Last week HTG had the pleasure of being one of only a small number of UK based Microsoft Gold Partners to be invited to the first global Technical Airlift for the newly launched Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) in Seattle, and what a week it was.
Rather than wax-lyrical in a single post, and as there is so much to share, over the coming weeks we’ll publish a series of articles covering everything from the basics of what WVD is, it’s benefits, licensing requirements, how to deploy it and more.
But for now, here’s a very quick summary of just what WVD is….
WVD is not just Microsoft’s new Azure-hosted DaaS service, that is to say, they haven’t just taken Windows 10 and made it available as an IaaS VM, that offering has been available for a while, instead what Microsoft has done in creating WVD is take Windows 10 and for the first time layer into it a true multi-session experience meaning you no longer have to deploy and maintain a VM-per-user or make do with ‘Windows Server with a desktop skin’ based environment – with WVD, Windows 10 now includes the Remote Desktop Service (RDS) that has underpinned multi-session environments, such as Citrix XenApp and more recently Virtual Apps and Desktops for years (pause, more on Citrix+WVD later) – this means you can deploy one or more pooled Windows 10 WVD instances from either the Azure Marketplace or build your own gold build with your standard app stack pre-installed on an appropriately sized VM and have those presented to your users via either the newly developed dedicated clients for Windows, Mac, Linux and Mobile OS’s or via any HTML 5 supported web browser.
But that’s not all, Windows 10 WVD now includes the award-winning and much applauded FSLogix profile management technologies for an optimised Office 365 ProPlus experience, but more on that in later posts!
Here are the topic’s we’ll cover in the upcoming series:
- Windows 10 Multi-Session In-Depth
- Licensing Requirements for WVD
- Correct VM Sizing
- Location and Latency, and how to get the best experience
- WVD and FSLogix Profile Management In-Depth
- WVD Identity Management – Active Directory and Azure AD
- App Assure for Windows 10 application compatibility testing
- App Attach – A new way of managing apps
- Citrix and WVD
Keep checking back for the latest articles in the series, and if you have any questions about WVD and how it can benefit your business please don’t hesitate to get in touch at wvd@htguk.com
PS – Don’t miss out on the HTG Future of Work event in Newcastle on October 17th where Microsoft WVD will be a key topic covered by Microsoft’s Jim Moyle, places are filling fast so register here to avoid disappointment: https://g.co/kgs/nXikBU
Thanks,
Dean Lawrence
Principal Consultant, HTG
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