UCISA: Desktop and Application Virtualisation Seminar The business case for a virtualised desktop...moving away from the annual PC desktop refresh Adrian Ellison Assistant Director, IT Services London School of Economics and Political Science 26 June 2008

About the LSE World class centre for teaching and research across the full range of the social, political and economic sciences Founded in 1895 by Beatrice and Sidney Webb, LSE has an outstanding reputation for academic excellence Unusual university... More than half our students are postgraduates and 65% are from outside the UK

IT at the LSE IT Services is probably one of the more centralised IT services in HE Support c students and c.1700 staff 957 PCs in open access areas c centrally managed staff PCs (1200 “admin” staff)

The “PC classroom”

80+ Applications...

Big, complex applications... CONFLICTS?!

Current Situation - recap Large “monolithic” desktop with 80+ applications updated annually – one size made to fit all! Some of the applications are large and complex and not easily integrated into the environment (e.g. ArcGIS, SPSS, MATLAB) Students need to come onto campus to use an application

Challenges... A “standard” build...? Yeah, right! Over 80 applications - each one requires an MSI – and they have to work together! Timing (can you just add...?) Deployment, patching and upgrades (and that’s only student PCs...!)

Drivers for change 1 99% of our students have their own computer (92% have laptops) and only 80% of student devices are Windows based Desire to deliver applications to students’ own devices Students want a simpler and more “tailored” desktop

Drivers for change 2 Improved remote access – any app from any device, anywhere Flexibility - ease of deployment, easier upgrade (two versions running side-by- side, e.g. MS-Office, new browser?) Ease of support Increased security – staff working remotely... where’s the data...?)

Drivers for change 3 Cost saving - more life out of existing desktop hardware –Replacement hardware can be much lower spec or even thin client –Applications delivered only to those that need them Greener IT? –Thin clients use less power

New and emerging technologies “Advanced” thin client e.g. Sun Secure Global Desktop, Citrix, MS-Terminal Server 2008 Application virtualisation e.g. SoftGrid, Symantec Altiris, VMWare ThinApp Virtual desktop machines e.g. VMWare VDI & ACE, Citrix XenDesktop

LSE Pilot Study 1 Elected to pilot two technologies: Sun Secure Global Desktop (thin client) Microsoft SoftGrid (application virtualisation) [Don’t propose to cover the technologies in detail as that’s what the rest of today is for...]

LSE Pilot Study 2 Selected a number of applications to trial each product with: “Big apps” e.g. ArcGIS, SPSS, MATLAB “Standard apps” e.g. Office, Endnote “Utility” e.g. VLC media player “Hardware/Driver dependent apps” e.g. PDF Creator, CD writer Web browser

Findings: SGD AdvantagesDisadvantages Good x-platform client support with browser based access Always dependent on the network Ability to deliver individual apps to whole desktop environments Poor interoperability between applications (i.e. beyond cut and paste) Sun’s “access tier” provides secure access, load balancing and centralised administration Peripheral support limited (although can map drives and print to PDF) Can deliver applications that originate from a number of different platforms (Windows, Linux, Solaris) Cost No client-side software dependency, users can move from device to device Requires investment in the data centre (performance) Data stays in the data centreOther products now competing? Can incorporate applications into Windows Start Menu

Findings: SoftGrid AdvantagesDisadvantages Dynamically deliver the application on demand (just as much as you need) Applications require “sequencing” to work with SG – some of these proved challenging Once all the application has been delivered, “offline” working becomes possible Can be slow to deliver large applications (SPSS took 20 minutes) Cost: part of the Desktop Optimisation Pack (Campus) Doesn’t work for applications that have dependencies device drivers and/or other applications Policy based management including the ability to “time” applications out Windows only solution Integrates with SMS and Terminal Server

Issues to consider 1 Licensing restrictions – complex area and need to work in partnership with the software vendors Peripheral support – USB devices, cameras, graphics, printers Lowered cost in the PC classroom means higher cost in the data centre Dependency on the network for both technologies

Issues to consider 2 Accessibility vs. security Cross platform support Interoperability between applications

So what next...? Identify your challenges and drivers There is no magic answer – but today will help you understand what’s possible The technology is still developing: –There have been many acquisitions in the market place recently –Gartner: “application virtualization will become a mainstream software deployment style within the next 2-5 years” [G , 16 May 2008] And what about SaaS & application appliances?!

Thanks This presentation wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of colleagues “back home”: –Rick Barns –Ken Clarke –James Hargrave –Louise De-Villiers –Paul Jackson –Danny Simpson –Puneet Singh –Selva Veerappan

Questions? For more information or a copy of this presentation, please contact me at: © 2008 Adrian Ellison, London School of Economics and Political Science