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Warp Speed | Monthly Newsletter

August 2010

Is it a new way for businesses to save money?

Can it work, really?

Is it safe for the business and sensitive information?

What are the real costs?
These are all very valid questions when some of the largest software companies, such as Citrix, are promoting the “Next Wave” of corporate computing – BYOC (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26889537/). 

The concept is to have businesses get out of the desktop and laptop purchasing game and let the employee decide what the best computing interface to perform his (or her) job is. Historically this has been the job of a technical representative and the corporate purchasing office and no matter how much effort is put into this process there are always employees that are not satisfied with the outcome.
I believe this started with the cell phone plan, with companies spending millions of dollars on the company plan and to technologist dismay, the sales person, the field rep, the road warrior, had to have the latest and greatest gadget to be one step ahead.  Purchasing departments gave up and turned to the stipend;” here is your monthly allowance, get what you want and by the way it is now your problem, do not call me.”  Well, that seems to work, so why not your business computer as well…

Employees often state to the service desk (when calling for support) that their home computer runs faster than the company provided one.  So why not let the employee decide what computer they want to work from… So let’s go back to the beginning questions and consider them

Is it a new way for businesses to save money?
Citrix stated in an MSNBC interview that cost savings was a big driver, reducing the cost of purchase and deployment by around 600 dollars per user and removing the ongoing break-fix support by having the user also purchase a 3 year support plan from the manufacturer.  Is this real savings?  Well it is still just a pilot, so they are not sure.

In the average corporate environment the IT department keeps spares on hand. If a computer breaks (hardware) the IT department can usually replace the broken PC quickly and then have warranty support fix the broken unit.  Most times the employee does not lose any information such as emails, documents etc… during this process because the employee keeps these files on a shared directory in the data center.

However on your personal PC, these are kept locally, and when the computer breaks, the support contract does not require the service agent to restore your information, they just have to make your computer work again. Now the employee has to restore the lost apps, and data, equaling time wasted.
My initial feeling is that it is doubtful there are any significant savings in this model.

Can this model really work?
The answer is yes it can, but to be successful you have to spend money up front. Here are a few things that must be in place to protect the business and your clients.

1. Security first and foremost
1.  You must not let your corporate information intermingle with your employee’s personal data.
1. Use Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
2. Citrix Xen APP or Terminal Services (Locked Down)
3. Require Full Disk Encryption
4. A desktop hypervisor to segment portions of the computer between business and personal use
2. Network Segmentation, your Local Area Network, must be able to provide NAC (Network Access Control).  This capability provides segmentation of the network so that when an unsecure computer is connected to the LAN it can only access very specific applications such as terminal services.
2. Performance
1. It will take investment in data center hardware to provide the performance required to keep an employee happy.  While they may enjoy access to Facebook and Gmail on their Mac Book, without a solid performing Virtual Environment, Terminal Service or VDI, the performance of your business related applications will suffer and you will have lost the goodwill and intended reduction in support calls.

Is it safe for the business and sensitive information?
This is not fully flushed out yet.  IT can create a highly secure virtual environment that is accessible everywhere an employee has Internet Access. However, many employees must travel by airline and would like to get ahead of work during that time. I was traveling last month and managed to get on one of the new planes with Internet access, $7.95 per flight, this access was in no way acceptable to perform VDI or Terminal Services. About all I could do was instant Messaging from my WIFI enabled IPhone and that was slow.  So, to solve that problem, you would need to install a local hypervisor on the employee’s computer. Citrix is touting the XEN Desktop Client.  However this only works on certain computers and would defeat the purpose of letting the employee select their own computer.
As of right now, I would place this as a medium risk that most corporate Security Officers would not allow.

What are the real costs?
Taking the numbers from the MSNBC article, Citrix stated they provide a stipend of $2100. But that is only for the Computer and 3 years of hardware support.  You then require:

1.  Data Encryption Licensing
2. Terminal Server Licensing
3. XEN App Licensing
4. XEN App Servers
5. ESX Servers and Licensing
6. VDI Licensing
7. Probably a LAN switch upgrade to support access control
8.  SAN Storage (maybe you already have this but it will likely need to be increased)
9. Some level of desktop hypervisor

All this and your purchasing group will still be in the PC business because there will be situations where you will have a need for a PC, but it is not directly owned or used by just one employee.

After writing this article it makes me sound like I am against BYOC, when in fact I am not. I have been designing IT solutions for 25 years, and most of that time I used my own personal equipment.  There will be appropriate circumstances for BYOC such as aggressive business units trying to attract young entrepreneurial types or startups that have not made an extensive investment in infrastructure. 
I do not see this being adopted broadly in mainstream corporations.   However, with Apple, Citrix and Dell behind it, they can be very persuasive. IT departments need to get prepared now.

For more information about this topic please contact Tracey Brown – CTO of Enterprise Integration.  He can be reached at tbrown@entint.com.

The office of the CTO is a highly experienced team of technologists who provide cutting edge solutions that help companies envision, architect and implement world class IT solutions.  This group is available on a consulting or project basis.  For additional details please contact Tracey Brown at tbrown@entint.com .