ShamSao's Blog

The Ultra Ultrabook

Posted on April 1, 2012 by shamsao

There’s no doubt that the PC is evolving. As snazzy new devices such as iPads have started to make significant strides, new PCs are arriving on the market with their own sizzle.

While devices like iPads are great for consuming content (reading magazines, newspapers, books, emails, browsing), they are pretty terrible for getting any real work done.

Enter the Ultrabook

Intel did an amazing job moving the entire PC industry along by defining a new category of laptops that offer both performance and style.

This new category of laptop must be engineered to high-performance specifications set by Intel – including critical metrics for weight, thickness, speed, and battery life.

This puppy is going to give the MacBook Air a real run for it’s money! But what about iPads? Well, the form factor is still a bit different, but what if…

The Ultra Ultrabook

What if you took an Ultrabook to the next level and added capabilities akin to what the Asus Transformer Prime offers?

What if you could pull off the top and have a tablet, and then attach it back to the base and have a fully functioning laptop?

One amazing thing about this Transformer is that it gives you about 8 hours of battery life with just the tablet, but if you add the dock (which has a big battery in addition to the keyboard), the battery life jumps up to about 16 hours. That’s pretty huge!

So how would this compare to an iPad? Have you ever tried to use an iPad with a separate blutooth keyboard and mouse? It’s actually quite cumbersome, and you have to carry all of these parts and pieces with you.

The Ultra Ultrabook would let you have a tablet and a PC in one, and both would be ultra thin and light. It would really be the best of both worlds!

And the what would be even better is that if it ran a client hypervisor so you could run a tablet OS, Windows, and other operating systems all at the same time, seamlessly moving between them.

Posted in IT Consumerization | Tagged iPad, Tablet, Ultrabook | Leave a comment

Edge Computing – The Real Future of the Virtual Desktop

Posted on March 18, 2012 by shamsao

There have been 2 really interesting trends going on that seem to fit together at first, but when you look more closely, they are really running very counter to each other.

First Trend – Mobile Devices

The first is the growth of mobile devices such as tablets and smart phones. These devices are giving people anytime, anywhere access to key information… like their email, their calendar, contacts, and so on.

Second Trend – Desktop Virtualization

Another hot topic is desktop virtualization – and in particular, a specific flavor of desktop virtualization dubbed VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure), which is about running desktops in the data center. This can either be done with a corporate-owned data center, or through service providers, which offer “hosted virtual desktops.”

Chocolate and Peanut Butter?

OK, so it seems these two trends may be two great tastes that taste great together… like chocolate and peanut butter. Why of course, you can use your mobile device to access your hosted virtual desktop, right?

Only there are a few challenges. First, while the hosted virtual desktop is fine for occasional access – e.g., “Oh, no, I really need this information, but I don’t have the spreadsheet – let me access it from my phone.” But if you ever try to do real work on hosted virtual desktops, you’ll quickly find that they aren’t quite as good as a regular PC with applications running locally.

Indeed, it’s interesting to note that in a recent study by Forrester Research, they found that users of smartphones and tablets far prefer using apps rather than using their devices for browsing. Why? It’s because local apps give you great performance – they are running right there (no network lag), so they are very responsive, quick, and a joy to use.

The reality is that all of these new mobile devices are really highlighting a trend toward “edge-computing” – put the computing near the user because it’s fast, responsive, and economical.

These new mobile devices all have a local operating system (iOS, Android, etc.), and they are all running their operating system and the applications locally.

Edge Computing Wins

At the end of the day, what this is highlighting is the power of the edge. There will always be far more computing capacity at the end than in the data center, and solutions that harness this power at the edge will deliver better economics and far better end user performance.

So approaches to desktop virtualization that run virtual desktops on intelligent devices will win out over “thin” or “dumb” terminals, just as devices like tablets and smartphones that run apps locally are winning out over “dumb” phones.

But What About the Cloud?

No doubt there is a big trend toward cloud computing, but smartphones and tablets are a part of this cloud trend, and they all run their operating systems and applications locally. So there’s no reason that PC’s can’t do the same. The winning combination is using a tightly managed PCs that accesses the cloud – including a wide range of cloud applications (e.g., saleforce.com) and services (e.g., Dropbox). By the way, this can be a virtualized PC – just one where the Virtual Machine is running locally on the PC.

So the growth of “apps” on smartphones and tablets is really just proving that edge computing is one of the best ways to access the cloud.

Posted in Cloud Computing, Desktop Virtualization, IT Consumerization | Tagged Smartphones, Tablets, VDI | Leave a comment

Why Do the Server Guys Think the Desktop Guys are Bozos?

Posted on March 10, 2012 by shamsao

Although virtualization was a big hit in the data center, it’s been a bit of a challenge on the desktop. I was talking to Brian Madden the other day about a speech he made to a bunch of server virtualization guys who thought the desktop guys were all a bunch of bozos because they can’t get it right.

The reality is that it’s a lot harder to virtualize desktops than it is to virtualize servers. Virtualization of servers is all about workload consolidation.

Virtualization of desktops is all about manageability, security, reliability, and mobility.

But Why Is It So Hard?

There are different forms of desktop virtualization, and each has it’s own challenges.

When people in-the-know think of desktop virtualization, they usually think about VDI or Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. VDI requires moving the workload from the PC to the data center. But this isn’t just about consolidation of workloads – it’s a fundamental change in computing approach. It requires reworking how your desktop and server teams interact (if there’s an issue with a virtualized desktop – who responds?); it requires rethinking the economics; it requires adding a whole bunch of technologies to try to simulate local performance for things like graphic rendering or accessing local peripherals; it requires thinking about what users will do if they are trying to access their desktop without an Internet connection.

There’s another approach, which is running the Virtual Desktop locally on a PC. This has a number of benefits including delivering fast native performance, not requiring change management (as the computing paradigm doesn’t fundamentally change – desktops still run locally), and it delivers great economics (low-priced PCs do the work instead of high priced servers – and there’s a big savings in storage and network infrastructure). But this approach has it’s own challenges as well – it’s really hard to build a Type-1 client hypervisor. Of course, you could try to use a Type-2, but then you don’t get the security and management benefits (you still need to manage the base operating system).

So what’s the best approach? Well, I may be slightly biased in that I’m the CMO for Virtual Computer, but I do think that using a Type-1 client hypervisor on the endpoint is the best approach. While it’s difficult to do this, Virtual Computer is being successful because it’s working so closely with leading PC ecosystem players such as PC OEMs, Microsoft, and Intel.

Posted in Desktop Virtualization | Leave a comment

The Elusive Definition of Cloud Computing

Posted on February 11, 2012 by shamsao

I’ve talked to a number of IT professionals, and it seems that recently, they are getting calls constantly from different vendors trying sell them cloud computing solutions.

The funny part is that many of these vendors are in totally different categories, selling totally different products. So why is it that everything under the sun, no pun intended , seems to be getting lumped under the cloud computing umbrella, ok, pun intended this time .

It’s Not Just Evolving IT Terms

One thought is that it’s just the regular evolution of an IT term. While there’s definitely something to that, it doesn’t explain the whole issue. It’s true that newer terms tend to evolve quickly, but the definition of cloud computing has more breadth and more variability than nearly every other term in the IT lexicon.

It’s a Broad Paradigm

The reality is that Cloud Computing represents a very broad paradigm that encompasses both new technologies, as well as exiting technologies that are being relabeled as cloud.

And the “real” reality is that Cloud Computing is a hot term, so every vendor that has a solution that can be called a Cloud Computing solution is glomming onto it. One definition of the Cloud is storing information and/or applications in a location that can be accessed from any other location. Woah! That’s a pretty broad definition, and that’s why so many technologies can fall into this:

Email - Gmail and hosted Outlook
File Sharing – Dropbox, Box, Sugarsync, Google Docs
Hosted Desktops – Virtual Desktops hosted internally or externally
Infrastructure - Hosted servers (especially ones configurable on demand)
Cloud Security – Security solutions designed for the above applications
Smartphones - They tend to store very little and access things in the cloud
Tablets - Same as above
Music Sharing – Amazon MP3 Cloud, Apple iCloud
Photo Sharing – Google Picassa
Social Networking – Facebook, Twitter
and the list goes on…

What’s really funny is that a lot of the things on the list above existed even before he term cloud did. But now they are being re-branded and re-positioned (this part is key) to fit into the cloud story. The re-positioning is important because people are doing a bit more than just re-branding – they are demonstrating more of a story with supporting use cases on how these tools fit into the new cloud paradigm – supporting the anytime, anywhere access scenario.

So what’s an IT professional to do? Perhaps the best thing to do is to just look past the word “Cloud” and focus on the use cases.

And IT vendors? Since everyone else is using the term, there’s no need to exclude yourself, but it’ll be to your benefit to really explain what you do and why it’s different – which, by the way, is great advice regardless of whether it’s cloudy or not.

Posted in Cloud Computing | Leave a comment

Post PC Era?

Posted on January 7, 2012 by shamsao

There’s been a lot of rumbling in the press about the “Post PC Era” – especially as companies like Apple have continued to promote this phrase. And with the great success Apple has been having, when Apple talks, the media listens.

But What’s Really Happening?

The reality is that the PC is not going away, but it’s changing. While some consumers are using tablets to replace PCs, these are folks who never really needed a computer in the first place. Business are not replacing PCs with tablets, but rather are adding tablets where appropriate to complement their PCs for mobility or for specific applications (such as viewing records while speaking with a patient).

So How is the PC Evolving?

One way that the PC is evolving is form factor. We’re going to be seeing a host of new “Ultrabook” PCs being launched. These are going to be very much like the MacBook Air, but running Windows instead. They are based on an Intel specification for an ultra thin, light, portable laptop PC with a very high battery life.

But form factor is not the only way that PCs are evolving. They are also evolving through virtualization solutions.

In particular, there is an approach to desktop virtualization, dubbed IDV or Intelligent Desktop Virtualization by Intel, which allows Virtual Machines to run on PCs but be centrally managed.

This Is Going to Change the Future of Computing

Rather than calling it the “Post PC Era,” they should call it the “Post Traditional-PC Era” – because while the PC is not going to be disappearing anytime soon, there’s no doubt that there are going to be some big changes.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Microsoft Brings Together Tablets & PCs

Posted on September 17, 2011 by shamsao

Stephen Sinofsky, president of Microsoft’s Windows unit, announced that applications built for Windows 8 will be cross-compatible across tablets and traditional PCs.

Can Microsoft really get this to work?

If so, it could be just the breakthrough the company needs to make inroads into the runaway share grab Apple is making in the tablet market with its iPad.

Supposedly, developers would only have to write one version of their apps in order to access the entire Windows 8 user base, regardless of whether users were running the PC or tablet version of Windows 8.

The key question for me is how this can be done without compromising the experience for one or the other device. If Microsoft gets this crucial piece right, it could blow away the market. But if it delivers an experience that PC users don’t really like because it feels like a tablet-PC frankencomputer, they could fail on both fronts. Windows 8 will borrow its interface from Windows Phone 7, which we know has had it’s own adoption challenges.

This will also be the first time Microsoft has forked its operating system over two different architectures (x86 and ARM). If it works, the cross-compatibility feature will give Microsoft an edge over Apple on at least one dimension. As of today, apps built for the iPad won’t run on Mac OS machines like the MacBook Air, and vice versa.

Personally, I would love to see Microsoft get this right as Apple has never really focused on serving the needs of the enterprise and doesn’t prioritize delivering the device management and control features that businesses want and ultimately need.

Posted in Cloud Computing, IT Consumerization | Leave a comment

The Ultra Ultrabook

Edge Computing – The Real Future of the Virtual Desktop

Why Do the Server Guys Think the Desktop Guys are Bozos?

The Elusive Definition of Cloud Computing

Post PC Era?

Microsoft Brings Together Tablets & PCs

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