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Focus on 2012: 5 key areas in Enterprise IT

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From in-house to consultancy: moving to the ‘dark side’

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IT consultants should drop the ITIL clichés to win clients over

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IT Support: grow-your-own or buy organic?

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Where is that ‘cultural change’ which makes ITSM Best Practice effective?

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Executive exceptions: Best Practice killers or just business as usual?

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Desktop Virtualisation: Still not a perfect View

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What is the impact of the Cloud on the existing IT environment?

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Private vs. public sector IT security: more dedicated staff, yet less awareness

(03 March 2011)

Surviving IT spending cuts in the public sector

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10 things we learnt in 2010 that can help make 2011 better

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IT workforce continuity

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Minimising IT downtime for finance professionals

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ITIL V3 – should you bother?

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Taking the third option

(25 October 2010)

The peculiarities of Metro Bank’s IT outsourcing model

(19 October 2010)

Saving ITIL – how to protect the reputation of Best Practice frameworks

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5 tips for moving Disaster Recovery to the Cloud

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Does the future of business mobile computing lie in hybrid tablet devices?

(27 September 2010)

How many police officers does it take to email 10,000 criminal records to a journalist by accident?

(15 September 2010)

The perils of commoditising IT Support

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Life after ITIL – creating a culture of Continual Service Improvement

(02 August 2010)

10 reasons to migrate to Exchange 2010

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Are you Off-Sure about your IT Service Desk?

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Mind the skill gap

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Microsoft should fear not – is Apple even in the same league?

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Is your IT Service Desk future proof?

(22 June 2010)

The quest for a portable office - are all mobile devices safe for work?

(21 June 2010)

Will Tablets rule the future?

(16 June 2010)

Getting back to work - but with a service provider.

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Cloud computing: how to minimise lock-in risks

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Public sector, private data - is outsourcing the Service Desk too risky?

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Doing more with less: an opportunity to learn

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Sharing the IT Service Desk: sharing cost, sharing quality

(03 May 2010)

So, Microsoft outsources IT support – What’s all the fuss about?

(27 April 2010)

Survey reveals 1/3 of UK organisations put off Windows 7 roll-out, but are they wise to wait?

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Is information safe enough at NHS trusts?

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Best Practice and Virtualisation: essential tools in Business Resilience and Continuity planning

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5 thoughts on the IT Service Desk that need re-thinking

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Microsoft System Center Service Manager 2010: a credible challenger in the Service Management software market?

(17 February 2010)

Do you really want to lose (inter)face?

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A new lease of IT life

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From ITIL v2 to v3 – where to start?

(08 February 2010)

Can you afford not to invest in Best Practice?

(02 February 2010)

Experiential Learning explained through Confucius

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Quick win, quick fall if you fail to plan ahead

(11 January 2010)

Cloud computing – Help your IT out of the Tetris effect

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One of you may be fired

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Hot or not. ..Says who?

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2012: avoiding the IT Apocalypse

(03 December 2009)

Punishment alone does not work

(03 August 2009)

HSBC Data Loss

(26 July 2009)

ITIL for ITILs sake

(02 June 2009)

VDI and Windows 7

(06 May 2009)

The art of deception

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VDI - the revolution begins...

(04 May 2009)

Wake up and tackle the real VDI issues!

(24 March 2009)

ITIL Version 3

(18 February 2009)

Virtualisation - making the headlines

(18 February 2009)

Batten down the Hatches!

(18 February 2009)

Overcome the Freeze

(10 January 2007)

VDI and Windows 7

Posted in Information Security on 06 May 2009 by

Windows 7 came firmly onto the radar last week as Microsoft made Release Candidate 1 available for general download. In doing so, they're following a new path - firstly by making a Release Candidate so publicly available and secondly allowing people to use it unfettered until 1^st March 2010. That's a long time for a free (albeit non release) operating system. Many IT departments will view the release with mixed feelings.  On the one hand, it gives even less reason to consider a move to Windows Vista, but on the other reinforces the fact that Windows XP is mortal and entering its twilight. To be fair, there's not a lot wrong with Vista - many people will be running it on their home machines, but it was a change that most commercial organisations didn't need. Windows 7 improves on Vista, and companies are already talking about it as their target desktop O/S.  But changing from the well known Windows XP will always involve an element of pain.

That's where virtualising the desktop might help. VDI is getting a lot of attention at the moment, and it's likely that many organisations will look at a move to Windows 7 as a time to consider changing their desktop delivery model. However, here's the conundrum. You could potentially alleviate the pain of a Windows 7 migration by having already virtualised your desktop.  With a virtual desktop environment, users can be switched quickly to Windows 7 and switched back with little pain if there are problems. You could even give people the ability to run the systems side by side for a while during the transition. It's certainly worth thinking about.  Windows XP mainstream support finished last month, which means the clock is already ticking. If you're not currently thinking about what you do with your desktops going forward, you probably should in the near future.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx

Adrian Polley, CEO, Plan-Net plc

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