Now that hybrid work is the norm, many organizations are striving to find the perfect solution to bridge the gap between home and office work for their employees.
Overall, we encourage organizations to adopt cloud-native tools that require only an Internet connection to access securely. However, many organizations rely on legacy applications hosted on servers dedicated to their environment. The traditional solution was to VPN into the office, but, as anyone who has ever used one can tell you, not all applications perform well on your remote machine with the server over a VPN.
Another common solution was to deploy a Remote Desktop Services (RDS) server farm in your on-prem environment. However, this setup requires additional management overhead to your IT environment. In addition, it often requires investments in high-bandwidth, redundant Internet for your home office and other expensive data center infrastructure like batteries, generators, and off-site disaster recovery providers.
One solution we’ve found is hosting your legacy servers in Azure and connecting to them with Microsoft’s Desktop-as-a-Service offering, also known as Azure Virtual Desktop.
What is Azure Virtual Desktop?
Azure Virtual Desktop, or AVD, has supercharged Remote Desktop Services by leveraging the power of Azure Cloud. This global network of bleeding-edge data centers is built to a standard that is well beyond a typical setup in your own corporate office. The AVD environment eliminates worries like local construction inadvertently cutting fiber lines, weather events causing power outages, or your IT hardware needing to be replaced due to obsolescence.
AVD is a first-class service that only needs an app or browser to connect. There is no need to remember Remote Desktop host names (e.g., rd.yourcompany.com), buy and renew custom certificates, or manage your session broker servers. AVD simplifies the hosting experience, with end users only needing to use their M365 account login to discover and access your published applications.
What are the Benefits of Azure Virtual Desktop?
With AVD, you can access your desktop or app from any number of different devices. AVD supports all major platforms natively including Windows, Mac OS, Android, and iOS. Not only that but connections are also fully supported on any HTML5-capable web browser, meaning Chromebooks work as well. That means if the device you’re currently working on becomes inaccessible, your virtual desktop is safe and still accessible.
In addition, your company data is safe even if a device is stolen or compromised. If your IT policy allows company data to be downloaded locally to unencrypted devices, whatever platform or form factor, AVD can keep it all safely in Azure. It can even prevent the use of the local clipboard or screenshot tools from getting data in or out of a session.
“Our current servers were approaching end-of-life, which allowed us to really evaluate what our growing business needed. With AVD, we can scale up and down as necessary to support our Field Operations as well as our unique technology stack.”
Tim, President, Electrical Services Provider
If the cost of a laptop these days is hurting your budget, especially if it sits docked with the lid closed most of the time, there are many other options available in an AVD environment. For example, the sole purpose of small-form-factor computers called thin clients is to connect to a virtual desktop, allowing you to take full advantage of this technology. Many thin clients are a fraction of the cost of a mid-range laptop.
Why use AVD?
Our clients who have currently rolled out AVD are reporting significant increases in productivity and versatility as a direct result of the switch. When surveyed, our clients cited increased cybersecurity as the best feature offered by AVD. It is faster, safer, and more versatile, so whether you’re trying to bridge the gap between home and office work, looking for a more flexible device, desiring an extra level of security, or simply wanting to shave a couple of dollars off your bottom line, AVD might be worth further consideration.
For the second year in a row, Microsoft was recognized as a Leader in the 2024 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Desktop as a Service. GadellNet is proud to be a long-standing Microsoft Partner and is excited to offer AVD as an excellent option for making legacy applications accessible and secure in today’s cloud-first world.
If you are interested in learning more about how Azure Virtual Desktop could benefit your organization, contact us today.
