BYOD and virtualization technologies have had a significant impact on the way companies and employees work with business critical apps. These concepts have shifted the IT culture and have been the drivers of the Post-PC era, being pushed by aggressive consumer adoption. The trend, in these years, has been to make access to files stored on any computer, server or cloud, available anywhere, any time, on any personal or mobile device or platform.
IT consumerization has created the need for bring-your-own-device (BYOD) development to focus on a user-centric model. Virtualization is also an important part of today’s IT. Many organizations have been reaping the benefit of using virtualized servers in their data centers. On-demand virtual machines provide faster server deployment. They are engineered to deliver performance and reliability, cut operational costs and improve utilization. Even more, it frees IT managers from deploying, updating, doing backups & recoveries, ensuring operational security and control, which is the responsibility of the Internet hosting services provider.
With more users bringing in their own devices to improve workflow efficiencies, and electing to use a virtualization platform to carry out day-to-day business activities, IT decision-makers have had to concentrate on supporting them at the datacenter level. Regardless of the device or platform, users now want "data-on-demand" wherever and whenever they are. The new model provides greater innovation, better work culture and enhanced productivity, but it also raises security risks and management concerns when it comes to delivering data to the end user. This is where virtualization, the applications that operates within virtual hardware running on a centralized server, comes in to make a difference to simplify the BYOD strategy and avoid the pitfalls of allowing personal devices in the workplace.
The BYOD ecosystem, which “require[s] solid planning, good policies, and educated users,” is here to stay, some may say, since companies need not only to provide access to data and apps but also allow users to carry their personalized settings to whatever device they are using. With BYOD deployment, virtualization can definitely help. A Network Computing post on the subject tells of the following virtualization technologies that can really make the process easier:
Application virtualization has really simplified the BYOD concept. These days, firms are taking it into consideration BYOD programs in their overall mobile strategy. “Now, administrators can simply publish applications on a private cloud environment and let users connect via a secure HTTPS portal. Why is this great? The apps are always stored at the datacenter; the user only sees screen refreshes,” explains the posting.
User virtualization and cloud computing (on any platform -- physical, virtual, cloud, etc.) are allowing the user to run business-critical apps remotely in the datacenter smoothly regardless of their OS, device, or location. “This simplifies user management and creates a powerful and productive experience,” the post explains.
Storage virtualization via cloud adoption can reduce costs, improve efficiency and decrease one’s exposure to data security risks, while offering a BYOD solution that is simpler to manage applications, settings, and other functions, which can reside safely on a segmented storage network, as an Itworld post titled “Cloud adoption pushes storage virtualization” explains.
Network virtualization brings benefits to any BYOD workplace by achieving network isolation in a virtualized environment infrastructure that can be created for users who bring mobile devices into the network via a virtual network interface card (vNIC) connection.
“In many ways, virtualization can unlock the full potential of BYOD by providing access to desktops, applications and data on any mobile device,” conveyed Mobile Business Insights, an IBM (News - Alert)-sponsored blog, in a post entitled “Mobile and virtualization – The dynamic duo for BYOD!”
As with end-user computing, mobility also requires guarding against virtualization security risks, vulnerabilities and unauthorized access. It is vital for SMBs to feel comfortable with the level of protection achieved to enable BYOD without sacrificing the security needs of IT. Enforcing data encryption on devices and using virtual appliances, which can be deployed outside, inside or within a perimeter network (or DMZ) at the facility are apt options for mobile devices that are entering their environment. No matter the size of a company, the infrastructure used to secure the network in today’s and tomorrow’s BYOD world ought to deploy an MDM solution, set in accordance with the corporate BYOD policy to optimize the functionality and security of mobile devices within the enterprise, while simultaneously protecting the corporate network. In brief, MDM tools are essential and should be used to support either a corporate-owned or personally owned device that encapsulates all of the necessary apps and data that are managed centrally by corporate IT.