10 red hot enterprise tech for SMB customers

To an enterprise, the virtual desktop is all about security and management. Data is kept in the data centre where it can be protected, categorised and backed up.

To an SMB, a virtual desktop is also about the speed of deployment and ease of maintenance.

Adding an employee typically requires buying a desktop, buying and installing the software, configuring it for network and shared drive access, and programming the phone. That's several hours wasted by the office manager or business owner or a sizeable bill from the reseller just to get another staff member connected.

Rolling out a virtual desktop is far less complicated because extra applications can be delivered from the data centre by increasing the number of licences. The operating system, applications and user profile can be pushed out through a standard operating environment (SOE) that already has network settings and permissions configured.

And security is far less of a worry. Protect the data centre, and your information should be ok.

And the hardware is more robust and cost of maintenance is far lower. A thin client can last six years rather than the average three or four, which is good news for customers.

Citrix has been selling this technology for years, largely to the enterprise.

Its push into SMB has been accelerated by the prospect of competition from VMware. In the US Citrix and Microsoft have been teaming up to pry out VMware by offering to swap licences free of charge. It will be a very interesting space to watch.

Many resellers have plans to sell desktops on demand to SMBs; some, like Melbourne-based Enspire, already have a list of small business customers and are beefing up their data centres to prepare for more.

A vendor to consider is the UK-based ThinkGrid, which is available in Australia through distributor Vadis. ThinkGrid gives resellers several options for rolling out virtual desktops.

With companies looking at a move to Windows 7 from XP, going the whole hog with virtual desktops should be considered as a serious option.