Desktop environments, especially in large organizations, can grow to be complex management challenges in many environments. IT administrators are tasked with numerous assignments, such as antivirus deployment and application patching. At this time, there are great software tools available to help ease the desktop management process. However, with virtualization, there needs to be a mind-shift from desktop management to workload management.

Virtual desktop infrastructures (VDI), with centralized storage and management, has forced IT professionals to look at endpoint devices differently. End-point management has become easier in the sense that a lot of the data is now stored centrally. However, there still needs to be clear visibility to the client machine.

As VDI continues to expand, professionals have to broaden their management minds and focus on making desktops more robust. It has become even more important to understand and manage workloads as the virtualized environment grows.

**Read more by clicking on the TechTarget link below!**

Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies

*As seen on TechTarget.com*

Windows Server 2008R2 has always been a powerful platform. Now, many organizations have begun their own BYOD initiatives. They main idea behind BYOD is to give control of the endpoint device to the end user while managing applications and workloads centrally in the data center. With this in mind, administrators can focus on improving their Windows Server environment – thus also improving the end-user experience.

Still, engineers are beginning to see a logistical workload nightmare in managing these virtual desktops, applications and sessions. The question quickly becomes: How can we manage all of these users, their environment and virtual sessions within our existing Windows Server environment?

**Read more by clicking on the TechTarget link below!**

Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies

*As seen on TechTarget.com*

In today’s evolving virtualized state, there are only a small number of vendors who are able to deliver an entire cloud-ready solution. Citrix’s cloud products allow enterprises to build out a flexible and scalable infrastructure in the cloud and deliver it to the end user.

Utilizing Citrix’s entire product stack – everything from the hypervisor (XenServer) to the desktop delivery controller (XenDesktop) – IT administrators can manage and deliver a powerful solution down to the end-user. Best yet, is that all of the components can be virtual.

**Read more by clicking on the TechTarget link below!**

Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies

*As seen on TechTarget.com*

When it comes to datacenter capacity planning remember this: Acting reactively may cost an environment more than a proactive stance, so advanced planning definitely pays dividends.

Virtualization, integrated with better storage solutions has helped environments save money and improve upon existing capacity needs. For example, workflow automation helps environments gauge needs and spin up servers as needed. With an automated environment, administrators are able to quickly provision and de-provision hardware and virtualized instances as needed.

Advanced technologies that come with new storage controllers allow administrators be much more creative with their environments. Manufacturers such as NetApp has developed a great onboard card utilizing intelligent caching. This 1 TB card, called FlashCache, is able to offload workloads off spinning disks. This, in turn, allows storage engineers to use their space more intelligently. Over-provisioning storage can be very expensive.

**Read more by clicking on the TechTarget link below!**

Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies

*As seen on the TechTarget.com Advisory Board Q&A*

Planning within an IT environment is one of the most important jobs that can be performed. Good IT planning lets engineers reduce costs, increase the likelihood of a successful project and help foresee road bumps in the future. Planning for a deployment or a piece of technology takes time and dedication. Although data center planning exists in full swing, the problem is that the planning phase of a project is sometimes underdone or not fully thought out. Nothing is ever set in stone and the IT world fluctuates daily. So, IT planning will still have its limitations, but knowing how to plan and what to plan for can reduce headaches for managers and engineers alike.

When planning is skipped, overlooked or just sped through, the consequences for a company can be pretty drastic. Imagine rolling out a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for a medium-sized environment. Some planning is done for the project, but it’s certainly not as thorough as it should have been. The project is five months in, 75% of the way through and over 250,000 dollars have been spent on it, when a bombshell drops on the IT manager’s lap indicating that a major system component is not compatible with the new ERP system. To make it compatible, the company would either have to scratch the entire project and start over or put in another four months and an additional 100,000 dollars just to make it work. The issue, as seen in hindsight, is a simple one and could have been easily caught had the planning phase been done properly.

**Read more by clicking on the TechTarget link below!**

Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies

*As seen on the TechTarget.com Advisory Board Q&A*

In almost any environment, managing licenses has never been an easy process. Many times, entire licensing teams are needed to analyze concurrent licensing models, user accounts, various levels of licensing for a given product and upgrade paths for future software packages.

When cloud-based workloads began to appear in many environments, administrators and licensing professionals all realized one very clear challenge: Technology has changed; most licensing structures have not.

With cloud integration, a few issues began to arise: how software is purchased, how it is allocated across instances of the cloud, and how the use of licenses is monitored and tracked.

**Read more by clicking on the TechTarget link below!**

Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies

*As seen on TechTarget.com*

Building a corporate IT test and development lab traditionally meant having to struggle with older hardware, clunky machines and an uncertainty in overall system integrity. As cloud computing technologies have evolved, so have lab environments. And building a test and dev lab in the cloud has its benefits.

Building an entire environment from the ground up for test and development as well as lab work is time consuming, said Rich Brumpton, virtualization director at MTM Technologies, an integration services provider headquartered in Stamford, Conn. Cloud computing allows IT teams to skip the first few steps.

By using pre-existing hardware at a centralized location, engineers can build technologies directly in the cloud with global access. “Using [public or private] cloud-based labs allows for the rapid provisioning and de-provisioning of sometimes valuable resources, ” Brumpton added. Running test and dev in the cloud allows IT managers to ramp up additional resources on-demand — without affecting production environments.

**Read more by clicking on the TechTarget link below!**

Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies

*As seen on TechTarget.com*

Make sure you check out the exciting work that we are doing this morning with the Virtual Desktop Alliance which goes beyond just designing and implementing great virtual computing environments. It reminds me of a favorite quote from John Wooden who said, “You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.”

STAMFORD, Conn., May 12, 2011 — MTM Technologies, Inc. announced today that it is providing a comprehensive solution including services with the Desktop Virtualization Cisco Validated Design (CVD) for Yorkville Food Pantry.

Instead of just responding to a request for a desktop refresh from the Yorkville Food Pantry and their partner ING Commercial Banking in New York, MTM asked to meet with the customer to understand their requirements.  During the discovery process, MTM uncovered Yorkville Food Pantry’s desire for an end to end virtualization solution.  Yorkville Food Pantry needed to create a cost effective, scalable and high performance solution for securing and optimizing the delivery of virtual desktops and applications.  The perfect solution exists in the form of the Desktop Virtualization Cisco Validated Design (CVD) from Cisco, Citrix, Netapp and MTM.  This architecture combines the Cisco Unified Computing System, Citrix desktop virtualization technologies including FlexCast™ and HDX™ technologies and NetApp unified storage.  MTM built a server and desktop virtualization platform that was able to support their business needs efficiently.  MTM provides, as part of their Virtual Desktop Alliance solution, all of the components required for their desktops and servers on a simple flexible infrastructure.

MTM was very pleased to partner with ING Commercial Banking and work with Yorkville Food Pantry to pull together the products needed and to design and plan the solution implementation.  The plan included all the necessary details, including the physical rack and stack tasks, configuration of Netapp storage options, the Citrix XenServer, XenApp and XenDesktop configuration, the Microsoft Active Directory configuration, testing, rollout and knowledge transfer.

Several manufacturer partners were involved to make this project a reality for New York City’s largest community based food pantry.  YPC’s Yorkville Food Pantry Program is designed to meet the needs of families by providing culturally appropriate and nutritionally-balanced food.  MTM could not have done this without the support of its partners – Cisco, Citrix, Netapp, Microsoft, Wyse, Appsense and Trend Micro.  Working with this group of World Class manufacturers allowed MTM to pull together this solution and donate it to an outstanding and worthy cause, Yorkville Food Pantry.

Elaine Clark, Managing Director of Corporate Communications for ING, and who also serves on the Board of Directors for YCP, said, “The Yorkville Common Pantry serves a vitally important function for thousands of New Yorkers and ING is extremely pleased to have been able to facilitate MTM’s generous donation of computer equipment and services that will help to enhance the organization’s operational efficiency.”

“MTM’s donation is reflective of our goal to be responsible corporate citizens and supportive of important charitable causes,” said Steven Stringer, President and CEO of MTM Technologies. “The Yorkville Common Pantry is dedicated to improving the lives of New Yorkers and we are proud that our technology and services will help further their important goal.”

About MTM Technologies

MTM Technologies is a leading national provider of innovative IT solutions and services to Global 2000 and mid-size companies. Partnered with the top-tier technology providers and with offices from coast to coast, our unique solution-based methodology, combined with our experience and expertise, has enabled thousands of industry-leading organizations to effectively address their business needs, optimize the returns on their IT investments, mitigate risk, and focus on growth and profitability. Additional information is available at http://www.mtm.com.

About the Yorkville Common Pantry

The Yorkville Common Pantry (YCP) is dedicated to reducing hunger while promoting dignity and self-sufficiency. YCP champions the cause of the hungry through food pantry and meal distribution programs, nutrition education, basic hygiene services, homeless support, and related services. YCP’s community based programs focus on East Harlem and other underserved communities throughout New York City. More information is available at http://www.ycp.org.

The cost advantages of virtual desktop infrastructures aren’t limited strictly to IT operations. You can also use this technology to lower expenses in other areas, such as selecting and issuing equipment to your employees. With the ability to push a fresh desktop (including Windows 7) to any device – including mobile devices – desktop virtualization provides the backbone for a change in your “standard issue” equipment for your business users.

If you could find a way to issue less expensive devices to your average employee, the cost savings across your company would be substantial. Think about replacing all those laptops with thin-clients, for example. From capital outlay for procurement through ongoing maintenance and replacement, the potential reduction in TCO is enormous.

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Given the many and powerful advantages of a virtual desktop infrastructure, it’s natural to wonder why more companies haven’t adopted it. With Citrix XenDesktop 4, in particular, and its ability to improve Windows 7 rollout and management, you’d expect just about everyone to move to desktop virtualization. Of course, any major change in technology is disruptive – especially when it comes to your desktops. This can impede a value-accretive migration. Overcome these challenges, however, and you can make your IT department more efficient and your business users more productive.

Here are the top three reasons why companies have not adopted virtual desktop infrastructures and what you can do to overcome them:

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