F5 ... Wednesday: VMware Business Process Desktop and F5 BIG-IP

#vmworld #vdi #byod #infosec #F5 supports VMware’s latest VDI initiative: BPD

When remote office connectivity first became a reality there began to emerge a variety of requirements specific to needs of the business and remote users. Over top of point-to-point VPN connectivity we layered WAN optimization and application acceleration technology, and later more dynamic security policies. Similar to that evolution has been the deployment and use of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). As the business use for VDI continues to evolve and expand, so specific requirements begin to emerge that must be met with new solutions.

Supporting outsourcing has become a critical activity in the quest for operational and financial efficiency. Whether outsourcing non-core activities or combining internal and outsourced teams for collaboration, outsourcing promises organizations significant cost savings and greater business flexibility. To realize these benefits, however, requires careful consideration of a variety of factors both technical and non-technical. Compliance, performance, security, and business continuity are all inter-related concerns that must be addressed to successfully execute on an outsourcing initiative.

Many of these concerns – particularly those regarding the security of data and control of sensitive data – can be addressed through careful implementation of what VMware is calling Business Process Desktop (BPD). VMware defines BPD as “the ability to provide virtual desktops in outsourced environments.” VMware correctly calls this out as a separate desktop initiative precisely because of the myriad legal and security challenges involved with sharing sensitive and regulated data (such as ITAR and EAR data) require more careful attention than is often given to such concerns in a non-outsourced remote environment.

More challenging, however, is supporting both BPD and other remote deployment scenarios (such as BYOD) simultaneously. Distinguishing between employee BYOD and outsourced BYOD, for example, is paramount to being able to apply the appropriate level of security and access lest one run afoul of regulations.

A strategic point of control which enables IT to enforce policies appropriate to the user, device, and status is critical to a successful BPD implementation. Performance and reliability, too, are factors in successful implementation as a failure of either can impede not only outsourced but internal teams as both rely upon the ability to collaborate in real-time.

That strategic point of control is logically the application delivery tier, where F5 BIG-IP provides logical and strategic control over performance, reliability, and access of virtual desktops being delivered to remote and local teams, whether internal or outsourced.

F5 BIG-IP systems comprise a variety of integrated infrastructure services supporting distributed environments such as BPD and provide myriad application delivery services designed to address the challenges of managing BYOD, VDI, and combinations thereof. F5 and VMware have a long history of working together to create complete solutions supporting VMware initiatives from AlwaysOn to Mobile Secure to Business Process Desktop.

As has become the norm, F5 is at VMworld, and you can visit us in Booth # 1101 to see a live multi-site deployment demonstrating our unique virtualization solutions including Single Namespace and Username Persistence support.

And if you aren't attending VMworld, you can follow along and hear what folks have to say all week via Twitter and Facebook.