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DaaS/IaaS Forum Moscow - Rick Dehlinger
1. DESKTOP AS A SERVICE:
TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS, SUCCESSES AND FAILURES
Rick Dehlinger, CTO
nGenx Corporation (USA)
rick.dehlinger@ngenx.com
@RickD4Real / @nGenxCloud
2. ‘DaaS’: Trials and Tribulations, Successes and Failures
Session Goal
• Share lessons learned, positive and negative, while driving
the evolution of a mature DaaS provider in the USA.
Agenda
• Level set
• “Who are you?”
• “What do you guys do?”
• “Why do I care?”
• Wrap-up
• Questions/Answers
3. Rick… who?
Rick Dehlinger, aka @RickD4Real
• Early adopter of Windows Server/Networking and
Citrix (circa 1995)
• @6 years at Citrix, Enterprise Architect/Engineer
• (short „experiment‟ as Microsoft employee)
• Built and sold consulting company to European
cloud services provider (2008)
• Built and sold second consulting company to nGenx
Corp (2012)
• Claros Systems - multi-tenant desktop/app delivery
practice
3rd visit to Moscow!
4. nGen-a-who?
nGenx Corporation
• @13 year old, privately company with
with telecomunications roots
• Managed/hosted services initially,
„re-born‟ < 2 years ago with focus,
backing, momentum
5. nGen-a-who?
nGenx Corporation
• Primary product - White
Label „DaaS‟ Service
• Serve ISV’s, MSP’s, resellers
6. - WARNING -
Multi-tenant, cloud hosted desktop/app
delivery is not easy.
• Market just starting to mature
• Products/technologies just starting to
mature
• Vendors just starting to mature
• „Classic‟ business models conflicting
Carefully consider options for entry.
7. What business are you/do you want to be in?
„DaaS‟ is _not_ Enterprise VDI or pure consulting
• Enterprise = complexity, one-off needs
• …enemy of scale
• Very different monetization model, business
support systems
• MUCH less control over the point of
consumption
Pick your market, keep your focus
• Consumer? Pro-sumer?
• Small/Medium business?
• Enterprise?
• White Label?
• Telcos? ISV‟s?
8.
9. Desktop = Worthless
“What? Why would you say that?”
• It‟s another application
• Consumes resources
• Settings/preferences to be managed
• It‟s a FAT attack surface (more complex to
secure)
…or is it?
• Market understands it
• …easier entry point to selling
• People understand the desktop
The Desktop is a presentation option for applications
10. Applications = Life Blood
“It‟s all about the applications”, but…
• Applications suck
• Line of business developers are clueless
• Auto-updaters = enemy
BIG challenge – app on-boarding,
maintenance
• Priority management
• Multi-tenancy
• Automation
• Version management
11. Hey Microsoft: Friend or Foe?
Friendly…
• Service provider licensing
• Tech evolution, product integration
• Market development assistance
Not so friendly…?
• Service provider licensing
• Desktop OS‟s. “Use enterprise portability!”
• Office 365
• InTune
• Azure
12. Who do I ‘dance’ with?
Repeat after me: “„DaaS‟ is not Enterprise VDI”
• Cost is a different kind of consideration
What to look for then?
• CSP friendly pricing/licensing models
• Multi-tenant awareness
• “Legs”
• Risk of market consolidation/abandonment
Choose wisely
13. Your Cloud or Mine?
Do you „own‟ the infrastructure?
• Start there, but think long term
• Can I deliver cost-effectively?
• Can I scale? Fast enough?
• Can I provide a quality service (and still
make money)?
Don‟t own it? Consider…
• Leveraging IaaS partnerships
• Cost models? Service levels? Vendor lock-in?
Build for virtual infrastructure agnostic-ness
(challenging, especially time to market)
14. Wrap-Up
Wanna play DaaS?
• „DaaS‟ is not Enterprise VDI
• Desktops? Baaah – applications!
• …so get very good at them
• Microsoft: to love, or not to love
• Infrastrucure: Own it? Use it.
• …at least be thinking of IaaS
• Infrastructure independence: build it (if you can)
at least consider current trends
Consider partnering if time to market is critical
Quick timeline, emphasis on:Consistent focus in Desktop/App Delivery spaceMulti-tenancy shift in consulting practiceAcquisition by nGenx early 2012.
nGenx intro:@13 year old, privately held company.Come from telecom space.Multiple DC’s in midwest USA with Fiber assets scattered throughout.Market ups/downs. Tech/market not ready for consumption until recently.Past – you want it? We’ll give it to you. + - survival. - - baggage to carry/maintain.Re-born @1.5 years ago with renewed focus, financial backing, partner momentum.Bought Claros @1 year ago, built/launched purpose built product platform for reborn company.
nGenx intro:@13 year old, privately held company.Come from telecom space.Multiple DC’s in midwest USA with Fiber assets scattered throughout.Market ups/downs. Tech/market not ready for consumption until recently.Past – you want it? We’ll give it to you. + - survival. - - baggage to carry/maintain.Re-born @1.5 years ago with renewed focus, financial backing, partner momentum.Bought Claros @1 year ago, built/launched purpose built product platform for reborn company.
Are you in the Desktop Virt business? Wade into it. DaaS is different – look at it with a different set of eyes.- Enterprise = complexity. Enterprise = big hit revenue. Is one worth the other?Want to scale? Focus. You can’t do it all.Perhaps a VDI NOT image…
Message: It’s all about the applications. A desktop is a presentation mechanism that consumers understand more easily, making sales simpler, shortening sales cycles. Beware, however:The desktop is another app (explorer.exe) consuming more resources.The desktop is another app, with security holes all it’s own. Don’t under-estimate the challenge of balancing usability with security.Need a sad desktop picture…
Message: It’s all about the applications. A desktop is a presentation mechanism that consumers understand more easily, making sales simpler, shortening sales cycles. Beware, however:The desktop is another app (explorer.exe) consuming more resources.The desktop is another app, with security holes all it’s own. Don’t under-estimate the challenge of balancing usability with security.Need a sad desktop picture…
Follow-up to the worthless desktop: Since it’s all about the appsAuto-updaters: good for un-managed desktops, nightmare for managed and/or virtual ones.AppVirt: duh.Process development, consistency, cadence are challenging.Prioritization = challenge.
DaaS (Hosted Virtual Desktops) currently fastest growing service in their Hosting business (albeit small sized relative to traditional). Interest is good:Driving product innovationDriving market investmentOS/Suite integration, Powershell as langage of infrastructure.Baggage is bad:Competing products/markets shackle them:Windows desktop OSMicrosoft Office/Exchange vs. Office 365InTune vs. SCCMVendor lock-in is double edged sword.
Enterprise products and technologies don’t necessarily fit in the Cloud space. You must look at them with a different perspective…Cost/licensing model: Per-user breaks the deal in many cases, many Enterprise products are licensed/sold this way. Per-user costs must be factored into product/service costs your customer must bear the burden of. Multi-tenancy: not a given for Enterprise products.Brandability: important for WLP platforms like nGenx.
CapEx in ‘stuff’ you own? Drives business to leverage investments, but:Harder to model costs, price products.Is datacenter management what you do?Will you be able to deliver Infrastructure at a reasonable/competitive price?Will you be able to deliver better service than someone who ‘does’ infrastructure?Will you be able to scale when needed to meet demand?Perhaps server closet image, thinking about IaaS in cloud image?
Message: Opposing forces in most orgs. Balancing responsibilities and priorities, conservative vs. aggressive, internal facing vs. external facing. Not an easy balance to find.
