Managed.IT - issue 58

32 01732 759725 END USER COMPUTING We are able to say ‘For a third or a quarter of the price you don’t need to rip or replace all your existing hardware; you can take this piece of software to extend its life and also enable a move to a cloud workspace, Desktop as a Service environment’,” explained Townsend. Adding value He adds that, for partners, the IGEL OS offers a way of adding value to customers who might be tempted to deal directly with DaaS providers. “For a long time, many of the partners in this space have been focused on deploying either Citrix or VMWare solutions for customers. That obviously brought a whole heap of consultancy, but as those solutions move to the cloud, it becomes easier – although not completely simple – for a customer to adopt that technology. So, you find customers going direct to Citrix or to Microsoft or to VMWare and saying ‘Look, I am interested in your cloud solution. How do we switch it on?’. “Partners and resellers are now looking at how they can add value to customers that consume cloud services because, in some cases, consuming cloud services negates the need for much of the consultancy work that partners used to provide. They are saying to those customers ‘When you move desktops to the cloud, you still have other challenges – you have challenges around the endpoint, challenges around cost, challenges around security’. So, you end up with partners talking to a set of ecosystem partners that have technologies and solutions that fit around Desktop as a Service and cloud-delivered solutions, that add significant value and enhance the service they provide to their customers.” For the last 10 or 15 years, IGEL has been integrating and embedding hardware, software and applications from more than 90 technology partners into its OS (see graphic), making it quicker and easier for organisations to implement solutions that meet their needs. “Every single organisation has a slightly different requirement. You go into a financial institution and they may well have a financial application and a trading keyboard they need to get working. If you go into the Post Office, they will have different peripherals they need to plug into their devices. If you go into healthcare, people have got cards they use to tap in and tap out. Every single organisation we walk into has a different requirement. Because of the investment we have made in integrating different technologies, people say ‘Do you know what? I am going to go with IGEL because they have already integrated this technology; they already support the fact that I can do a Zoom call or a Microsoft Teams call over VDI and it just works’,” said Townsend. IGEL Ready In this context, the launch of the IGEL Ready programme looks a very clever move. By opening up its edge OS to unlimited partner integration and introducing a formal, three -tier testing and verification process (Activated, Accelerated, Advanced), IGEL expects to expand its partner ecosystem from 95 companies to more than 150 by 2021. Importantly, it will also give customers reassurance that when they move to virtual desktops or cloud workspaces they will be able to draw on a wide range of compatible technologies. “Instead of having a relationship that is built on a handshake, we are putting in place a framework to say we will jointly test this software, make sure it works, document it, support it and verify it so that when an organisation goes out and chooses IGEL they know that it will work with any technology that has gone through that IGEL-ready programme and been verified,” explained Townsend. IGEL is already working with numerous partners on product verification, including Goliath Technologies, Lakeside Software, LG Business Solutions, Liquidware, Login VSI, PrinterLogic, Sennheiser, Tehama, Cherry, ControlUp, deviceTRUST, Fluendo, Tricerat, SecMaker, OnLogic, Systec & Solutions, BUURST, Channel Mechanics, Veridium and EPOS. Verified solutions will be listed in an IGEL Ready Showcase (igel. com/ready), under eight categories: cloud workspaces/VDI/DaaS; communication and collaboration; software and applications; endpoints; peripherals; printers and scanners; security; and analytics. Rapid deployment Townsend likens IGEL Ready to the App Store, arguing that it will expand the range of supported solutions and reassure users. “At a time like now when people are trying to deploy things significantly quicker, reduce the cost of implementation, get people working from home, when there is an ever changing cloud environment, with Citrix and Microsoft constantly updating their cloud-delivered desktops, you just need things that you know are going to work,” he said. “The millions who are now working from home show that a cloud service is definitely the most agile and best way of rapidly deploying technology – you need more desktops, you switch them on. We have all learnt that rapid deployment is incredibly important and allows organisations to stay productive. If the IGEL Ready programme gives customers a sense of confidence and allows them to deploy technology in a far quicker, easier and more cost- effective way that has to be a good thing.” igel.com/partners/technology- partners/ ...continued