Two days at Microsoft: What makes an Optimized Desktop?

This week I’ve had the honor of spending two days at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, learning about the components of MDOP (Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack) and concept of the “Optimized Desktop”.

The discussions topics for the training revolved around the primary problem with desktop management: The components of a PC are bound together, making hardware and software difficult and expensive to replace and manage. Software and OS upgrades can slow drastically when the life-cycle of aging hardware components dictate what’s possible in the organization. Also, applications need consistent management to allow for ease of maintenance and the eventual retirement of dated and insecure tools.

Also, with new opportunities and challenges with cloud services, highly mobile workers and cutting edge consumer products, IT Professionals have a lot of needs to juggle to keep everyone working effectively. Users want easy access to their data from different devices, regardless of where it’s located – local to their office PC or laptop, on the corporate network or in the cloud.

The next generation optimized Windows desktop uses several applications found in MDOP to separate user data & settings, applications and the operating system from the hardware so they can be managed independently. This can make the adoption of newer, more secure operating systems easier to attain.

Ultimately, the Optimized Desktop helps bring some essential features to the finger tips of both the IT Pros and the users they support: end-to-end management, better application experiences, improved security and data protection, anywhere access for users, and reliable business continuity.

The components of MDOP include:

• Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V)
• Application Virtualization (App-V)
• Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT)
• System Center Desktop Error Monitoring (DEM)
• Asset Inventory Service (AIS)
• Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM)

I won’t drill down into each of those components in this particular post, but trust you’ll see more about these tools in the near future. Brad McCabe, Senior Product Manager for Windows Client, put together an full agenda for those of us in attendance and I was excited to be able to participate.

Finally, if you aren’t sure where you can go and what you can do with Desktop Virtualization (VDI), don’t miss out on the Desktop Virtualization Hour, Thursday 3/18 at 9am.