Cloud Services Blog & Newsroom

Champion Solutions Group recently hosted a webinar featuring our newest cloud offering, Champion Desktop Cloud.  Below are a selection of some frequently asked questions along with their answers.  We hope you find them informative:

Q: How do local printers and network printers work with your solution?
A: Both will work with our solution just like physical desktops.

Q: Is run in a dedicated or multi-tenant environment in the cloud?
A: The Desktone Cloud is run in a multi-tenanted mgmt and networking infrastructure, however each customer ‘s desktops run on a dedicated hypervisor server to comply with Microsoft licensing requirements.

Q: Is this a public cloud, or is this a secure private cloud?  I am concerned about security.
A: Champion Desktop Cloud is a public cloud that can optionally use point to point VPN to create an isolated network for a customer which is only accessible from within their corporate network.

Q: Is the storage share by multi tenants? 
A: Yes, VM Storage is shared across tenants though tenants can only use their storage portions.

Ever sit in a room with your IT department and give them a list of things you wish you could do with your CRM, only to have them tell you it's not possible.  I know we did!  But then Champion migrated over to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and all of those things were not only possible, they were easy to accomplish.  Below are the top 5 things we always wanted but never had until we found Dynamics.  We're pretty sure you'll agree.

11/7/2011
By Danny Allan, CTO - Desktone

The personal computing desktop is something that is both new and old.  It was only 30 years ago or so that I used my first Commodore VIC-20, followed shortly thereafter by the Commodore 64 and the Tandy TRS-80.  (The games on those computers were awesome – Load “$” ,8,1)  In the history of industry and automation, the personal desktop is a relatively new device that has radically changed the life of many of the workforce.  However, in the history of computing, the traditional desktop model is archaic.  Almost everything else has been evolving toward a virtualized cloud-hosted computing paradigm.

The benefits of a cloud hosted technology service have been widely publicized: availability from anywhere, consumption elasticity, operational expenditure model, pay for value and a number of other items.  However, it is evident that one type of computing service more than any other can help bring the organization towards the cloud hosted service model and deliver the value that the cloud is able to provide: the desktop.

The desktop is complex – and even more so as the world becomes more interconnected and interactive.  Applications, data and user profile are commonly assembled and built from multiple locations – whether it be a corporate file server, Internet application, web-based browser favorites repository or a cloud based back-up service.  The desktop has evolved into a mash-up of trusted and un-trusted data and sources.  Moving to the cloud with a priority on the desktop helps to solve a number of problems and drives the business towards a more efficient business model.

Firstly, the virtual desktop enables the centralized management and control that is required with the desktop of today and tomorrow.  Running the desktop in a known environment is the first step towards a better security model.  The allows the IT staff to not only control the trusts and relationship between the desktop and third parties, but allows for continuous monitoring of the desktop for business compliance.

Secondly, the complexity of the desktop environment can be “outsourced” to the cloud.  The desktop requires a number of adjacent abilities such as desktop maintenance, data storage, backup, identity management, collaboration tools, messaging and many other standard business services.  All of these services are offered by the managed service provider.  While cloud services such as these are difficult to establish in a cloud-to-consumer model, using these managed services in a cloud-to-cloud model is not only simple, but brings increased economics as they are more repeatable for the provider and lower costs.  It also allows for consolidated billing and IT expenditure.  The whole world of desktop engineering becomes more easily outsourced at a better cost point for the business.

Thirdly, moving to cloud hosted virtual desktops offers flexibility for the desktop.  Given the explosive growth of tablets, ChromeBooks, mobile devices and the consumerization of IT, no one is sure what a desktop will look like two or three years from now.  Buying back into the cycle of physical desktops is making a 3-4 commitment to a model that may soon be outdated or detrimental to the business.  Moving to the cloud for the desktop allows the business flexibility to enable the employee without locking in.

Lastly and most critically, business success is about people.  As is commonly heard in the workplace, “Cash is King”, and investing limited capital resources on a non-strategic asset is never a wise decision.  Enabling employees to do their work more productively by investing in projects of strategic value allows the business to not only grow, but thrive.

It is clear that technical and computing resources are making the migration toward the cloud.  The benefits of this are readily apparent and already enabling business success.  Given the relative importance of the desktop to the business, it only makes smart business sense that the desktop is prioritized in this technology evolution.

Ok, show of hands for those that think having Software Assurance tied to your Microsoft licensing is too expensive.  One, two, three, four…ok, lots of you.  But have you actually considered what you’re really saving by adding Software Assurance? 

Let’s look at Reason #1:

"Can you provide me pricing to move from vSphere 4 x to vSphere 5?” That’s the question that a lot of my customers are asking me. My answer to them: “There is no charge as long as you have active maintenance.”

With all the discussion on licensing changes, it’s no wonder I get these requests. But it remains the same as it always has been, just one of the best reasons to keep your maintenance (support and subscription) up-to-date is to get the rights to free version upgrades. Now if you’re looking at upgrading to a different edition, then that’s another story, and there is a cost to that. It’s not as expensive as buying new, but once again, you can only upgrade the edition if you have active maintenance.

A good tip to remember when a renewal is due is to make sure that all of your maintenance is co-termed. There’s nothing more confusing, hard to manage and aggravating as dealing with multiple renewals every year for the same product set.

Recently, I read the article below from Tom Shinder, a Principal Knowledge Engineer with Microsoft.  It is the first good roles and responsibilities description I have seen for Private Cloud Personnel.  I think anyone who is managing a datacenter today must consider what the jobs of tomorrow will be for the next generation data center.  How are you going to groom your current personnel for tomorrow’s demands? What career paths are you offering your staff? Is your HR manager keen to what the IT staffing needs will be in the future?  I think Tom Shinder did a great job of describing these positions.   After you read his article below I think you might want to take a hard look at your current job descriptions and how they might change.

Till next time.

Cheers! 

Today I had a meeting with a VP of Sales at one of our mid market clients.  I asked him how he views his IT department.  You know what he said?  He told me that he doesn't even talk to IT anymore.  He said that all of his sales reps are using the Microsoft CRM cloud application we sold him; and that if he needs anything, he calls our support line. He also uses Microsoft Office 365 for all email, calendaring, and web meetings.  I then asked about keeping the sales team’s laptops running, etc.  He said that they now let the sales team use the BYOC method (Bring Your Own Computer) to work.  Many are using slates, iPads and tablets. Their company gives them a stipend very similar to a phone stipend; and they can use their own “computer” to access almost everything they need  in the cloud.  

Is this the new normal? Is the IT Department dead? Or at least dead as we know it today?  We have migrated more than 100 companies to some form of cloud computing, and have 125 other companies in our pipeline.   Champion proactively manages hundreds of servers and desktops; and backs up numerous petabytes of storage. The reality is that for the first time IT departments have real competition; and business owners and business line managers have a choice, and no longer need to be held captive by their IT departments.

As the global economy struggles through a slow and painful recovery, governments around the world are wasting billions of dollars on unnecessary information technology. This problem has worsened in recent years because of what I call the “I.T. cartel.” This powerful group of private contractors encourages reliance on inefficient software and hardware that is expensive to acquire and to maintain.

In one particularly egregious example of waste, the Defense Department last year pulled the plug on a personnel system devised by Northrop Grumman after spending approximately $850 million on it in 10 years. 

When I joined the Obama administration as the chief information officer, we quickly discovered vast inefficiencies in the $80 billion federal I.T. budget. We also saw an opportunity to increase productivity and save costs by embracing the “cloud computing” revolution: the shift from hardware and software that individuals, businesses and governments buy and then maintain themselves, to low-cost, maintenance-free services that are based on the Internet and run by private companies.

Read full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/opinion/tight-budget-look-to-the-cloud.html?_r=2&emc=eta1