infoTECH Feature

August 11, 2015

3 Steps to a Better Virtual Workspace

By Special Guest
Toby Awalt, Channel Marketing Manager, Sangfor Technologies,

There are plenty of reasons why more and more companies have been implementing virtual workspace technologies. Sometimes it's an international team or a salesforce that's always on the move. Other times it's just a brutal commute that doesn't need to be done every day.

Whatever the reason, remote work has gone from a trend to a constant in businesses across the world. With a mobile workforce comes issues about data leakage from less secure locations, networks, and BYOD in general. At the same time, more demanding business applications need more than a traditional SSL VPN in order to work well remotely.

To handle these two competing issues, many companies will implement a virtual workspace in some form, be it a direct RDP session to their existing work computer, a virtual desktop set up on a company's servers, or app virtualization where specific apps (not an entire desktop) are virtualized and sent to a user's computer as though they were operating natively.

Regardless of how you deliver a virtual workspace, there are a number of ways to ensure that both employees and your company get the most out of it.

#1 Make it Fast

Speed counts. Whether it's the responsiveness of a virtualized application or the speed of fetching a file, remote work needs to feel like office work. Speed isn't a problem if your remote team is working from an office with WAN Optimization or QoS, but often a remote workforce will travel across multiple locations with varying WAN quality. Poor WAN links can lead to a choppy experience while virtualizing applications and slow file transfer.

This is where the protocol that you choose matters. Virtual workspaces that use traditional RDP will find that RDP is sluggish over low-bandwidth or high-latency connections. This is where proprietary protocals like Sangfor's SRAP and Citrix (News - Alert)'s ICA become valuable - they deliver a faster and more consistent experience across diverse WAN links.

#2 Make it Simple

A key piece of any virtual workspace is simplicity. If remote access is difficult, employees will either not use it, use it wrong, or work around it (creating big security holes). Make sure that access requires as few logins as possible. Sangfor's EasyConnect and a number of other virtual workspace technologies integrate with active directory on your terminal server, making single sign-on easy to implement.

#3 Make it Safe

Many businesses deal with proprietary or privileged information, but that doesn't stop their teams from remote work. Using any virtual workspace adds a layer of security by separating the endpoint from the files that they interact with - even if an SSL VPN or HTTPS connection is broken, the only data being sent are bitmaps and keystrokes.

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However, some businesses still need an extra layer of security. More advanced virtual workspace solutions will provide options for multi-layer authentication that can be used for accounts with access to privileged information or resources. Features like security tokens, 2-step verification (sending a text message to your phone), and device recognition can ensure that only vetted personnel can access sensitive information.

For remote workers that require both virtualization and direct file access virtual workspace apps can check endpoints for adequate security features. As an example, EasyConnect can set policies that will ensure an endpoint has adequate antivirus protection before it will allow a connecting device direct file or server access.

There you have it, three ways to make sure that your virtual workspace is operating at its best for both the company and the actual employees using it.

Toby Awalt is the Channel Marketing Manager for Sangfor Technologies, based out of Santa Clara, CA (News - Alert). Toby has several years experience in the tech channel concerning DraaS, WAN optimization, and virtual application delivery. He specializes in working with channel partners to better educate clients about the value of different technology solutions.




Edited by Stefania Viscusi
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