Citrix Releases CloudGateway 2

Citrix has announced the availability of Citrix CloudGateway 2, including its new MDX mobile experience technology.

With the addition of MDX technology to CloudGateway 2 Citrix provides mobile app technologies that enable centralised management, security and control over native iOS, Android and HTML 5 apps.

The four primary components of MDX include an App Vault, Web Connect (a secure mobile browser technology), Micro VPN (an app-specific secure access technology), and Policy orchestration for granular policy-based control over native mobile and HTML5 apps.

CloudGateway also supports not only native mobile apps delivered through MDX, but also integration with Citrix ShareFile. Using CloudGateway 2 with ShareFile, businesses can give employees access to their files on whichever device they choose through seamless role-based management.

Enterprises need to look beyond managing the device to managing the apps and data. With MDX Technology in CloudGateway, Citrix gives enterprises an end-to-end solution that securely manages the apps and data, leaving device choice to the users. The combination of CloudGateway, Citrix Receiver and ShareFile allows for the support of a mobile workforce while maintaining the right levels of security, control and aggregation of services across multiple delivery technologies (SaaS, Web, Mobile and Virtual).

Rackspace go OpenStack

Rackspace with a number of other contributing organisations have been developing an open platform for cloud services, this activity has been ongoing for over two years now and Rackspace has started offering its hosted servers and databases using the open source OpenStack suite of cloud software, showing that the organisation that is fanatical about support believes that the platform is ready for adoption.

Rackspace currently has over 180,000 customers of its hosted services. The company offers Windows and Linux servers, content delivery network services, and .Net and PHP hosting, all with associated management and monitoring services.

When new customers log into Rackspace to requisition servers, they will interact with Rackspace Open Cloud services, which is based on the OpenStack Nova compute component. Rackspace has run the Swift object storage component of OpenStack for over 2 years for its Cloud Files storage service; it created the technology in-house and then contributed its code when it co-founded the OpenStack project.

Rackspace is not alone in offering OpenStack cloud services. On Wednesday, Hewlett-Packard launched its HP Cloud Object Storage, also based on OpenStack.

Begun two years ago by NASA and Rackspace, the OpenStack project is an effort to create a stack of open source software that can be used to provide IaaS (infrastructure-as-a-service) cloud services, either to customers or for internal use. The project rapidly gained popularity, attracting
at last count the development efforts of over 3,300 programmers and 184 companies.

The OpenStack suite will allows users to provision resources much more quickly than they could have through Rackspace's previous console. An administrator can launch as many as 200 servers in 20 minutes.

Meraki Air Marshal

Equanet has long been involved in partnering with innovative technology companies that add significant value to our customer base.  Meraki is one of those technologies that makes you sit up and take note.  A cloud based Enterprise networking service, that reduces the cost of deployment significantly and keep on innovating at lightening speed can only be a good thing for the industry.

Meraki have done it again with a new firmware update for their MR wireless access points.  The latest release includes Air Marshal, a new integrated suite of real-time wireless intrusion detection and prevention tools. 

Although Air Marshal was developed for exceptionally security-conscious customers such as finance, healthcare, and retailers, it is available to all Merkai customers and can help secure networks of any size.  And, like all Meraki products, Air Marshal runs on Meraki’s cloud infrastructure so configuration and management is easy no matter how large of a network you’re running.

In addition to Air Marshal, this latest release includes a number of performance and mobility enhancements, including an enhanced mobility architecture for improved ultra-fast roaming; high density video streaming optimisations; and new authentication methods for guest access.  

This latest release is available at no cost to all MR customers, and will be rolling out over the next few weeks.

Are you looking at wireless technologies for your business either as a refresh or as part of a tablet strategy?  If so you could do with talking to Equanet to understand your options and architecture.

VMware Acquires Nicira

VMware just announced to have signed a definitive agreement for the acquisition of Nicira, Inc., for approximately $1.05 billion in cash plus $210 million of assumed unvested equity awards.

The parties expect the acquisition to close during the second half of 2012.

Nicira, Inc. is specialised in software-defined networking (SDN) and a leader in network virtualisation for open source initiatives.

VMware is relying on this acquisition to expand its networking capability.

It will be interesting to see any implications this acquisition has on the relationship between VMware and Cisco.

The acquisition of Nicira adds to our portfolio of networking assets and positions VMware to be the industry leader in software-defined networking.

Citrix XenClient Enterprise 4.1 - What's new?

Citrix has long been associated with leading the desktop virtualisation market, one of the key issues has been the need to connect to the network to receive corporate desktop services.  Clearly there has been XenClient to cater for offline VDI in the past but this had a restricted HCL and many doubters.  Citrix has been on the acquisition trail for many years and one of the latest acquisitions to be integrated into the portfolio is Virtual Computer; welcome to XenClient Enterprise.

Citrix has recently announced the first full release of XenClient Enterprise within XenDesktop Enterprise and Platinum.

What does this mean to you?  Citrix have cited the following benefits:

9X More Devices Supported

• XenClient now supports more PCs than ever before with an increased hardware compatibility list (HCL).
• Support for desirable devices including Ultrabook™ systems and the latest 3rd generation Intel® Core™ processor systems
• 3G/4G modem support, enabling users to make full use of their XenClient PCs.

Enterprise-Class Management Scalable to Thousands of Endpoints

• Open, scalable backend management system supported on all industry standard server hypervisors – Hyper-V, vSphere, and XenServer.
• Enterprise level scalability supporting thousands of endpoints for large deployments in multiple locations and geographies.
• Enhanced policies and role-based administrative control deliver the granularity IT needs to manage XenClient effectively.

Easier to use

• In-guest controls make XenClient feel more like native Windows to end users, so they can manage wireless networks, mouse settings, and other controls from within Windows, and IT can hide the hypervisor from less sophisticated users.
• Automated over the air upgrades let XenClient update itself with no intervention needed from the end user.
• A  ’Connect’ environment for quick-boot access to the web, with Google Chrome included.

It is worth remembering though that desktop virtualisation is not about technology it is about users and processes.  If you're looking for an innovative approach to desktop services then please contact us to learn how our approach can help simplify your end user computing architecture.

Microsoft integrates cloud deeply into Office 2013

Microsoft took the lid off Office 2013 yesterday at a press conference in San Francisco and showed it's intention around integrating with cloud.  The new version of Microsoft Office integrates seamlessly with cloud services, can edit PDFs and is built for Windows 8 (both tablets and PC's).

A preview of the new version was unveiled at an event in San Francisco. Steve Ballmer, claimed the software was “a new generation that brings some of the same boldness and beauty that we’ve shown you in Windows 8 and Windows Phone”. He added, “This is the most ambitious release of Microsoft office that we’ve ever done”, and emphasised that it was aimed as much at students, busy families and consumers as it was aimed at businesses.

The suite of applications, including Word, Outlook, Excel, OneNote and PowerPoint have all been updated to include touch interfaces to cater for users who have phones and tablets. Although note-taking programme OneNote has been comprehensively redesigned to include touch support, the bulk of the applications have been polished to improve their overall functionality so they work better on both tablets and PCs.

Microsoft Word can now edit PDFs as well as save in the Adobe format, and has added the ability to embed YouTube clips more easily. Users are encouraged to log on so that all devices, from tablets to phones or PCs, return directly to exactly the same point when a document is reopened. A ‘reading mode’ has also been added to encourage tablet users to read more on their devices. All programmes will now integrate with Microsoft’s cloud storage system, SkyDrive, to offer permanently up-to-date and easily accessible documents.

Microsoft Outlook has been altered so that ‘peaks’ of the calendar or contact details can be layered on top of the main mail window, allowing users to keep Outlook as their entire main screen on either tablets or PCs. New add-on applications can also automatically scan emails for addresses and show locations, or look for suggested meetings and generate appointments.

PowerPoint now has an enhanced presentation mode, too, allowing users to project their documents onto a screen while simultaneously viewing their notes and slides on a tablet or PC. 

Microsoft has also added more social networking elements aimed at businesses, allowing users to ‘follow’ colleagues and documents and tasks as they might follow friends or brands on Facebook. The company recently purchased business social network Yammer, and will also integrate its other purchase, Skype, allowing calls and instant messaging to be built directly into Office software. Collaboration has been augmented with new video conferencing and live collaborative document editing tools.

Microsoft will sell Office 2013 as a standalone piece of software, and will also offer its subscription-based Office 365 software in parallel. 

With the coming version of Office, the centrepiece is cloud. In this case, the "cloud" means Office 365, which is the Microsoft-hosted back-end suite of SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, Lync Online  It also means SkyDrive, its personal-cloud storage service. Additionally, it means support for roaming settings, which can move with users across devices, as well as the ability to stream Office components to new PCs (and remove them later) using Office on Demand.

This does indeed look like a very innovative change of a core Microsoft product with the challenge of supporting multiple devices and gestures. This clearly is a big year for Microsoft with the plethora of new technology they are bringing to the market. We think you will like it, but dont take our word for it try it for yourself here.

Happy Birthday Office 365

This week saw the first anniversary of Microsofts Office 365 and in that year Microsoft has seen many, many organisations adopt the collaboration platform across public and private sectors. And this is certainly a trend Equanet are seeing further enforced this week at our Microsoft Windows 8 and Cloud event.

A further announcement this week was the availability of Office365 for Education to officially replace Live@@EDU.

Office 365 for Education replaces Live@edu, which will remain available for 18 more months to give its customers -- about 10,000 educational institutions with about 22 million students in about 130 countries -- a window for planning and carrying out the migration.

Although Office 365 is a cloud-based suite, it can require upgrades to customers' desktops and infrastructure depending on the case.

The first thing to keep in mind is that while Live@edu and Office 365 for Education are conceptually designed to serve the same type of customer, they have several different components.

Live@edu, which is free, includes Outlook Live for email, Office Web Apps, Windows Live Messenger for instant messaging and Windows Live SkyDrive for 25GB of online data storage.

Office 365 for Education comes in a variety of packages. The free, standard one, called A2, includes Exchange Online, Lync Online, SharePoint Online and Office Web Apps.

The Office 365 Exchange Online component is basically the same as Live@edu's Outlook Live, so transferring from one to the other should be fairly straightforward.

Should you want to onboard The A2 plan, which includes the online versions of Office, Lync and SharePoint, or the fee-based and more sophisticated A3 and A4 plans, they must sign a new Microsoft Online Services agreement or a current Volume Licensing Agreement.

Live@edu users will be able to retain their SkyDrive accounts even after the suite is decommissioned .

The Office 365 for Education Plan A2 includes the online version of Office 2010, called Office Web Apps, instant messaging and conferencing via Lync Online, collaboration capabilities via SharePoint Online, email and calendar via Exchange Online, antivirus and anti-spam protection and individual storage.

Plan A3 costs £1.98per student per month, and £3.50 per faculty/staff per month, and includes everything in Plan A2 plus additional components, including the full-featured desktop version of Office 2010 Professional Plus and voicemail service.

Plan A4, at £2.38 per month per student and £4.75 per month per faculty/staff, adds voice communications.

So if you are a Live@EDU user and need help migrating your infrastructure to Office 365 you would be well placed to contact us to see how we can help.

One Pane of Glass Many Devices to Manage

As the noise of BYOD and Consumerisation continues to increase in volume and interest the number of tools to manage such a diverse range of devices typically increases too.  Hopefully the latest news from Airwatch is a trend that will continue.  Historically MDM providers have looked to offer support and governance to tablet style devices.  Airwatch has just announced announced its mobile security solution now supports devices running Mac OS X Lion.

With this new release, IT administrators can maintain security across both iOS and Mac OS X Lion operating systems to ensure consistent policies and profiles throughout their organisation. This new update also enables organisations to manage corporate liable, employee liable (BYOD) or shared Mac OS X Lion devices throughout the entire device lifecycle. As part of the company’s commitment to the Mac platforms, AirWatch plans to support the new features in Apple’s upcoming Mac OS X 10.8 release.

The initial OS X management release includes MDM capabilities for web-based enrolment; commands to remotely lock and wipe devices; and device and application list query. Support for profile management capabilities include:

1. Passcode and policy settings
2. Email (POP, IMAP, SMTP) and exchange settings
3. Wi-Fi and VPN configurations
4. Certificates and simple certificate enrollment protocol (SCEP)
5. Lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP), calendaring extensions to WebDAV (CalDAV) and contact extensions to WebDAV (CardDAV)
6. Webclips
7. Custom profiles 

Equanet has an end-to-end tablet capability from strategy definition through to implementation and support.  So if you are looking at BYOD using a cross platform of Mac devices we can help you design, implement and support it.

Contact us to learn more.

Welcome to Microsoft's Surface Tablet

So Microsoft has unveiled it's first foray in the physical tablet world with what it is calling Surface. This is a very smart move and will come in two operating system standards; WindowsRT and Windows 8 Pro.

Steve Ballmer was quoted as saying: “It was always clear that what our software could do would require us to push hardware, Much like Windows 1 needed the mouse, we wanted to give Windows 8 its own hardware.”

Surface is designed to work as both tablet and PC. The features are impressive too, the ones we are hearing about are:

• Very thin, (9.3mm for Windows RT and 13.5mm for the Pro version.)


• Both have two full size USB ports


• Micro SD port on the side of the RT version


• MicroSDXC port of the Pro version for adding data to the device


• Surface has a 10.6-inch 16:9 widescreen HD display screen.


• Made of Gorilla Glass -– an ultra-strong glass.


• A built-in kickstand on the rear of the tablet to keep it upright


• A Touch Cover for the device protects the screen, and is connected via magnets


• The inside of the 3mm cover doubles as a fully functional keyboard with a built-in trackpad


• Surface running Windows RT comes with 32 GB and 64GB sizes


• Surface running Windows 8 Pro will be available in 64 GB and 128 GB sizes.

Pretty good start if you ask us, oh and don't forget you can also have access to a full native local desktop. Something your users will be happy to see.

The video below is the introduction to the Surface Tablet, enjoy.

Not long now until Microsoft's announcement

So, the location is now known in LA (Milk Studios).  We just need to know the announcements to be made. There are plenty of rumours doing the round one of which is a Windows 8 Based Tablet with the newly announced SmartGlass technology.

Today's event almost certainly includes some sort of tablet device whether it's an iPad compete, a glorified e-reader, a sub-$500 device or something else entirely different.  It's fairly safe to assume that whatever device it is will be running some version of Windows 8, likely Windows RT.  Still, it also seems likely that the implementation will be different than the plans for third-party licensing partners.  Smartglass certainly would be a big announcement on a tablet device.

This is why many expect Microsoft to announce an Xbox SmartGlass enabled tablet, designed to interface seamlessly with the Xbox 360 as well as other Windows 8 devices.  A tablet designed to integrate seamlessly with Xbox Live. It would look similar to the iPad, but connect seamlessly to the new Xbox Music and access video from various Xbox Entertainment apps.  If you combine that with web browsing and web chat that becomes a very interesting consumption device to enter into the market.

And it might just look like this:

Anyway only a couple of hours to wait and see what Microsoft has up its sleeve!