtual.

Systems Essentials for Virtual Lawyers

Those lawyers considering practising their profession similarly need to undertake certain considerations outside of those associated with running a traditional practice. Among them? Obligations surrounding insurance requirements, document storage, and — most vital of all — the security and confidentiality of the delicate client data they’re handling.

To that end, a virtual-trending lawyer needs to secure a serious-minded practice management application or collaborative workspace, which will give him peace of mind in his rootless new endeavour.

This resident software needs to include the ability to cover off such essentials as calendaring, time tracking, expense tracking, billing and invoice generation.

SaaS an Option for Lawyers

Or he can explore software as a service (SaaS) setup, where software and data reside on a third party’s servers, outside the bounds of a firm’s firewall.

This choice requires a level of due diligence that might not be necessary with structured practice management systems, as server integrity needs to be paramount.

Ideally, reliable encryption tools enable attorneys to share messages and documents with their clients securely via the same kind of security systems that govern online banking, financial and other government-sprung transactions.

Choice of Systems Provider Critical

Still, professionals need not worry unduly about taking this technologically-enabled route. Cloud computing has advanced dramatically, each new development making it easier for professional service operations to save and manage data across geographic locations securely and efficiently.

Indeed, providers worth their salt, like 360 Visibility, can promise even more security than that associated with installed software.

With the right partner, a virtual lawyer can be virtually flawless.

Copping to a lack of resources or expertise and seeking support with your juggling act is always a show of strength. Even if the office into which most of your high-flying orbs tumble is that of the chief information officer.

Wanted: Technological Expertise

Most small businesses don’t have a CIO. Indeed, many are blessed to be able to lay claim to an on-staff resource who possesses any genuine understanding of technology at all. In this expert’s absence, dealing with technology audits, staying on top of software developments and operating a company whose technology goals are in concert with its business goals can be daunting in the extreme.

Unable to upgrade infrastructures or adopt new stuff fast enough to keep pace with technology’s progress, and without the benefit of a staffer who’s got a grip on technology’s strategic role in their firm, these guys plod on.

It’s a call for outsourced information technology expertise if ever there was one. So you can’t afford to take a full-time CIO on staff? You still need the technology-informed management expertise that comes with the job.

The Benefits of Going Virtual

The concept of a virtual CIO is smart as hell. Here, you’ve got a technically-ripped resource that draws nothing from your benefits pool but is always on call for rescue and recovery.

More than that, he can align your company’s corporate strategy with its IT planning, set the place up with appropriate architecture and responsibly maintain valuable IT investments. He can act as a liaison between the C-suite and IT. And he can see to training in-house individuals responsibly, so the firm’s productivity losses from system downtime are minimized.

Ignore IT at Your Peril

Information technology leaves fingerprints across all aspects of a business — strategic and financial — and management ignores this at their peril. Nobody knows the precise rate of failure for software projects, though different sources peg it at somewhere between 35%-70%.

While technological failings bear some of the blame for these breakdowns, so too does an organizing force that can deliver on a corporate vision’s promise — inside time and financial constraints — through the clever application of appropriate technology. Or lack thereof.

Work Smart with Outsourced Services

By retaining an outside resource to manage and direct IT smartly, organizations enjoy a cost-effective technology strategy without the expensive overheads associated with a permanent senior technology hire.

Outsourced CIO services, like those on offer from 360 Visibility, help companies bridge the gap between IT and business. They centralize IT efforts, maximize today’s technological advancements, oversee day-to-day IT management and provide strategic IT decision-making prowess.

And all for 30%-50% less than it would cost to add a full-time professional to the staff.

At 360, we have the skills and expertise to assist your organization with all aspects of technology, from strategic IT decision-making right through ongoing, day-to-day IT management. Tap our experience, energy and leadership skills, and enjoy the addition of a virtual executive to your staff who can help keep every last one of your balls aloft.

According to the Journal, and Gartner Inc.’s technology conference in Orlando, Fla., upon which the story was reporting, virtualization is enjoying attention from the business world for the way it offers managers the means to stretch their dollars further by employing existing resources more profitably. Our studies demonstrate that companies that virtualized increased the utilization of their existing hardware to 80%, a remarkable spike from 10-15%.

Virtualization, strictly speaking, describes the creation of a virtual (rather than an actual) version of something like, say, an operating system or a server. In computerspeak, we’re talking about a layer of software providing the illusion of an actual machine, where none in fact exists.

The technology first made a splash decades ago in the mainframe game, furnishing administrators with new command over their costly processing power. Today, virtualization is making serious inroads in the network, storage and server virtualization realms.

Virtualization can help companies to reduce their IT management expenses and shrink their dependence on the human resources that would otherwise have been tied up with the administration of multiple applications and operating systems on multiple servers.

With virtualization, users can tap a single phantom server to run multiple applications and operating systems independently. On top of that, administrators can use virtualization to shift workloads from one virtual workstation to another.

It’s also a boon to a company’s ability to prioritize its business activities and maximize server resources by facilitating the fluid transfer of tasks from one virtual workstation to another.

But above all, virtualization aids business owners to do more with less.

Network virtualization is probably the biggest site of activity in this field. Just as adding a partition to your hard drive effectively gives you two discrete hard drives, network virtualization splits the network’s available bandwidth into independent channels, each of which is affiliated with a particular server or device.

With storage virtualization, multiple network storage devices join forces (or at least appear to), and offer a central point of control.

And server virtualization just means performing a clever bit of trompe l’oeil on all your servers to make them appear a single, simple one.

At 360, we’ve helped countless businesses clients take lucrative control of their IT infrastructure and reach their full potential with virtualization. We’ve showed them how to streamline those businesses processes that are adjacent but often disconnected, and to reduce the downtime that plagues systems marked by a tangle of different inputs. And, more than that, we’ve slashed company hardware and operating costs by up to 50% and saved more than $3,000 annually for every server workload virtualized.

The Journal article reports that, last year, there were 5.8 million virtualized servers in the United States; Gartner predicts that number to rise ten-fold by 2012. As for us at 360 and our readiness to service this onslaught, well, we’re already there. Virtually.