Microsoft confirm the July price increase - it's not as bad as predicted

Equanet reported here that Microsoft were to increase their Volume Licensing agreements in the UK by 29% on average as of 1st July.  Due to the fluctuation of the Euro the rise is not as high as expected.  Initially it was expected the increase would vary from between 7.5% and 33.5%.

The price ranges are less than expected and are between 1.7% and 25.9% based upon current exchange rates.  Naturally the diverse nature of the license agreements means that increase will vary.  Academic, boxed product and OEM remains static.

The table below identifies the price increases but bear in mind that these are average prices aligned to SKU, so you need to contact us for accuracy and ensuring that the right advice on reducing your financial exposure.

Volume License Program                                                Average Final Price Increase

Open License Commercial                                                             1.7%

Office 365 (MOSP)                                                                         Up to 15%

Open Value/Open Value Subscription                                             25.9%

SPLA                                                                                            25.9%

ISVR                                                                                             25.9%

Government Open Value/Subscription                                            25.9%

Government Open License Programme                                           25.9%

Select/Plus                                                                                  17.7%

Enterprise Agreement/Enterprise Agreement Subscription               18.7%

Depending on how you procure your licensing will depend on the affect this will have on your business.  It may be worthwhile for some organisations to bring forward their Microsoft projects or look to alternative volume licensing agreements to fix the pre-July increase for the next 3 years.

So, although not ideal it's not as bad as first thought.  We suggest that you call our software team to work out your options, your exposure and how this can be minimised.  After all your Microsoft technologies support your IT Strategy so assessing where you are in your strategy would be prudent to establish the best route for your licensing.

Windows Server 2012 RDS Improvements

Microsoft has always had success with RDS from the days of terminal services on Windows NT through to RDS on Server 2012 often supported with Citrix XenApp for Enterprise deployments.

In the latest edition of Windows Server 2012 Microsoft has added a raft of updates that are sure to make your deployments even easier. This post will highlight some of those advancements:

Windows Server 2012 has improved RemoteFX over a WAN as well as balancing between scale and reduced bandwidth. Specific improvements include:

Adaptive Graphics

Microsoft support a mix and match approach, determining and using the right codec for the right content instead of one size fits all. Progressive rendering allows RemoteFX to provide a responsive experience over a highly constrained network.

Intelligent Transport

Microsoft support UDP as well as TCP. UDP provides a better experience over a lossy WAN network but, is not always possible dependent on the routers, and firewalls involved. RDP will automatically use TCP when UDP cannot be used to ensure connectivity and the best possible experience.

Optimised Media Streaming

Microsoft have a new codec to reduce bandwidth consumption for media content

Adaptive Network Auto Detect

In this release, the end user no longer has to set the network in the Remote Desktop Connection client: the client auto-detects the network type and, also adapts as the network changes.

Single Sign-On

In Windows Server 2012 Microsoft has simplified this by eliminating the need to use multiple certificates. Microsoft has also made it possible to use locally logged on domain credentials so that users connecting from managed devices can connect seamlessly without any credential prompts.

Metro-style Remote Desktop


In the app store Microsoft has added a new Metro-style application to provide a simple touch-first remoting experience. Discovering of remote resources, touch optimisation, easy reconnect to your favourites, are just some of the specific features added.

Email and web discovery of Remote Applications and desktops

Users now can find the correct remote workspace to connect to by just providing their email address. This removes the requirement to remember a long website URL. In addition, Remote Desktop Web Access now supports other browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.

Multi Touch

Microsoft support full remoting of gestures (e.g. pinch and zoom) between the client and host with up to 256 touch points. This provides for a consistent experience when using a touch enabled device locally or, over RemoteFX.

Robust Pooled Virtual Desktop Collection model

Virtual machines can be created in batch from a virtual desktop template, patched by only modifying that virtual desktop template, and recreated/refreshed automatically by the RD Connection Broker. This reduces the cost and complexity of supporting a large number of users.

User Profile Disk

A major blocker for the “pooled virtual desktop collection” model has been lack of personalisation: Since the pooled virtual desktop collection is based on a common virtual desktop template, the user’s personal documents, settings, and configurations would normally not be present. User Profile Disk was added to solve this problem for either virtual machine-based or session based desktop deployments. As the user logs on to different virtual machines within the pool or different RD Session Hosts within the session collection, his/her User Profile Disk gets mounted, providing access to the user’s complete profile. Since User Profile Disk operates at a lower layer, it works seamlessly with existing user state technologies such as Roaming User Profiles and Folder Redirection.

Fair share of resources in RD Session Host

In Windows Server 2012, RD Session Host server allocates CPU, Disk I/O, and Network I/O such that a single user cannot consume resources that would negatively impact other users on the same host. Each user will get a “fair share”. This is done with minimum overhead so the CPU, disk, and network resources are used to maximum capacity.

RDS Management Interface integrated into Server Manager

RDS now includes a single management interface through which you can deploy RDS end to end, monitor the deployment, configure options, and manage all your RDS components and servers. This management interface is built into the new Server Manager, taking advantage of many new Windows Server 2012 management capabilities such as multi-server deployments, remote configuration, and orchestrated configuration workflows.

Scenario-Focused Deployment

The new Server Manager provides a scenario-focused wizard that dramatically simplifies the task of bringing up a complete RDS deployment. This wizard sets up all the roles needed for an RDS deployment, configures each server role correctly to communicate with the other roles:

Quick Start is optimised for deploying Remote Desktop Services on one server, and creates a collection and publishes RemoteApp programs.

Standard Deployment allows you to deploy Remote Desktop Services across multiple servers, allowing for a more customised deployment.

Active/Active RD Connection Broker

In previous releases the RD Connection Broker role service has supported an active/passive clustering model. This provided high availability in the case of component failure, but it did not address high scale requirements. In this release, Microsoft have eliminated the need for clustering and switched to an active/active model. With this model, two or more RD Connection Brokers can be combined as a farm to provide both fault tolerance and load balancing. This prevents the broker from being a single point of failure and also allows ‘scale out’ as load demands.

We think that this is a great set of capabilities for users reliant on session based virtualisation. VDI is a great concept and has relevance in many organisations but for costs alone we typically see a hybrid of the two and the set of features added by Microsoft provide a great hybrid approach.

Looking to Windows 2012, Windows 8 and RDS? Then contact us to see how it works in our innovation centre.  Want to see and hear the technology first hand then register for this in person event.

Citrix VDI in a Box feature set grows

Citrix has announced a technology preview of Project Aruba which improves Citrix VDI-in-a-Box, with personal vDisk technology.

Project Aruba uses vDisks layering technology, obtained with the acquisition, to manage end-user applications and preferences allowing non persistent desktops both personalisation and flexibility.

Project Aruba provides the following key features:

Personalised virtual desktops:
Project Aruba eliminates the need to create separate static desktops to carry forward end-user customisation by coupling single-instance management with the ability to have individual user workspaces for their applications and data.

Single instance management:
This provides the ultimate flexibility for IT to maintain one master copy of desktop images while preserving the personalisation of user applications and data.

Support for Windows 2008 R2:
Project Aruba manages Windows 2008 R2, Windows 7 and Windows XP –based virtual desktops – enabling customers to select the ideal virtual desktop environment based on compatibility and costs.

Windows 8 support (Beta):
Project Aruba supports Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8 virtual desktops. All features of Windows 8 including the new Metro interface are fully supported. Since Windows 8 is not yet generally available, this feature is currently in Beta.

Simpler, more flexible:
Project Aruba makes management even simpler with added features such as access to multiple data stores for optimizing storage, and a touchless DTAgent that updates the desktop agent on all golden images and their desktop instances automatically when the VDI-in-a-Box software is upgraded.

Citrix Synergy 2012 Keynote Messages

Today has been the start of the Citrix end user event called Synergy, currently running in San Francisco.  Equanet has a good presence out there and have been able to report back the following messages.

Today’s announcements make it easier for companies of all sizes to go mobile – empowering employees to interact securely with any combination of people, data, apps and devices – then bringing it all together in a seamless, integrated experience for end users.

Key themes were based upon People, Data, Applications and Devices (pretty much aggregating all the areas of BYOD) into a succinct set of capabilities.

Citrix unveiled the first solution from its recent acquisition of Podio.  Citrix Podio delivers a cloud-based team collaboration platform for companies of all sizes, similar to other ESN's such as Yammer and Chatter.   Citrix also announced GoToMeeting® HDFaces for the iPad, combining video conferencing, audio conferencing and screen sharing into a single, integrated experience for mobile workers. 

Citirix also announced GoToAssist® for mobile devices which lets IT professionals provide live support from anywhere, connecting to employee computers and solving problems directly from their iPad, Android tablets or Android phone.

The second pillar of the Citrix mobile enterprise strategy is a focus on data. The core of this strategy is Citrix ShareFile, a cloud-based file sharing service ensuring that their information follows them across devices, regardless of where it was initially created and saved.  Similar to dropbox but developed for business.

Citrix also announced new ShareFile StorageZones technology, giving customers the ability to choose optimal locations for storing corporate data – either off-premise in the public cloud, or on-premise, within their own private datacenters. The new ShareFile StorageZones technology makes it easier for enterprise customers to meet security, compliance and performance requirements, without giving up the simplicity and elasticity of cloud-based data services.

Citrix also announced it is plugging ShareFile into Citrix Receiver.  As a result of this integration, end users will be able to open, view, edit, save and share documents on their personal and mobile devices, regardless of where those documents were initially created. 

The third component of the Citrix mobile enterprise strategy centers on applications.  Citrix announced a new RemotePC option as part of FlexCast.  Using RemotePC capability, XenDesktop customers will be able to quickly turn existing office PCs into distributed VDI hubs without setting up additional servers and storage in the datacenter. 

As the app world moves, an increasing percentage of business applications are being delivered as web, SaaS, cloud and mobile apps.  Citrix announced Citrix CloudGateway 2, a new update to its unified storefront solution that adds mobile application management capabilities, including full support for native HTML5, iOS and Android apps. The new CloudGateway release also adds integration with ShareFile, giving customers a single unified control point for all apps and data enterprise-wide.

The fourth pillar of the Citrix mobile enterprise strategy focuses on devices. The core of this strategy is Citrix Receiver. Citrix Receiver makes it easy for customers to support bring your own (BYO).

Citrix strengthened its client side hypervisor with the acquisition of Virtual Computer, a provider of management solutions for Xen-based client hypervisors. Citrix will combine the newly-acquired Virtual Computer technology with XenClient to create the new Citrix XenClient Enterprise edition. 

The last element of the strategy is Citrix HDX System-on-Chip (SoC) initiative, launched last October at Citrix Synergy Barcelona.  Citrix was joined by multiple partners today to unveil the first wave of devices featuring the new HDX SoC technology.  HP also unveiled a new All-in-One zero client that uses Power-over-Ethernet and consumes 13 watts of power, less than half that of comparable devices on the market today. 

The final big announcement was aimed at cloud service providers and arguably as Citrix CSP partners.  This is known as Project Avalon.  This aggregates a wide range of Citrix technologies to help users deliver any Windows app or desktop as a true cloud service. Rapidly deploy personalised Windows apps and desktops in a flexible, private cloud environment across single or multiple sites and utilise public clouds in a "capacity-on-demand" fashion. Leveraging the new Citrix CloudPlatform, powered by Apache CloudStack, makes it easy for existing customers to adopt new features at whatever pace they like. This allows them to mix and match different versions of Microsoft Windows Server®, Citrix XenDesktop and Citrix XenApp and span across any mix of public and private cloud infrastructure to host and deliver powerful, effective work styles for all users.

Architecturally it looks like the following:

So all in all I think you will agree a great extended vision by Citrix making them even more relevant within the boardroom and a flexible approach to accomodate to most scenarios.  If you need to know more contact us. 

Possibly the HP Windows 8 Slate?

The Internet is awash for rumours of an HP Windows 8 tablet, which is exceptionally thin, supports multi touch interaction and a whopping battery life of between 8 to 10 hours, oh and is expected out this calendar year.




Naturally this is a web rumour which means it also has lots of 'ifs and buts' associated with it, and first appeared on Neowin.net. HP are refusing to comment on this leak, but everyone knows that HP are working on an Intel-Based Windows 8 tablet.

The key notes to focus on is it will be running Windows 8 Professional. That means it will include the Desktop, allowing it to run existing Windows apps. It also will include encryption, virtualisation, PC management and domain connectivity. The HP Slate 8 will be 10.1 inches, 9.2mm thin according to this leak.

Other listed features include enterprise-level docking and both multi-touch and stylus support. Hopefully the docking will be good as the Samsung Series 7 dock...

If this is an accurate slide then this looks like a good move in the right direction for HP, what are your thoughts?

29%

As reported earlier this year by Equanet Microsoft has today officially released its price increases from the 1st July 2012.  The price increase averaged out stands at 29%.  The actual spectrum of increases ranges from 7.5% through to 33.5% dependant on the agreement type you hold with Microsoft.

The purpose of this increase is to provide price alignment with those prices seen across other areas of Europe due to a fluctuating euro. 

The 29% increase should not come as a major surprise to businesses (albeit painful to swallow) due to the transparency showed by Microsoft in February of this year.

There are many ways that businesses can reduce their financial exposure if they work with Equanet who can review their agreements and product plans and see how they map to proposed IT strategies.  Once we understand your IT requirements we can help you choose the right strategy and protect your budget.

Naturally each agreement is unique to your business and it is only by working with a trusted advisor such as Equanet that you can implement the buying strategy that is right for you.  Strategies such as procurement of additional products pre July through to agreements that provide price lock for the next three years.  There are many, many other ways that you can be smarter with your budget and we at Equanet are here to make sure that you make your budget work harder.

There are so many options available that once you get over the initial shock of the increase we urge you to contact us to see how we can advise you on the right course of action for you and your business.

Product Development is being swayed by Consumerisation

If we were playing tech word bingo I think you would find this post riddled with buzz words, sadly there is nothing for a full house in this post.  But one of the areas that we are constantly seeing raising its head in the business place is consumerisation of IT, and this shift in consumerisation is starting to drive a shift in product development.

The choice and level of functionality the modern consumer has in their home devices has led to a significant shift in the expectations professionals have of their corporate technology; we now expect the Sunday night experience on a Monday morning.

The shift in the way professionals use and perceive technology, together with the consumerisation of IT, has seen the emergence of a new business professional; one who considers their device to be a reflection of themselves, whether that be at work or at home.

At the end of the day, end users want a range of choice and flexibility, which must be made available by employers and IT departments.  And we as IT professionals are no longer able to say no if we want to attract and retain key workers.

Staff today no longer considers their laptop to be a tool, rather an extension of themselves and part of how they communicate and collaborate with colleagues around the world. Design is key and has made the industry stand up and look at their products.

End user choice creates some challenges for IT. As the number of devices managed by IT continues to rise, so does the time and resources required managing and maintaining these devices. Often the sheer number of devices is making the IT department resist the inevitable. However, over the next couple of year those corporate IT departments who have not enabled a diverse population of devices will struggle to keep control.

The key design requirements for enterprise computing should focus on the following elements:

• Common platform capabilities standardise where possible.  If you are going to allow BYOD you need to restrict the number of devices you support through a strict HCL.  Centralised cloud management is ideal for this or one at the very least links to an on premise solution such as Microsoft SCCM and Intune.
• Desktop virtualisation is rapidly becoming a mainstream way to simplify the desktop experience for users who are mobile and expect to be able to work from wherever they are.
• Security is more important than ever and, with the average cost of a data breach at $4 million, the need for an integrated and comprehensive data protection solution is clear.

IT Consumerisation is clearly driving a change in professional expectations and what IT must do to deliver on those requirements.  It is commonly regarded that allowing users to work with the right devices at the right locations is a way of attracting and retaining staff.  Vendors are responding by keeping the modern workplace in mind and developing business-computing products designed to improve productivity, simplify management and be aesthetically pleasing to the workforce.

Management Dashboards

As you will know by now Equanet are skilled in delivering tablet devices into the enterprise and realising a faster time to value through our advisory services enabling you and us to develop the strategy, architecture and governance needed to foster collaboration whilst protecting your IP.  One of the areas that we are constantly asked for help on is management dashboards to analyse their data be it real time or statistical and these need to be viewed across a number of devices (iOS, Android, Windows) leveraging the right technology (native or HTML5).

Once we start working with businesses it often becomes very clear that there are numerous levels of management dashboards required which covered many areas of the business.  Such as field sales, execs, risk managers and IT service desk managers.

Different dashboards convey different information...

Portfolio dashboards make sense if different portfolios are involved.  The challenge here is to bring out the business objective credibly to an IT metric through the mobile BI implementation.

Service dashboards can be focused on organising and presenting metrics which impact service issues.  Customer satisfaction can be very clearly measured by taking into account the average time with which help desk tickets were closed for example.

The IT dashboard usually consists of lots of metrics of all types and hence most of these dashboards lack focus and direction.  This typically is an area that the CIO wishes to address, ensuring that the IT dashboard is roles based and provides the correctly mined data to the the right IT member.

Ensuring the right data is delivered to the right user can be challenging and expensive so they need to be categorised to align to the needs of the business:

Operational are useful for monitoring BAU business processes and are assessed on a real-time basis, often with alerts for exceeded thresholds.

Tactical highlight the working of a particular department and its performance ensuring the manager is empowered to implement changes

Strategic provide important insight related to an organisation’s performance in comparison to its predefined strategic goals. Often built upon mined data into data cubes.

Need help with establishing your BI dashboards, then contact us.

Windows 8: One week later

So after getting to grips with the missing start button, the metro UI and grappling with where Microsoft have moved some system features I have to admit I like the new Windows 8 concept, design and application store.  Sure we have a raft of more tests to do but my first thoughts on why this is going to be a great hit with consumers are highlighted below.  And lets face it consumers typically win meaning businesses need to to start their testing now.

Windows 8 was downloaded over 1 million times in the first 24 hours the beta version was made available.  And we believe that the are a number of key features that will make the latest Windows release so enticing to consumers and the enterprise.

• Touch
• Keyboard and mouse control
• Windows 8 application store
• PCs and Windows Phone integration with cloud services.

This latest release of Windows is indeed a bold move but pulls tougher the BYO-3 relationship of Phone, Tablet and Laptop very nicely.

One of the most compelling parts of Windows 8 is the Windows Store. This application store follows the Metro style that allows for easy browsing and viewing on your Xbox 360 and Windows phones.

There are new ways of switching between apps, as well as more updates to the desktop tools. There are changes under the bonnet to file copying, power management, security, networking, hardware support and more.

The improved touch gestures also make it far easier to work with. Swipe from the right edge of the screen and you get the redesigned charm bar providing Search, Share, Start, Devices and Settings.Or you can hover your mouse in the top or bottom right corners.  Swipe up from the bottom on the Start screen to get a quick link to the All Apps view.

Start, which is highlighted in the colour theme you choose on install, swaps between the Start screen and your last activity. Search is now context sensitive.

As you swipe across the Start menu, it stops with the group of tiles you've swiped to line up under Start; this is the promised 'speed bump' to help you navigate around. Scrolling with a mouse works far better - if you push the mouse past the edge of the screen, the tiles scroll as if you were swiping with your finger.

The zoom feature now works too; pinch to shrink the tiles on the Start screen to tiny thumbnails so you can see everything at once or move an entire group.

Switching between apps is better.

You can close Metro apps without restoring to the task manager. Drag down from the top of the screen until the app you're looking at shrinks down to a thumbnail and keep dragging that off the screen to close it.

Notifications in Metro work well; they pop up in the top right corner of the screen where they're not likely to be in the way and you can tap for options.

The metro apps is a great feature of Windows 8.  They are fast to launch, crisp and responsive and there are already useful apps in the store such as Evernote.

The messaging app makes good use of the size of a PC screen to show you multiple conversations on Facebook and Windows Live.

The Windows 8 desktop has addressed many of the frustrations of Windows 7 but there is one thing that’s just not there… the start button!

This was a big and bold move by Microsoft.  And is available if you hover on the left hand corner of the screen and when you click it; you guessed it, it’s back to the Metro UI.

To get quick access to desktop tools without going back to the Start screen, right-click in the left-hand corner to get a pop up menu which contains: Search, Run, Explorer, Task Manager, Control Panel and many others.

If you use a Windows Live account to log in, you automatically get your contacts, calendar and messages.

The Consumer Preview proves that Windows 8 isn't all about touch. The improvements to the desktop are good and will make navigation easier.

All in all a good release from Microsoft which shows their intention around both touch and none touch devices.  We would be interested to see your thoughts on the release.

Apple Do It Again - 3rd Generation iPad Introduced

Apple has unveiled a raft of new features set to be included in the 3rd generation iPad which will set the tablet market alight even more!

The next-generation iPad will feature a high-definition retina display and an improved camera, dubbed "iSight". The technology giant heaped pressure on its rivals with a cut-price iPad 2, priced at $399 (£254).

Apple also increased its presence in the home with an enhanced set-top box, Apple TV.

The next-generation iPad will feature a high-definition retina display, which Apple said boasts more pixels than a high-definition TV.

The slightly-heaver device will feature improved photo and video taking, with a greater resolution camera and a HD video recorder. It will be able to connect to high-speed 4G networks and run an Apple-built A5X processing chip.

Some other key points highlighted in todays press conference were:

585,000 apps are now available on the App Store
iTunes playlists can now be configured on your iDevice or Mac and have them show up on your Apple TV
Apple TV will have 1080p support
15.4 million iPad units shipped (more than Acer, Dell, Lenovo, and HP)
Retina display on the new iPad
2048 x 1536 and 3.1 million pixels – 264 pixels per inch
A5X processor and quad-core graphics
5 megapixel camera sensor, backside illumination, auto focus, 5 element lens, hybrid IR filter, and Apple-designed ISP
1080p video recording
Voice dictation
A microphone button is now featured on the keyboard
Feature 4G LTE (Next-Generation Wireless)
If the carrier supports it, the iPad can now become a personal HotSpot
Own your own on March 16th in US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Switzerland and Japan.
Existing apps will be scaled up to the new iPad, and text will be automatically rendered to higher resolution.
Rear-side camera now being referred to as “iSight”
iPhoto for iPad will have new editing and cataloging features. Retina display will enhance editing. “New gestures, new effects, multi-touch editing” and beaming photos directly between devices.
iPhoto app will support up to 19 megapixel photos – will also make it easy to share via email, Flickr, Twitter and others
The new iPad will maintain its 10 hour battery life even with a new A5X processor

So all in all a great line up of capabilities setting iPad ahead of the game yet again. Need help on integrating iPad into your business the you should contact us to understand how we can help you.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad