AppSense and Windows 7 migrations with user virtualization

AppSense and Windows 7 migrations with user virtualization

Contents Introduction to Windows 7 migrations Introduction to AppSense - people-centric computing and user virtualization Windows 7 project guidelines Planning considerations Physical or virtual Windows 7 desktops? Cost savings Future transformation projects Benefits of using AppSense user virtualization as part of a Windows 7 migrations The benefits of a people-centric computing strategy Supporting quotes and comments Conclusion 3 3 4 4 6 6 7 7 8 8 9 2

Introduction to Windows 7 migrations Introduction to AppSense, people-centric computing and user virtualization With Windows XP approaching the end of its supported serviceable life, many organizations are contemplating a Windows 7 upgrade. However, the move from XP to Windows 7 is anything but easy (without the correct migration tools). In addition, network admins must find an effective way to deploy Windows 7 with associated line-of-business applications while still providing end users with acceptable levels of performance and not breaking any budgets. A poll in a recent Ovum webinar revealed that 54% of respondents saw complexity as the biggest barrier to successful roll-out and adoption of Windows 7 as managing multiple variables across various devices for thousands of users can be complex without correct planning or solutions in place. AppSense is the leading provider of user virtualization technology to enterprise organizations. User virtualization is a way of managing user-specific information independent of the desktop, and applying this information into any desktop (local install, virtualized, published, streamed etc.) on-demand. This enables IT to standardize the desktop build, automate desktop and application delivery, and migrate users to new desktops all while ensuring the user experience is seamless, personal, predictable and easily manageable. AppSense enables businesses to realize the benefits of Windows 7 more quickly and at less cost. In managing the most complex and diverse component of the desktop, the user, AppSense user virtualization ensures a proven simple and seamless user migration to any new desktop operating system. 3

Windows 7 project guidelines An enterprise desktop migration has two major phases; planning and execution. It s important to keep these two phases separate and deliver them in the correct sequence because of the breadth and scope of a Windows 7 migration. If this sounds pretty basic, well, it is. But like with most IT projects, the basics are frequently overlooked, and many projects fail to meet their stated objectives. Keep in mind that the term migration is in fact a euphemism for the full re-engineering of desktops, laptops and all related management systems. Many IT organizations do not appreciate the interdependencies of the desktop environment and how the user is intrinsically tied to the desktop, so they take the overall effort for granted. Planning considerations 1. Ensure clear communication of migration progression Unlike most other IT initiatives, a desktop migration project affects all users, and they need to be made aware of the migration, kept up-todate on its progress, and informed about when they will be affected and how their data will be moved. While desktops are a corporate asset, many users have a personal connection as well as a huge amount of individual data on their machines. Employees need to know how to deal with the data that exists outside the supported programs. Furthermore, if you are also upgrading applications, e.g. move from Office 2003 to Office 2010, this present a completely new interface so it s important to train end users on how to access it in order to reduce productivity loss. In addition, IT needs training on new features, capabilities and support. User virtualization ensure that any existing data, settings and preferences are automatically applied to the new Windows 7 desktop, in turn reducing training and support requirements across the enterprise as all users are immediately presenting with everything they required from their previous (Windows XP) desktop. 2. 32-bit or 64-bit desktop considerations As for the 32- or 64-bit decision, Gartner forecasts that by 2014, more than 75% of PCs deployed will be 64-bit and so by considering 64-bit you are future-proofing your environment. New devices and commercial off-the-shelf software are being developed for 64-bit machines, and organizations need to be ready. Plus, moving to 64-bit does not make an overall Windows 7 migration any more difficult. If every application has to be tested for Windows 7, test it for 64-bit compatibility as well. The most significant potential problems are firmware and driver incompatibility (64-bit drivers must be used) and how to support older equipment for which drivers don t exist and the manufacturer has no plans to offer them. User virtualization works seamlessly across 32-bit and 64-bit environments, making user personalization testing a redundant part of your migration testing phases. IT is free to focus on the compatibility of the application working on Windows 7 / 64-bit and if it does, then it will automatically be configured and personalized as to the user s previous experience on their XP Desktop. 4

3. Clearly define a migration process The migration process needs to address the complexities of a full desktop refresh. Include steps to verify client data locations, save the existing user desktop settings and specify which data will be migrated. Starting a major project without a stated direction leads to confusion and could impact the credibility of the program leadership. User virtualization enables all existing settings and data to be decoupled from the existing desktop, and IT can then analyze and educate on what will be migrated. Users are now aware of what will be migrated by default and are given the option to raise any concerns about applications or data which may not fall in line with the corporate migration plan but is important to them as a user. 4. Create a detailed and achievable project plan Since enterprise migrations typically touch every employee they are by nature very visible. Everyone will see delays. To avoid delays, create a plan, manage it, and hold people accountable to delivering accordingly. The plan should be detailed enough so that delays can be addressed quickly and the problems fixed. Starting by understanding the existing environment and decoupling the user from the existing desktop should be one of the first steps in your migration process. After the new Windows 7 desktop and applications have been tested and rolled out, the previously decoupled user can now be reapplied to the new environment. 5. Ensure an efficient, not overly expensive migration team Thankfully enterprise migrations don t take place on a regular basis. As a result however, most organizations don t have deep upgrade, migration and conversation expertise in place some of the IT Operations and Support staff in a modern IT team may not have even performed an OS migration as the previous XP migration may have been before their time. Take advantage of the people who do migrations, conversions, packaging and testing for a living. Applicationspecific knowledge and corporate engineers and architects should almost always be internal, but most of the other team members can be sourced from third parties. Offshore companies can provide conversion, packaging and testing services. You should also look for professional services firms that can be your single point of contact for the whole initiative. In addition to identifying the resources available, look at the expected manual processes and see if there are any tools that could do the work more efficiently. User virtualization completely automates the migration of a user to any new desktop environment, so not only will it aid a Windows 7 migration, but also any other future desktop transformation projects also. 6. Understand the existing application landscape A migration to Windows 7 won t work if you don t know how much effort it will take. The level of effort is determined by the number of applications that require migrating, their testing, the timeframe for application remediation, the size of the packaging team and what testing is going to be required. As a result, an inventory of all enterprise applications and existing hardware needs to be collected as early as possible. As previously mentioned, application configuration and personalization testing is not required when user virtualization is employed as part of a Windows 7 migration process, as AppSense is proven to work across all Windows desktops. 7. Don t forget about Microsoft Office content A Windows 7 migration often includes a migration to Office 2010, and information about relevant Office documents should also be as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access files can all be affected by changes to macros. User virtualization can help migrate all existing user data to a new Windows 7 environment. This data can also be decoupled from the desktop during the early phases of migration assessments, meaning the user and their data is ready to be reapplied to the new desktop when IT are ready to do so. 5

Cost savings 8. Prioritize the work and applications Use specialist assessment tools to understand what applications are being used, by which users, and how often. Based on the number of usage instances and number of users executing the applications, test and package the most commonly used and important applications... For lesser used applications, find out their business criticality, organizational interdependence and regulatory compliance needs, and sequence them based on priority. 9. Use virtualization technology where appropriate Enterprises can save a lot of time in deploying Windows 7 by taking advantage of virtualization technologies. Instead of having to reimage all desktops or laptops (some of which may require client side support), an organization can create, test and deploy a virtual desktop with Windows 7 in hours. User virtualization not only works across OS platform versions and 32-bit to 64-bit, but also across physical and virtual. So if you are considering a virtual Windows 7 environment, AppSense will seamlessly abstract the user from their existing physical Windows XP desktop and then reapply to your new virtual Windows 7 desktops. 6 Physical or virtual Windows 7 desktops? Organizations face various scenarios; Upgrade all PCs with brand new hardware to ease the migration effort, which switches around 60% of the migration cost into capital expenditure. Upgrade existing PCs, which will still require some hardware enhancements, and which will boost operational expenditure through labor costs. Or virtualize the desktop, serving structured task-based workers with a virtual hosted desktop. In the past, the user and the desktop have been tightly bound together. Each user typically has a different profile and file and registry system for their desktop operating system. These profiles and settings are updated individually for every user when they change the look and feel of the desktop or an application. Essentially, each user s profile is as different as their office work area. Many end-users are notorious desktop huggers - just like their cubicle, they like their desktop just how they want it. Migrating them from one operating system to another is harder still if they want those settings to persist with the new system. Whichever way you cut it, the rush to migrate could be painful, but user virtualization will be able to help mitigate the challenge. User virtualization involves separating the concept of the user from the underlying operating system and reapplying this user layer to any new desktop. User virtualization reduces both the time required and cost of migrating to Windows 7, while ensuring maximum user adoption through a seamless user experience. User virtualization is different from one way migration utilities. It separates and manages the user component of the desktop independent of the OS and Application assets, enabling a seamless migration of the user and all related data to any new desktop operating system. Based on extensive customer feedback and working with leading analysts, user virtualization will typically reduce the time and cost to move to Windows 7 by 30%. According to Gartner, a 2,500 user migration to Windows 7 will cost an organization between $1,035 and $1,903 per user, depending on the type of user; locked down vs. unmanaged respectively. AppSense user virtualization can reduce the time and associated costs throughout many stages of the migration to reduce migration, infrastructure, operational and support costs.

Future transformation projects Benefits of using AppSense user virtualization as part of a Windows 7 migrations For many organizations, the next major project on the horizon is Windows 7 adoption. Other initiatives such as application and desktop virtualization, cloud computing and bring your own device are on the horizon. User virtualization can help organize, simplify, and remove cost from these projects, further reducing on-going operational spend and improving the user experience. Windows 7 migration - reduced migration costs, simplified execution, shortened project time Application virtualization - decreased packaging requirements and IT overhead, increased user adoption Desktop virtualization - enable stateless virtual desktops with a personalized and responsive user experience Cloud computing - de-risk cloud delivery, a personal experience with retained control and ownership BYOD - device independence with secure and optimum employee experience By employing user virtualization technology as part of a people-centric approach to your Windows 7 migration, you can realize the benefits of Windows 7 sooner, while also reducing the project complexity and cost and also improving the end user experience and productivity levels. This approach will also enable other key projects, such as desktop virtualization and BYOD, across your organization. Reduce time, cost and complexity Decouple all aspects of the user from existing platform, store and manage it centrally, and simply re-apply to the new Windows 7 desktop without any expert knowledge of migrations or manual intervention. Automate user migration An automatic migration mode harvests the required information in the background as the user continues to work effectively, the information is automatically ready and available to be re-deployed. Seamless user experience and improved productivity Ensure the same familiar, personalized for productive purpose working environment for all users, regardless of whether they access a Windows XP, Vista or 7 desktop to continue business as usual while systems are being upgraded. Reduce desktop virtualization infrastructure requirements & costs User virtualization enables a single shared Windows 7 image can be automatically configured and personalized for each and every user, meaning virtual desktop images do not have to be stored in a persistent datacenter. This reduces infrastructure, storage and management costs. Enable a heterogeneous environment during migration Very few enterprise organizations can consider a single overnight big bang approach to migration; instead, different business groups and locations are migrated in phases. Only user virtualization and people-centric computing can enable multiple operating systems to co-exist side by side and enable users to move both forward and backward between platform versions. Rapid scaling of Windows 7 throughout the enterprise With all user specific information residing in the central user virtualization platform, these settings can be rapidly deployed to any new Windows 7 desktop, regardless of how it is delivered or where it is being access from. You can now rapidly deploy Windows 7 to all areas from a central location. 7

The benefits of a peoplecentric computing strategy Supporting quotes and comments Adopt a phased approach to migration A phased approach will help focus your migration efforts on the business unit in question, when using a peoplecentric approach, individual users, groups of users or types of users can be selectively migrated at your own speed. Migrate mobile & roaming user from a central location Enterprises today see thousands of their users, and therefore their devices roaming outside of the office as they visit customers, partners and work from home, this makes it incredibly difficult to contact and migrate all user specific information which is tied to that device. User virtualization eliminates this challenge and decouples all user specific information from even offline devices. Replace legacy scripts and streamline group policy management Legacy logon scripts will have grown in size and complexity over the lifespan of Windows XP, and will only become more cumbersome as time passes. User virtualization centralizes all desktop configurations and can centrally manage Group Policies to be applied selectively depending on the context of the user or their desktop. Include application virtualization as part of your migration strategy Application Virtualization serves to provide centralized managed of the application landscape and offers reduced costs in a streamlined Windows 7 environment, like an OS migration, user virtualization ensure personalization and configuration settings are migrated from the exiting local applications and are re-applied to the new virtualized applications. 8 Embracing a people-centric strategy enables IT to become more flexible by removing the need to manage at the device, platform or application level. This gives both IT and employees greater freedom of choice, while retaining control over what is delivered and how it is used. Among many things, managing the user independently from the specific devices and desktops they use enables: Freedom of choice - selecting fit-forpurpose technology without compromising employee experience Consumerization - empower employees to use their own tools to get their jobs done True IT-as-a-Service - managing and delivering desktop components as needed Device independence - ensure an optimum employee experience across all devices An end to migration - never again need to migrate users to new platforms - they re already there! AppSense and Microsoft AppSense user virtualization is implemented in some of the largest organizations in the world and is endorsed and recommended by Microsoft as part of your Windows 7 Migration Strategy. Microsoft acknowledge the importance of a people-centric computing as part of an enterprise windows 7 migration strategy and as such have honored AppSense as the only user virtualization solution provider to be awarded the Microsoft Gold Desktop ISV Partner. Quoting the Microsoft Gold Desktop competency website, Distinguish your expertise; when you achieve the Microsoft Gold Desktop competency, you demonstrate greater value to your customers by showcasing best-in-class capabilities that have been subject to a rigorous and auditable approval process. Further supporting quotes from Microsoft include; AppSense is a leading provider of user virtualization technology to enterprise organizations. User virtualization manages user-specific information independently of the desktop, and applies it into any desktop on-demand. IT Pros can deploy new apps, images, and systems without fear of losing user settings making transitions to Windows 7 and App-V faster and without user disruption. Karri Alexion-Tiernan, Director of Product Management for Microsoft

Conclusion AppSense customers By taking a people-centric approach with AppSense user virtualization, we migrate up to three times as many desktops per day using the same level of IT resource. And more importantly, no disruption to our staff. Our investment in AppSense user virtualization will continue to pay dividends when we migrate to future operating systems beyond Windows 7 having already virtualized our users, we will continue to receive the same or improved benefits in terms of speed, reduced cost and complexity and a better user experience. Ian Cawson, Technical Architect at The Co-operative Group. AppSense is the proven world leader in enabling people-centric computing through our enterprise scalable user virtualization platform. It is recommended by customers, analysts and partners to form part of the foundations of a Windows 7 migration strategy. It quickens the project, reduces complexity, ensures user acceptance and productivity and reduces overall project costs. To learn about AppSense, please visit www.appsense.com AppSense user virtualization delivered the exact solution we needed to confidently migrate to Windows 7 without affecting the user experience. What AppSense has provided us with is a pain-free end user migration, additionally it future proofs our design. Jake Muszynski at Nationwide Children s Hospital Desktop Virtualization 9

appsense.com email us: iwanttoknowmore@appsense.com About AppSense AppSense, the people-centric computing company, is the leading provider of user virtualization technology that transforms organizations into productive mobile workforces securely governed by IT. AppSense enables companies to embrace consumerization in the enterprise by independently managing all aspects of the user experience across mobile devices and desktops. Our user virtualization technology reduces IT complexity and improves the deployment, management and migration of multi-platform desktop and mobile environments. The company is headquartered in New York, NY with offices around the world. For more information visit www.appsense.com. 2012, AppSense Limited. AppSense is a registered trademark of AppSense Limited in the US, UK and other countries worldwide. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. The information in this document is believed to be correct at time of printing but no representation or warranty is made as to its accuracy or completeness.