Jul 17, 2008 | blog
The more time I spend working in the Information Technology field, the more I see opportunities. Usually, it’s simply a an old technology being consumed by a newer one – like traditional telephones being taken over by VoIP phones on the corporate desktop. I’ve championed that notion for nearly a decade, and only now is that really happening at an increasing pace. Cool stuff if you get a chance to use it too.
However, that’s not what I see happening right now. It’s much simpler and much more fundamental than another Microsoft Windows server taking on another role from another team or technology. The changes that are afoot are at the root, the foundation of enterprise computing and it has a social media tie-in. I have a message for my peers in the Information Technologies field. Your world is already changing, and if you don’t see what’s happening, you’ll be left behind.
The change that’s taking place renders the corporate desktop as we know it, obsolete. The disparate servers, inefficient. This is something that I’ve been watching for some time, but only recently have seen some indications that convince me that the world has turned the corner.
What are these things that change the entire game? Why, virtualization, thin clients and “web 2.0” software of course. You already are talking about these things. You are probably working with a couple of them if not a combination of all in some way. What’s convinced me that IT ten years from now will be a wildly different landscape than it is today is the fact that virtualization works, thin clients are actually viable now, and “web 2.0” software is past the “wow” stage and into solving business needs. Add the idea that many software solutions don’t care if they run on Windows/Unix/Linux and you now have a broad base of reliable, sustainable open source systems to choose from.
There is also the introduction of Gen Y into the workforce, who bring a different expectation to work. By being more mobile, working remotely via the web, and having social media & networking as second nature, this workforce alone will bring an impressive amount of change.
So what is the bottom line I’m saying for corporate IT? I’m saying that the desktop as we know it is dead. Windows “7” may be the last “legacy” operating system to be deployed. Desktops will disappear completely as well as individual servers. Servers in general will all be virtual machines run from high availability clusters (OS does not matter) in remote data centers. If you don’t have room for one, it’ll probably be cost-effective to simply lease them from companies like Amazon and such.
While Microsoft Office will still be the “gold standard” that we compare things to, it will become irrelevant in the coming years as open source and online versions of this type of software bring more options faster, and simply chip away at the venerable office suite.
Windows itself will still remain – remaining a popular option for the consumer computing device, all of which will end up being the laptop format. Windows, along with OS X and a couple popular Linux distributions will continue to drive these machines, merging more business and entertainment functions together.
The coming change is huge, and with it the opportunities as well. Like the change that started 20 years ago where mainframe and minicomputers were starting to be replaced with microcomputers, our current definitions of enterprise computing will change radically in the next few years. Are you ready? Will you be a part of it? What else do you see?
Nov 14, 2007 | blog
That’s what my technical focus is for the next several months. I’ve been working on a Windows automated deployment environment for a client and will also be planning the next steps for them.
With that in mind, and the upcoming release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 along with Windows Server 2008, managed deployment systems are crucial to their success. Since I’ve gone out on my own as a consultant, I now find the need to build a full “lab” environment at home to be able to explore the latest release of Microsoft’s deployment solutions.
The stage is being set, with Server 2008, Vista, virtualization of servers/workstations/applications, the needs of successfully deploying any and all of these software packages is becoming more important than ever. The next couple of years looks to be a lot of work for organizations as they investigate, plan, and implement the next generation (the Vista wave) of system software and platforms.
So I’ve got to do something that I’ve not done for a number of years. Build a full testing environment of my own for development, prototyping and testing ideas and solutions. Being a part of a larger organization, in previous years, has allowed me to rely on other resources. Most companies have rooms filled with equipment, just for R&D purposes. Because of this I got rid of my home server “farm” that supplied all those testing requirements, web, email, file server, management server, etc…
This time, however, my plan is to go fully virtual, of course. This requires a *lot* of RAM, HD space and use of virtual environments – including virtual networks. It’ll be fun, it’ll be a lot of work – and I think I need one more machine, but we’ll see how it goes.
At any rate, I’ll be posting a bit on deployment technologies over the next few months, but don’t worry. I’ll not be forgetting any personal branding or social media items either – I’m actually interested in leveraging both of these as I work through some of the technology.
Anyone else out there a Windows Deployment architect?
Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Microsoft Deployment, Operating Systems Deployment, Managed Deployment, Rick Mahn
Mar 15, 2007 | blog
So why “D2” you ask? It stands for “Desktop 2.0”, which is of course, a play on Web 2.0. While there have been many predictions and suggestions, I want to take this opportunity and posit my opinion of where the corporate or enterprise desktop solutions should be heading. My poor coworkers have got to be tired of hearing my pitches and ideas on this by now!
In a nutshell, I believe Window Vista to be the last large-scale revision and release of the operating system. As such, corporations need to figure out whether they want to continue the upgrade cycle of Microsoft’s high-maintenance operating system. Or, choose to go a different path to secure their data, lower management costs of their client systems, and bring more areas of the business under the business continuity (disaster recovery) umbrella.
To accomplish this, businesses need to look at the pros and cons of both options and take a hard look at their computing needs. The solution for a manufacturing company that merely needs to track production, finance and sales does not have the computing requirements of, say an engineering firm where most of the employees require high-powered CAD/CAM software solutions.
The problem with the traditional desktop is not the initial cost for the hardware, installation, software licensing and so on. Its obviously the ongoing support costs, hardware replacement, service calls, and much more depending on how skilled your technical staff is.
In another world with the proper use of terminal services or Citrix server farms, data replication, thin clients, system virtualization, and load balancing, a company could eliminate or significantly reduce the reliance in traditional desktops and laptops. The key thing to focus on is not reducing cost so much as realizing that you can take control and secure your data. You can create an environment where all data is backed up at your central hub and backup locations that you currently use. (Just think of all those unsecured hard drives that aren’t backed up storing, in some cases, critical business data!) You can also reduce or eliminate the complexity of supporting the Windows operating system.
Yes, Microsoft has made great strides in managing and deploying the operating system, but you do know that you will need to deploy yet another server system to manage the licensing of Windows Vista – right? Did you know that the methods for deploying Vista is different than deploying Windows 2000 & XP? Yep, start planning a big upgrade budget, even if you choose to slipstream the OS, you’ll need to plan the deployment infrastructure out properly. (*Shameless plug* Contact me if you want some consulting done on this – its what I do as an Infrastructure Architect and Analyst 
).
There is a better way, and it doesn’t need to be the standard Windows desktop – also think about what Apple has been doing with the Mac lately, or Linux – several distributions have really made huge usability strides in the last few years. Do I have a chip on my shoulder regarding Vista – not really, but I think there are more solutions today than when Windows XP was fresh and new and the focus of everyone’s attention. I just think that the proliferation of web-based applications, increased bandwidth, robustness of terminal services, and the flexibility of virtualization, that there can be a simpler corporate environment than we have today.
Sep 30, 2006 | blog
The Virtual PC 2007 beta program starts October 11th and will run trough March 30th, 2007. According to Bink.nu, beta nominations will be accepted throughout the entire beta period. Should be a good upgrade, and a fun beta to participate in.
Link to Bink.nu | Microsoft will start Virtual PC 2007 public beta program in October
Sep 27, 2006 | blog
OK, one really cool present so far on virtual desktop infrastructure.
The concept is more extensive than I had previously understood. Very cool.
I’ll find and post some tidbits later. Still at the seminar, looking forward to some more topics.
