The View From NCS Technologies

As enterprises expand their use of VDI, IT administrators seek to improve reliability and network performance, and reduce complexity and costs. 

Last week's VMWORLD 2015 was a big success!  NCS launched two new zero client products, Cirrus LT Plus 15" notebook and Cirrus DT WiFi desktop zero client.  And, we showcased our popular Cirrus LT 14" notebook zero client, which launched last year, and our enhanced end-to-end VDI solution.  The show was an impressive global gathering of those focused on virtualization, drawing 23,000+ people intensely interested in all things VMware and the ecosystem that supports them. 

As you would expect, this week at VMworld 2015 in San Francisco thousands of IT managers are roaming the floor at Moscone looking for the latest innovations in virtualization. They are looking for better strategies on how to increase the penetration of VDI within organizations in a seamless and cost-effective manner. They want to improve reliability and scalability in the data center, improve network performance, and perhaps most importantly, reduce complexity and costs all the way to the endpoints. 

Our customers approach VDI implementations many different ways. Some IT administrators look at the end-to-end approach, while others have built out a heavily virtualized data center but are only dipping their toes in the water with thin or zero client endpoints.

VDI benefits are understood: improving the reliability and scalability of their investments in storage and compute resources, better network performance, reduced complexity and administrative costs and improved security at the end points (desktop and mobile). But what is your implementation strategy?

In our ongoing discussions with customers, both individually and at trade shows, we find that IT administrators consider a transition to VDI for many reasons, including improving the reliability and scalability of their investments in storage and compute resources in the data center, better network performance, reduced complexity and administrative costs and improved security at the end points (desktop and mobile). 

The U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency's new operational role as network defender creates a formal relationship between DISA, U.S. Cyber Command and the command's military service components. The goal is to improve cyber security, but a successful strategy depends on a matrix of participating organizations adapting technical solutions and adopting enterprise management to improve efficiency, security and reliability. 

This partner community, together with suppliers, will meet at the Baltimore Convention Center next Tuesday through Thursday for the 2015 Defensive Cyber Operations Symposium. NCS Technologies will be there at Booth #5023. We invite you to meet us at the booth!

As has been demonstrated month after month, including news of the latest the December hack into Office of Personnel Management data, hackers never rest in seeking out security vulnerabilities in U.S. government civilian, military and intelligence networks.

3 Cyber Security Solutions Are A Must

At the Cyber Operations Symposium, NCS will demonstrate 3 cyber security technologies which are a must for every government agency.

The first cyber security solution is SecureView. SecureView represents the latest approach to the multi-level network problem. SecureView is a multi-level virtual platform which allows a user to run multiple securely isolated environments on a single PC, provide hardware-enforced security and deliver superior virtualization in the most demanding environments. NCS will demonstrate AFRL-certified solutions featured on the Hardware Compatibility List. 

The next technology which is critical to improved security, manageability and IT efficiency is a comprehensive VDI network solution. NCS will discuss its VDI solutions which includes all three elements (storage, compute & network), software and services, and endpoints.

IT departments remain on a continuous treadmill of cyber defense, updates and patches. Managers realize their networks remain vulnerable at the weakest spot in the perimeter, often a desktop lagging behind on security updates, or an operating system breached because of an exposure to a zero-day vulnerability. This area is the third solution we will discuss and showcase at the Cyber Operations Symposium, virtual PCoIP zero client endpoints. Zero clients provide super strong security on the front lines (at the desktop or laptop). 

This spring, the Department of Defense announced their new cyber protection strategy, which ultimately aims to prevent cyberattacks by nation-states and hacker groups alike. The DoD emphasized the need to strengthen both its cyber defense and cyber deterrence posture in order to best protect against cyberattacks of potentially significant consequence.

Although nation-states, particularly China and Russia, are adept at exploiting holes in security, equally worrisome threats come from hacker organizations affiliated with terror groups or gangs who perpetrate criminal cyberattacks for profit. Hackers of all stripes never rest in seeking out security vulnerabilities, while IT departments remain on a continuous treadmill of cyber defense, updates and patches. IT managers realize their networks remain vulnerable at the weakest spot in the perimeter, often a desktop lagging behind on security updates, or an operating system breached because of an exposure to a zero-day vulnerability. This constant grind leaves cyber security forces overworked and exhausted. 

Although organizations have begun their leap to Virtualization and begin to embrace zero clients more and more, end users still have beefy workstations that they use on a day-to-day basis.

Zero Client Laptop at Cloud Expo Europe

There is growing momentum for moving beyond old-style thin clients to implement the latest generation zero clients as a part of the evolution towards Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). A good example is the UK availability of Cirrus LT mobile PCoIP zero client laptop, announced earlier this week. Cirrus LT is optimized for the UK market and is being showcased this week at the Cloud Expo Europe held in London - the biggest and best attended cloud event in the world.

Research on VDI, thin clients and desktop virtualization inevitably leads to articles on how to deal with latency issues and the end user experience. It only makes sense that pushing data on round trips between client and cloud servers could create some degradation in performance, especially involving bandwidth-hungy applications. Concerns about performance have concerned IT administrators and end users considering significant investments in desktop virtualizaiton products. And an Internet search of these issues uncovers thousands of articles and papers suggesting workarounds.