End of PC and beginning of new Era??!!?

Last week there have been lot of posts there in the blogs which were talking about the Post PC Era or End of PC... Those people who were talking about end of PC or Post PC era just forget that even to design a next generation of Tablet or to write the next generation of Tablet OS we need to have a Strong PC out there.. (At least for now - you can not do the designing or coding using the tablet)..

Also when we talk about “Cloud Computing” it is the term being used by every one in the Industry..but if we look at the back end solutions it is more are less remains same.

There are very few companies who have established a good Enterprise business model for “SaaS” and in “DaaS” I would say there is no company there around. This is mainly because there is no common definition / parameters for a Cloud computing platform just like what we have for PC’s / Thinclients or Tablets.. Every software / Hardware vendor would like to have their say on Cloud.. (VMWARE / Citrix / Red Hat / Ubuntu etc.)

The smaller players there out in the market are basically “Technology Boutique's” (If they use their own tools for some functions) or ("VAR's) who primarily users VMWARE / Citrix as a basic tool (Most of them use VMWARE) or few other software and Hardware products and work out and design the platform for the customers. Bigger players are basically trying to build a solution basis on their current Hardware solution stacks.. (Blades / SAN / Switches etc.) which can work with VMWARE / Citrix or Red Hat or other platforms. The back end DB would be the same which is there already..

Considering this the actual innovation on Cloud is happening in the Consumer space with the right business model.. (Sky drive / Appstores / Ubuntu one / Cloud Drive / different Musical stores etc..). Here is where customers are paying for different apps and using it as and when needed.. (with proper billing / support mechanism in place)..

For me the actual cloud set up could be the scenario like this.. – Using any OS from any device once you log in and u will get u r set of applications and data with your preferred settings anywhere.. in way it should free of you from depending on any OS / Device.. Google was going on to this but somewhere on the way they have changed and are going more of having their own set up.. (OS / Hardware etc.)..(Imagine a set up where an user can use any Mobile / Laptop / PC running any of the OS from any vendor.. Log in and access all his data / applications and do his work without any challenge.. that would be the ideal and best cloud environment.)

This would be possible by not centralizing everything but working out a Hybrid innovative solutions..which can help bridge the GAP between an Enterprise / Consumer set ups..

Any solution which comes on these lines would be a bigger hit.. iPhone or iPad would not have been successful if it does not provide the enterprise mail connectivity for the users along with the Host of other applications..

Lets wait and see who is coming up with a solution to bridge this GAP.. Till then the Hype will be there and every one will say their product is cloud enabled.. :-) :-)

And the answer for the End of PC Question would be - The Access devices will certainly be there.. may be in a different form with different specifications..

Desktop Virtualization - Options..

2. Shared Computing

Shared computing is another form of Server Based Computing and this solution can be used when there are very limited no of users in a department / organization and all can be connected to the Host PC with in certain distance.

In shared computing solution one PC will be loaded with the required set of applications and the same will be shared for a max. of 10 users. This either uses USB Hub or PCI card based devices for communication. The distance from the server to the client machines are restricted based on the technology being used.

Currently HP is offering Shared computing solution based on USB and N Computing is offering the solution based PCI Card. Microsoft supports shared computing solution using Windows Multipoint Server 2011 operating system.

3. Cloud Computing:

In Cloud computing all the applications / data base / mails everything is hosted in a central location with only the access device at the client desk. The user would need an Internet connectivity to connect to the hosted applications and work on. The up time and back up will be maintained by the hosting company. The users might have to pay an monthly / early fee to the hosting company for maintaining their data and applications.

In this solution the users will not have a dedicated servers / storage. All the applications and storage space will be shared and will be hosted in a central location.

Many of the private companies are now going in for private clouds now a days. The classic example are the outsourcing (BPO / KPO) jobs happening across the world. Where the database and application (Mostly web enabled) is hosted at the central location at the client location and the workers accessing the applications and completing their job from the vendor location.

Google and Amazon have come out with Public cloud. In this any individual / SMB customer can have an account with them and get their application service from them. Google has tied up with Salesforce.com for providing CRM and Sales force automation tools on the cloud computing.

Recently Los Angels city council has moved their operations to Cloud computing with Google and this may be the beginning of cloud adaption in big time by the Federal and Corporate in the coming days.

Desktop Virtualization - Options..

1. Desktop Consolidation Solution:

There are different solutions in this area and each fits in to different set of users.

Requirement	VDI	Blade Workstations (BWS)	SBC
3D Rendering applications
Applications that require graphic cards
Need the most powerful CPUs		ü
Need only basic Office Applications	ü	ü
Need controlled access to sensitive data	ü	ü
Shift workers who share PCs	ü	ü
Large BUs with common image requirements	ü	ü
Require the use of < 3 applications	ü		ü
Limited function, task-based workers	ü		ü
Application delivery for newly acquired organizations	ü		ü
Need to run different type of dialer / security applications	ü	ü

Blade Workstation from HP are ideal for users who need very high processing power (Dedicated Processor / Memory / Graphics / Storage) with highest security required for the Applications and Data.

VDI is ideal for users who would need to have their own application and data environment. The users need not be power users and they can run their application in the shared environment. (Processor / Memory). Vendors like VMWARE / Citrix are offering VDI solutions of their own. The key to success of VDI implementation relies on designing the server and storage.

SBC is for the users who can work on a completely shared environment. In this solution the applications will be loaded on to a Terminal Server and multiple users can log in to users and work independently on the applications. The users can connect to the server using LAN / WAN. There is no distance limitation on this solution.

The solution has to be suggested considering the user requirement – both immediate and long term.

Desktop Virtualization - Options..

The different alternative computing Solutions available are:

1. Desktop Consolidation Solution

- Server Based Computing Solution (SBC) – MS Terminal Services / Citrix / Ericom

- Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) – Citrix / VMWARE / Red Hat

- Blade Workstation Solution - HP

2. Shared Computing

- HP

- N Computing

3. Cloud Computing

- Google Apps

- Salesforce.com

- Amazon.com

- Microsoft Azure

- Few other players are entering the market

4. Application Specific Terminals

- Thinclients based on Intel Atom / AMD Sempron and VIA Processors

- Thinclients with Windows Embedded and Embedded Linux OS

We will go through each of the solutions in the coming pages;

Desktop Virtualization - Options..

Publish Post

The above picture gives the details of different solutions available. The solution for each organization is totally decided by the requirement of the users. Now with Web 3.0 the user needs or how they access the applications have changed completely.

The users can be classified under the following categories:

- Power Users

- Knowledge Users

- Task Users

- Mobile Users

Desktop Virtualization - Options..

From the time desktop PCs began to appear within the corporate / Federal environment in significant numbers, IT departments have been struggling to get their arms around distributed desktop and application management. The work of managing and deploying software updates to the various desktop operating systems and associated application software has required a huge amount of IT time and budget. In the early 1980s, the first electronic software distribution (ESD) solutions were introduced to help ease this challenge. For the past 20 years, the industry has continued to struggle with the issue of how to better deploy, maintain, and manage distributed desktop resources. The desktop management story has continued to unfold with both successes and failures ever since.

One early alternative that IT organizations implemented to varying degrees and with varying success has been thin client computing. More recently, with the advent of server, desktop, and application virtualization technologies, new solutions have emerged as alternatives to traditional desktop and application deployment methods. In fact, these new solutions are alternatives to traditional desktops and applications themselves. With these emerging technologies has come a great deal of confusion about the different technologies and approaches, how the various approaches work, the available vendor solutions for each, and how to select the right solutions for the mix of use cases within a specific organization. There is also

confusion about what these solutions really include and what it takes to implement them, as well as confusion around variations in language used to describe the solutions and features.

For example, even the basic term desktop virtualization is used to mean a variety of different things. Is desktop virtualization done on the desktop or on the server? Does desktop virtualization include applications? Is server virtualization required for desktop virtualization? How does desktop virtualization relate to application virtualization? What’s the difference between application virtualization and application streaming? And do I really need to go for a desktop virtualization?

The following posts on this topic will try to give more inputs on the different technologies available and will also try to recommend the technology / solution suitable for certain set users or departments.

The following factors are considered when preparing this;

• The critical business and technical challenges faced by today’s IT departments and user communities
• The various types of use cases for desktop and application delivery
• The technical architectures and solutions that are available and emerging to address deploying
• desktops and applications
• Key considerations when selecting and implementing solutions
• A high-level overview of the key vendor solutions, along with matrices on currently available
• products and key technical features

Virtual Story - 6

Today’s story is not about success story but to about the key challenges when we go in for the Desktop Virtualization and few thoughts of how we can address. I got this idea when I met up with one of our partner owner manager in the PSG Sales Odyssey Training. During the discussions, when I checked up on the VDI solution acceptance and the challenges etc. the partners response was that most of his customer buy the solution Technically and very few go to the final stage of commercial closure.

Now this is the challenge on any solution business, and this is very much there in the Desktop Virtualization Business. Most of our customers wanted to go with Desktop Virtualization and do the complete POC to test the solution but many of them are not be able to move ahead with the commercials closure. The basic reason mentioned by the partner was that the IT team was not able to convince the top management on the Initial acquisition cost of the solution presented.

I am sure most of us might have faced the same challenge. This situation can be addressed if we understood the clear difference between “Desktop Virtualization” and “Server Virtualization” and suggest the solution accordingly to the customer. It is also to do with the designing the solution basis on the user requirement.

The below are the basic components which comprises the Desktop Virtualization solution;

Data Center Components:

- Server (Rack / Blade Server)

- VDI Software (VMWARE / Citrix / Hyper - V)

- Connection Broker (Built in VMWARE / Citrix / Third party / Direct connection)

- Storage (NAS / SAN)

Client Component:

- Thinclient (Linux Embedded / Windows Embedded / Mobile Thinclient)

The solution for the customer can be designed basis on their actual requirement and basis on the total no of user. Basis on the user parameters and the requirements the solution design could vary for users with an organization. (This is similar to in the earlier days – in SBC – LAN users simply used MS Terminal Services only and Citrix was deployed only for WAN users..)Just to give a perspective – Most of the solutions are designed considering V-Motion / Xen – Motion functionality for all the users but having this making this as an option for users might have a huge impact on the solution BOM as well as the final delivery of the solution. Like this the entire solution can be customized.

We have done few successful implementation considering the above facts and we can help you address your customers requirements as well

Client Virtualization Stage 2 - Early Steps

Towards the end of Client Virtualization Stage 1, a lot of things happened.. and these were calling in for an innovations.. the are listed below..

- Many Government Departments were seriously looking at Alternate Computing platforms..

- Most of the Government Departments were looking at going ahead with Opensource

- ITES / BPO market in India was picking up in India and new companies were seriously entering the business..

- Government Funded Education Programs where being more streamlined (SSA / ICT)..

Around this time, i was having a challenge on convincing the R&D team (HCL) and coming out with an innovative Linux Image and solutions.. This was happening between years 2005 and 2006. In this period there were no major break for the client virtualization solutions..

I joined HP around 2006. This was a total new environment there.. R&D is not located in India.. and no customization can be done.. The device was basically designed for SBC solutions.. that was time HP started focusing on the Client virtualization business..

Every challenge opens up a new opportunity.. For an Linux client i had the below basic frame work in Mind and was looking at the opportunity to make this a live..

Basic Frame work for Linux Thinclient:

- Full Fledged Browser

- Open office

- Adobe Reader

- Photo File viewer

- Basic Movie Player

The idea is, if we have these basic things then we can eliminate the requirement for a central server and the total solution will become cost effective..The biggest challenge is to accommodate all this with in a 256 MB Flash memory.. (This whole size should be less than 100 MB)..

At that point of time, Red Hat India Development center was looking at focusing on the Embedded development and Mr. Satish was leading the team there.. we had a meeting with the team and one Mr. Ashok was the project engineer dedicated for this project. He was very innovative and was willing to accept the challenge..

Around that Mr. Suresh Kumar (Then Sales Manager - Education Vertical - Bangalore) has come out with a requirement from a college. The college wanted to set up a browsing center for their students. They wanted to have 100 nodes for this purpose. All the other vendors were there with Regular SBC solution.. The customer was reluctant because of two reasons..

- The cost of SBC solution was high

- Redundancy option - If one server is down then 50 users will not be able to work..

Along with Suresh we had a detailed discussion with the customer, then we suggested the customer that we will give the basic requirements on the Embedded OS only (Open office, browser, Zip file viewer, Adobe reader, Flash player etc.). Customer liked the concept as this eliminated the requirement of the server at the location.. But wanted to have the demo immediately..

We worked with Red Hat Bangalore team and got the demo set up ready in Flat two days time.. This was the worlds first embedded Linux OS with all built in.. slowly this has became a main stream in the market..

This also opened up a all new market.. where we can target the customers who earlier were not looking at Client virtualization because of the over all costing..(Servers / storage etc.) and the redundancy part..

This small step and an innovation has opened up a Stage 2 in a big way..

More to come..

Virtual Story - 5

Today’s virtual story is not about a particular customer but about a small partner who was successful by concentrating on solutions. In a way success of this partner also helped us to realize the true potential of the solution.. J J The solution is HP Multiseat solution. The latest of the Desktop Virtualization solution HP Came out with last year. This solution very innovative and has been worked out on making enterprise class solution to Education customers at an affordable cost.

Virtual Story 5:

I met this partner around May’2010. That was the time we just launched HP Multiseat solution for the Education customers, and we have been doing Road shows and partner training programs across the country. This partner attended one of our Channel partner sales Training. After the sales training he had many doubts about the solution and was asking clarifications on each and every single point. Once the partner was convinced on the solution then he was discussing on what he wanted to do for his region.

After a week’s time the partner came out on his own with an EDM, highlighting the Multiseat solution, and started sending this out to all the focused customers in his market. The partner was a small partner and was just started his business. He then started doing around and showing the demonstration of the product to his focused customers. The partner selected his customers very well, that he focused on the Polytechnic Colleges, Schools and the Engineering colleges in his region.

The below are the Key points highlighted on Multiseat Solution:

- Double the no seats on the same budget..

- HP Multiseat solution Reduce Electricity Costs by close to 90%..

- HP Multiseat solution helps ease of Manageability

- Manageability becomes easier with HP Multiseat Solution

- Enables the customer to go with a complete Legal Solution

With his focused campaign the partner could do close 350 + nodes among 8 Institutions in his region in a span of 4 months. This is really a good achievement for the partner as he not only could able break in to key accounts but he could also manage to secure his accounts with the solution selling approach.

After Launching Multiseat Solution is last year, within one year we have 150 + Institutions across the country are using the solution now and are benefited with the solution in a big way. HP Multiseat solution is very simple to install and manage and this proven as 90% of the installations are in non metro locations. We now have Multiseat customers in locations like Jammu, Varanasi to Sangli to Erode to Shillong.

Client Virtualization Stage 1 - Key milestones

In this post just wanted to highlight on the key milestones on the Desktop Virtualization in the Stage 1. These helped to ramp up the business and set the stage for the second phase of Client Virtualization in India..

- The fist major milestone for Thinclients on E-Governance came from Tamil Nadu State Government. The Thinclients were based on Windows CE and connected to servers with Windows Terminal Servers. This gave the much needed confidence boosting in the early days that Thinclient solution can be implemented sucessfully at multiple locations with out much issues.

- The seond mile stone was of the Thinclient Adaption by Karnataka High court. Karnataka High Court 2000 + Devices and that was one of biggest Thinclient orders WW at that point of time. The Thinclients were based Embedded Linux and connecting to Windows Terminal Servers. This also gave the much needed confidence of using Embedded Linux for the SBC deployments and also set the stage for a revolution on the Embedded OS. (Even now Embedded Linux are ruling the entry level client market).

- The Third milestone was of Thinclient adaption by NTPC and SAIL. They are the major PSU's and understood the value of Desktop Virtualization in the early stages. Of this NTPC has gone ahead and made is as mandate of going ahead with Thinclients for selected set of users. They were using Linux Embedded Thinclients connected to the Windows Terminal Server. This was critical as major PSU's adapting Thinclients helped convince other customer in the market and many other SMB customers and Manufacturing companies started adapting Thinclients slowly.

- The Fourth Milestone was of LIC adapting Thinclients in a big way. This deployment was with Embedded Linux with a local browser and connecting to the local Linux servers. This also made the entry point for VIA processors in the Embedded Thinclient Market and till now VIA is ruling the market. This also highlighted the fact that if the solution is not designed and executed properly it will fail in the market. (LIC did not bought Thinclients after initial two lots).

- The Fifth and the key milestone was of Punjab National Bank adapting Thincilents. This opened up a all new market for Embedded Thinclients in Indian Market. They were using Thinclients based on Windows Embedded XP and was used in their Core Banking Environment. The solution designing and execution of the solution was done flalwlessly and the implementation was very much sucessfull at PNB. Almost 8+ Years now and PNB is buying Thinclients even now.. (I am happy on this point as i designed the solution and also lead the key project team which lead the implementation across the country.. :-) :-)).

After this around 2004-2006 there was not much developments on the solution and there are much breaks with major accounts.. This lead to stagnation in the market as there were few customers especially in the Banking vertical(PNB / OBC, SBI etc.) were buying in bulk and the other major market (Federal Business) was yet to adapt in a big way..

Around this time lot of thought process was going on with the new solutions.. i had few points in my mind at that time and really felt that these will certainly the change the perception on Thinclients and can help change the market.. The below were the key points i was discussing with my R&D collegues in HCL..

- Having an Embedded Linux Thinclients with inbuilt open office and full fledged browser and Mail client

- Local printer support (Cups and other drivers)

- LDAP Support for Active Directory Interaction

- Multi Lingual support (MLT / GIST) with in the Embedded Linux

These were key thought process which were going on and i was finding it difficult to convince our R&D team then to look at in to this.. The main reason was that there was no fixed business or volume commitment which you can give to put on that much of efforts.. (The market was created later.. :-)) and devoting on this means moving out of the regular development which were happening at that point of time..

At this point of time.. the slowly the Client Virtualization Stage 2 started.. Next post will see the client virtualization stage 2.. :-) :-)

Virtual Story - 4

Today’s story is not about Desktop Virtualization but wanted to share a real story which gives details on the happening in the “Retail Industry”. This came to my mind when I was doing my regular shopping last week in a Retail outlet just opposite my house. Many of us might have seen that small Mom and Pop stores across our street are going in for a tremendous change in the recent past. I also had the same thoughts and I was discussing the same with the owner of the Retail outlet. Luckily he had time to share his views and his own story.

This story is more about the happenings there in the market place and end of the story we can see how HP Can help these entrepreneurs on achieve their goals..

Now to the story.. J J

Virtual Story 4:

About 10 years back there were not many residential Flats there in the area. Only few Individual houses with couple of Factories covering the entire stretch. Only two local growsery shops were there serving to the customers there. These were typical Mom and Pop stores managed by the owners and were totally dependent on the local residents in the areas. There were very little to do. Out of the two shops Shop A was little bigger and served to most of the customers (Mainly the bulk orders) and Shop B was a small one and served to all the retail purchase for the customers. The owner of Shop B was looking for the ways to improve his business but there were very little he could do to improve their share of market as the customers were fixed.

Then came the change. Two new real estate projects came on the area. Shop A was not interested on the new projects happening as there was no business coming as such from them as they were still under construction and would take 2-3 years to come up. The owner of the Shop B looked at this as an opportunity and he started working on identifying the details of how many houses will be coming up and what would be the profile of the people coming in etc. This helped him to come out with a plan to address the expected market. It was around that time Big Bazar and other LFR’s were making news in a big way.

The shop owner decided that if he really wanted to grow his business he need to make the investments properly to address his future customers requirements. Considering this he came out with a plan and slowly converted his small shop in to big Retail outlet over the three years’ time. When the Flats were occupied by the residents they found his shop more attractive than the Shop A and most of the people moved here and now in the area only one shop is there. The shop now has got 300 + Regular customer who buys on monthly basis (Between 1-5 of every month) and there are another 200+ customer who buys between 5^th to 15^th of every month. This is over and above the regular retail customers.J J

On discussing with the Owner other than the story he highlighted the key points he considered right from the beginning (Normally most of the people miss these points).

- He invested on the Technology right from the beginning

- Technology Included Billing machines Barcode scanners / printers etc.

- A Retail software to be used along with the Billing machine

How does the Investment in Technology Helps him in his Business:

- The software helps him to manage the inventory status and reduce any excess inventory there in the store

- It helps him to identify the buying patterns of his customers (Seasonal Buying) and plan his inventory accordingly

- It helps him to manage his regular customers and offer them loyalty points and communicate with the regularly (Do up sell when ever needed)

- Doing all this he is able to maintain a positive cash flow throughout the year (Which is very important in any business)

This story happened about 3 years back then the Retail solutions were at nascent stage. Now in every town there will be a similar story – may be a local Jeweller wanted to make difference on his business or a local small format Fashion shop wanted to make a difference.. (Not only attracting new customers but retaining the existing customers).