Microsoft’s Windows Into Azure Plan Breaks Legacy Desktop Deployment Model

“We are moving to a world where Windows will be consumed out of Azure with the best security, economics and performance,” said IGEL North America CEO Jed Ayres. “If you can’t find a way to add value to that, you are cooked.”

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Microsoft’s plan to aggressively move Windows and Windows security updates into Azure as part of its Windows Virtual Desktop charge is set to wreak havoc on MSPs that stand pat with the 34-year-old legacy Windows operating system device distribution model, according to top industry executives.

Window Virtual Desktop (WVD), which became generally available Sept. 30, brings the same kind of Azure shift to Windows and Windows updates that Microsoft achieved by moving the Office software SKU to the cloud with Office 365, said top industry virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) executives.

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“This is a historic moment in the history of computing,” said Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL North America, which is making a huge investment to support WVD with its secure Linux-based lightweight, endpoint operating system. “MSPs and solution providers just don’t understand the implications of Windows Virtual Desktop. Over the last 34 years Microsoft has come out with 16 different versions of their operating system. That is over. For the first time ever, Microsoft is leaning into delivering Microsoft Windows from Azure with WVD. The same play Microsoft ran over the last five years on Office they are now running on Windows.”

Ayres sees a “perfect storm” that is set to move WVD into mind-boggling hyper-growth, conservatively estimating 50 million customers moving to WVD over the next three years. That’s based in large part on the enormous cost savings Microsoft is making available with the Azure Windows experience. Those economics translate into what Microsoft is touting as 70 percent savings in infrastructure, 60 percent licensing cost savings and 60 percent savings on labor costs. That’s the kind of economic disruption that was last seen in the industry when VMware introduced server virtualization, forever changing the corporate computing landscape, said Ayres.

“Microsoft is essentially in real time virtualizing Windows,” said Ayres.”They own the Windows code, can make changes at will and they own the backplane it is running on in Azure. They are going to be able to do things with VDI that competitors could never even dream of. Multisession allows you to run multiple users on a single VM [virtual machine]. That is a massive breakthrough. It brings the cost of end-user infrastructure down by as much as 80 percent.”

Ayres said Microsoft is effectively creating an economic model that drives Azure at warp speed as the “preferred consumption” model for Windows desktops for small businesses to the biggest global enterprise customers. “Microsoft owns the OS, the licensing, the storage and the compute this is going to run on,” he said. “They have all the variables at their disposal to make this very attractive. Every enterprise is going to have to entertain this model because of the flexibility, security and cost advantages. It is going to drive a new Windows revolution.”

The biggest potential losers in the new Azure Windows consumption model will be MSPs and even security endpoint vendors that have made “billions of dollars” through the years “securing, patching, managing and selling fat Windows clients,” said Ayres. “Anyone that has a business around patching, managing and securing Windows is going to be under siege as Microsoft extracts as much of that up into Azure as they possibly can.”

Microsoft, in fact, is touting the security benefits of WVD with agile, instant security updates backed up by what it calls a $1 billion annual cybersecurity investment and 3,500 full-time security professionals.

Ayres, who has transformed IGEL into a next-generation edge operating system software company for cloud workspaces, sees the writing on the wall and is embracing WVD. IGEL, in fact, is enabling Windows Virtual Desktop to run on its lightweight Linux distribution.

“We’re providing something very important to this Windows Azure equation—a purpose-fit Linux with all of the security, tools and support that customers need to make this work,” he said. “Windows is going to be best be delivered out of Azure, and we are the best positioned to take advantage of that. We have three decades of experience doing OS integration. Linux is going to be a very healthy choice on the edge because it is inexpensive, very secure and much easier to manage.”

Microsoft is using attractive licensing terms to drive the Azure Windows experience. In fact, many customers are already eligible to deploy WVD. Customers are eligible to access Windows 10 Single and multisession and even Windows 7 with WVD if they own one of the following licenses: 365 Business; 365 F1; 365 E3/E5; 365 A3/A5 Student Use Benefits; Windows 10 Enterprise E3/E5; Windows 10 VDA per user; and Windows 10 Education A3/A5. Customers are also eligible to access server workloads with WVD if they have an RDS Client Access License (CAL) with active Software Assurance.

Ayres sees WVD pushing millions and millions of customers into the Azure Windows consumption model. One of the biggest prospective sales targets: 70 million customers still running on Windows 7 who will start to be charged for support of the operating system effective Jan. 14, 2020. “You can run Windows 7 in Azure with WVD,” said Ayres. “Microsoft has customers trying to get off Windows 7 boxed into a corner.”

Ayres, who spent 20 years as a top executive at several CRN Solution Provider 500 companies including MCPc, MTM Technologies and GE Capital IT Solutions, said the first order of business for MSPs and resellers that have not aggressively implemented a cloud services model is to get educated on WVD.

“Solution providers need to wake up,” he said. “If you think you are going to be able to make a lot of money installing Windows on hardware with a life-cycle management model, you are sadly mistaken. We are moving to a world where Windows will be consumed out of Azure with the best security, economics and performance. If you can’t find a way to add value to that, you are cooked. MSPs need to fully understand the implications of WVD and how they can participate in what is a once-in-three-decades transformation.”

CloudJumper, which makes orchestration and management software that dramatically lowers the cost and complexity of deploying and running WVD, is launching a massive channel sales offensive to get MSPs and partners on board, said CloudJumper President JD Helms.

“This changes the MSP world,” said Helms. “Think about it. You can now take your entire computing infrastructure and your line-of-business applications and move them into a native secure Azure environment with a subscription and licensing model that is already included with Office 365. This is the biggest shift in end-user computing since Windows 95. Why would you want anything on-premises anymore? If your business is built around patching and supporting end users, you better get a new business model because that is going away in the next three to five years.”

Among the channel talent that Helms has brought on board recently to capture the mega-WVD MSP opportunity are Chief Operating Officer Frank Picarello, former COO of MSP powerhouse TeamLogic IT; Director of MSP Programs Mike Celayeta, a former vice president of technology alliances for TeamLogic IT; Vice President of Strategic Alliances Robin Brandl, former business development manager for VMware; Paul Finn, a former IGEL sales executive who is overseeing solution integrator sales; Jim DeFlumeri, a 17-year channel veteran who will support MSPs; and Mark Foust, a 17-year Microsoft veteran as vice president of sales.

With the new MSP sales talent, Helms expects to double the WVD business over the next 18 months. “We have doubled down on the channel,” he said. “We are incredibly excited about the growth opportunity in front of us. We just want to do it right and make sure our partners are successful. That’s why we have brought on board all this new talent. They have done this dance before and can help lead this WVD drive.”

Besides the enormous cost savings for clients, Helms sees a huge reduction in the cost of managing end-user environments for MSPs. “It’s a game-changer for MSPs because of the automation that it brings to the MSP model,” he said. “This lowers an MSP’s cost of support by as much as 80 percent. “

Helms says he believes many MSPs are “complacent” and don’t understand the full implications of WVD. In fact, he sees MSPs that fail to embrace WVD going the way of Blockbuster video. “Blockbuster—which was providing on-premises VHS cassette tapes—had a great business model until Netflix came along and moved movies into the cloud,” he said. “Now Blockbuster no longer exists. My message to MSPs is, ‘Don’t be Blockbuster. Move to the Netflix model, which is CloudJumper with Windows Virtual Desktop.’”

One of the solution providers moving aggressively to capture the WVD opportunity is Entisys360, No. 132 on the 2019 CRN Solution Provider 500, one of top VDI solution providers in the country and five-time Citrix Systems Partner of the Year.

“We are making WVD part of every conversation that we have,” said Al Solorzano, vice president of end-user computing for Entisys360. “We are excited by the concept and ideas that Microsoft is bringing to the table with WVD, including Multi-Session Windows 10 and the Office 365 optimizations. It would be foolish for any partner or customer to ignore WVD. There are huge benefits to the entire industry. This is the first time customers are going to see the benefits of public cloud like built-in security and scale in their virtual desktop infrastructure.”

For phase one of its game plan, Entisys360 is providing proof-of-concept services for WVD and a Citrix cloud with a WVD offering, said Solorzano. The next step is a full suite of managed services around WVD, he said. “If we do our job effectively, we are going to see a large increase in our Azure consumption business.”

IGEL’s Ayres, for his part, expects WVD to drive Azure consumption at a breakneck pace. “How has [Microsoft CEO] Satya Nadella made Microsoft one of the most valuable tech companies in the world? It comes down to one word: Azure,” he said. “Windows Virtual Desktop is the ultimate way to consume Windows. It is going to be the most economical way with the best security, performance and features.”

Microsoft’s Windows Into Azure Plan Breaks Legacy Desktop Deployment Model

Microsoft’s plan to aggressively move Windows and Windows security updates into Azure as part of its Windows Virtual Desktop charge is set to wreak havoc on MSPs that stand pat with the 34 year old legacy Windows operating system device distribution model, according to top industry executives.

Window Virtual Desktop (WVD), which became generally available on Sept 30, brings the same kind of Azure shift to Windows and Windows updates that Microsoft achieved by moving the Office software sku to the cloud with Office 365, said top industry VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) executives.

This is a historic moment in the history of computing,” said Jed Ayres, the CEO of IGEL North America, which is making a huge investment to support WVD with its secure Linux based lightweight, endpoint operating system. “MSPs and solution providers just don’t understand the implications of Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD). Over the last 34 years Microsoft has come out with 16 different versions of their operating system. That is over. For the first time ever Microsoft is leaning into delivering Microsoft Windows from Azure with WVD. The same play Microsoft ran over the last five years on Office they are now running on Windows.”

Ayres sees a “perfect storm” that is set to move WVD into mind boggling hyper-growth, estimating conservatively 50 million customers moving to WVD over the next three years. That’s based in large part on the enormous cost savings Microsoft is making available with the Azure Windows experience. Those economics translate into what Microsoft is touting as a 70 percent savings in infrastructure; 60 percent licensing costs savings and a 60 percent savings on labor costs. That’s the kind of economic disruption that was last seen in the industry when VMware introduced server virtualization- forever changing the corporate computing landscape, said Ayres.

“Microsoft is essentially in real time virtualizing Windows,” said Ayres.”They own the Windows code, can make changes at will and they own the backplane it is running on in Azure. They are going to be able to do things with VDI that competitors could never even dream of. Multi-session allows you to run multiple users on a single VM (virtual machine). That is a massive breakthrough. It brings the cost of end user infrastructure down by as much as 80 percent.”

Ayres said Microsoft is effectively driving an economic model that drives Azure at warp speed as the “preferred consumption” model for Windows desktops for businesses of all sizes from small businesses to the biggest global enterprise customers. “Microsoft owns the OS, the licensing, the storage and compute this is going to run on,” he said. “They have all the variables at their disposal to make this very attractive. Every enterprise is going to have to entertain this model because of the flexibility, security and cost advantages. It is going to drive a new Windows revolution.”

The biggest potential losers in the new Azure Windows consumption model will be MSPs and even security end point vendors that have made “billions of dollars” through the years “securing, patching, managing and selling fat Windows clients,” said Ayres. “Anyone that has a business around patching, managing and securing Windows is going to be under siege as Microsoft extracts as much of that up into Azure as they possibly can.”

Microsoft, in fact, is touting the security benefits of WVD with agile, instant security updates backed up by what it calls a $1 billion annual cybersecurity investment, and 3,500 full time security professionals.

Ayres, who has transformed IGEL into a next generation edge operating system software company for cloud workspaces, sees the writing on the wall and is embracing WVD with reckless abandon. IGEL, in fact, is enabling Windows Virtual Desktop to run on its lightweight Linux distribution.

“We’re providing something very important to this Windows Azure equation – a purpose fit Linux with all of the security, tools and support that customers need to make this work,” he said. “Windows is going to be best be delivered out of Azure and we are the best positioned to take advantage of that. We have three decades of experience doing OS integration. Linux is going to be a very healthy choice on the edge because it is inexpensive, very secure and much easier to manage.”

Microsoft is using attractive licensing terms to drive the Azure Windows experience. In fact, many customers are already eligible to deploy WVD. Customers are eligible to access Windows 10 Single and multi-session and even Windows 7 with WVD if they own one of the following licenses: 365 Business; 365 F1; 365 E3/E5; 365 A3/A5 Student Use Benefits; Windows 10 Enterprise E3/E5; Windows 10 VDA per user and Windows 10 Education A3/A5. Customers are also eligible to access server workloads with WVD if they have and RDS Cal with active Software Assurance.

Ayres sees WVD pushing millions and millions of customers into the Azure Windows consumption model. One of the biggest prospective sales targets: 70 million customers still running on Windows 7 who will start being charged for support of the operating system effective January 14, 2020. “You can run Windows 7 in Azure with WVD,” said Ayres. “Microsoft has customers trying to get off Windows 7 boxed into a corner.”

Ayres,who spent 20 years as a top executive at several SP500 companies including MCPc, MTM Technologies and GE Capital IT Solutions,says the first order of business for MSPs and resellers that have not aggressively implemented a cloud services model is to get educated on WVD.

“Solution providers need to wake up,” he said. “If you think you are going to be able to make a lot of money installing Windows on hardware with a lifecycle management model, you are sadly mistaken. We are moving to a world where Windows will be consumed out of Azure with the best security, economics and performance. If you can’t find a way to add value to that you are cooked. MSPs need to fully understand the implications of WVD and how they can participate in what is a once in three decades transformation.”

“This changes the MSP world,” said Helms. “Think about it. You can now take your entire computing infrastructure and your line of business applications and move them into a native secure Azure environment with a subscription and licensing model that is already included with Office 365. This is the biggest shift in end user computing since Windows 95. Why would you want anything on premise anymore? If your business is built around patching and supporting end user you better get a new business model because that is going away in the next three to five years.”

Among the channel talent that Helms has brought on board recently to capture the mega-WVD MSP opportunity are: new Chief Operating Officer Frank Picarello, former COO of MSP powerhouse TeamLogic IT; new Director of MSP Programs Mike Celayeta, a former vice president of technology alliances for TeamLogic IT; new Vice President of Strategic Alliances Robin Brandl, former business development manager for VMware;Paul Finn, a former IGEL sales executive who is overseeing solution integrator sales; Jim DeFlumeri, a 17 year channel veteran who will support MSPs and Mark Foust, a 17 year Microsoft veteran as vice president of sales.

Besides the enormous cost savings for clients, Helms sees a huge reduction in the cost of managing end user environments for MSPs. “It’s a game changer for MSPs because of the automation that it brings to the MSP model,” he said. “This lowers an MSPs cost of support by as much as 80 percent. “

Helms says he believes many MSPs are “complacent” and don’t understand the full implications of WVD. In fact, he sees MSPs that fail to embrace WVD going the way of Blockbuster video. “Blockbuster – which was providing on premise VHS cassette tapes – had a great business model until Netflix came along and moved movies into the cloud,” he said. “Now Blockbuster no longer exists. My message to MSPs is don’t be Blockbuster move to the Netflix model which is CloudJumper with Windows Virtual Desktop.”

One of the partners moving aggressively to capture the WVD opportunity: Entisys360, No. 132 on the CRN SP500, one of top VDI solution providers in the country and five time Citrix partner of the year.

“We are making WVD part of every conversation that we have,” said Al Solorzano, vice president of end user computing for Entisys360. “We are excited by the concept and ideas that Microsoft is bringing to the table with WVD including Multi-Session Windows 10 and the Office 365 optimizations. It would be foolish for any partner or customer to ignore WVD. There are huge benefits to the entire industry. This is the first time customers are going to see the benefits of public cloud like built in security and scale in their virtual desktop infrastructure.”

For phase one of its game plan, Entisys360 is providing a proof of concept services for WVD and a Citrix cloud with WVD offering, said Solorzano. The next step is a full suite of managed services around WVD, he said. “If we do our job effectively we are going to see a large increase in our Azure consumption business.”

Ayres, for his part, expects WVD to drive Azure consumption at a break neck pace. “How has (Microsoft CEO) Satya Nadella made Microsoft one of the most valuable tech companies in the world? It comes down to one word: Azure,” he said. “Windows Virtual Desktop is the ultimate way to consume Windows. It is going to be the most economical way with the best security, performance and features.”