Hey everyone, this nearly 3 hour comprehensive Windows Virtual Desktop video took about 5 months to complete. It goes live tomorrow at 1pm CT. I will NEVER do such a long video every again :) And this is nearly 3 hours of tightly edited video. This video is packed and moves along at a good click. This video covers an orientation/vision on why we need to start issuing employees virtual company computers instead of physical ones, connects the dots between RDS and WVD, lots of demos including using Teams audio-video for phones and conferencing, high-end graphics (CAD/3D rendering), restricting the movement of data between WVD and a local computer, planning, advisement and experience shares that we at Xerillion have learned over the past 3 years, and real-word pricing/costing/ROI examples. BDR/Business Continuity/Security is all covered as well. Ultimately the vision I share with you is TRUE 100% Cloud IT (Microsoft 365) *AND* virtual Office (Microsoft Teams) AND end-user computers (Windows Virtual Dekstop + Azure). The goal is no back-end IT, no physical office space, and issuing employees virtual company computers that they access from their personal devices or inexpensive company mobile or desktop thin clients. See you in the comments :) - Wayne
I'm curious what smartphone you use. I'm guessing the greater percentage of you are Android versus IOS, and then of the Android users, how many use the Samsung Galaxy (like me). I have really gotten into the Samsung Dex virtual desktop that you can access with a USB-C to HDMI cable and a wireless keyboard and mouse. The older I get (I"m 47) the more minimalist I become, and so having my full desktop on my smartphone has been fantastic for productivity. So curious what you guys are using.
Next video coming up: Windows Virtual Desktop
Hey everyone, I'm developing the content for the next video about Windows Virtual Desktop. With our email, files, phones, identities, security and device controls in Microsoft 365, any legacy business apps hosted in a Microsoft Azure virtual network, and now everyone working in a virtual office environment due to the pandemic--and for many businesses, likely to remain in a virtual office environment to a full or hybrid extent--what I see next is moving away from issuing employees physical computers, but instead, issuing them virtual computers--a license the company already owns through the Microsoft 365 subscription they bought for their employees. All the company needs to do is buy the compute and storage needed in Azure - no additional licenses needed. Then the employee can use whatever device they want: WindowsOS, MacOS, iOS or Android tablets with keyboards, Linux, or inexpensive thin client computers and connect to their issued virtual desktop through a the WVD client or web browser - no VPN needed. Then there is NO end-user computer inventory to purchase, setup, maintain, support and refresh. The employee gets to use the device they prefer, and the company can (and should) reimburse the employee for business use of their person device, and the company doesn't have the hassle of end-user computers to deal with. And, over time, through the reimbursement from the company, the employee could essentially get their devices paid for.
So, in the scenario I mentioned above, the company's IT is TRULY 100% virtual and cloud-based. All back-end system are in the cloud, and all FRONT-END systems are in the cloud. The security and cost efficiency in this solution are off the charts.
As usual there will be a lot of real-word demos and I'll be talking a lot about real-world setups we do at clients and how to practically implement this system. My goal is to keep this video at 30 minutes...but we'll see how that goes. :)
I wanted to reach out at this point, and know if you had any input or things you'd like to see or be covered in Windows Virtual Desktop video. Thanks! - Wayne
Whew...this Teams video is FINALLY DONE! This video took 3 months to complete. The is the most content packed video I have ever done: 2 HOURS of fast paced practical demos and real-world best practice guidance with our very own Teams setup as we use it at Xerillion. There are 26 demo and guidance segments showing how we really use Teams as our virtual office. It is pretty ironic that I started this in early February before the pandemic pushed so many people to get acquainted with Microsoft Teams. Most people were using for conferencing, but it can truly replace, or greatly reduce your physical office space footprint and make your business so much more powerful and scalable...it did it for my company... I hope you find this content helpful as you start your journey in Teams, and hopefully adopt a larger work from home footprint in your compay. This will be going live next Tuesday June 9th, at 1:15PM CT. -Wayne
Next video: Microsoft Teams Virtual Office 2020...will be out in about 4 weeks..it will be my 3rd video on Teams, and the most comprehensive. It is going to be a fast-paced edit, lengthy, with demos and cover everything that really matters for an IT manager integrating this into their company. At Xerillion, we operate in a Microsoft Teams virtual office for our team of 16. We didn't renew our office lease last year because we didn't need the office and working in Teams is so much better. And, ironically, I started this content in February before everyone was forced to start working from home due to Coronavirus. I know many companies are doing a shotgun setup of Teams to do virtual meetings, and this video, is going to really show what Teams can do - not just by showing features, but showing how it can improve your business, how it improved our business, and how it will root out a bunch of legacy IT systems and workflows, and greatly modernize your business. IT managers...it will be your time to shine :) Wayne
As so many companies are commencing work from home this week, this video from last May covers how we use Microsoft 365 + Teams video meetings + the Microsoft Phone System to create a highly productive and secure work from home environment. At Xerillion, our team of 16 people didn't have to do anything different as we all work in a Microsoft Teams Virtual Office already, and it works extremely well. https://youtu.be/No95mGld9PU
Finishing up the final edits (finishing edits always take forever...) on this video and it will go live early next week. If your company has legacy client-server business apps that you want to get moved to the cloud and go server free on-premise- this video will be for you. You will see how Microsoft Azure fits in alongside Microsoft 365. As I mention in the video, if your company is seriously considering Microsoft 365 for emails, files and phones, security, device and app management, and Microsoft Azure to host legacy business apps - you are very lucky. There is no hotter technology out there for IT Pro's. And...the technology is just really fascinating and exciting. - Wayne
"Moving Your Legacy Desktop Business Apps to Azure " is the working title of my next video. When a client has moved their email, files, phones, security and compliance controls, device and app management to Microsoft 365 Enterprise - some of them still can't get rid of their servers because they have a legacy desktop business application that requires servers: finance apps, inventory apps, resource management apps, quoting apps, sales apps. They look at the web app version of this software and realize the web app version is not as good as the desktop app server, but the question is - how do they get that desktop business moved to the cloud? This is what Xerillion uses Azure for, and so far, it is the only thing we use Azure for. Ideally all your business apps would be web/mobile apps with access controlled through Azure AD Premium Single Sign-on. But, if you need to be in a hybrid state with your desktop apps- you'll need to build an Azure virtual network and that is what this video is going to be about. I'm going to go over how to do this practically and cost effectively. I'm pretty far along in the content, but would be interested to get input if anyone has questions around integrating an Azure VNet into their network that I might have not considered and would be helpful to go into the video.
"Moving Your File Server to Microsoft 365 (Enterprise)" is finally DONE! Whew. It is scheduled to go public tomorrow at 1PM CT. This video took the longest to put together (about 10 weeks) which is the result of the fact that we have learned a ton over the last 3 years about all the capabilities that are part of file sharing and security inside Microsoft 365, and what works and doesn't work when we deploy these systems. This video covers how Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive work together as file sharing services, and how we use Azure Active Directory Premium, Intune and Azure information Protection to secure these files in the cloud, on the computers, on mobile devices, ect. You know, it is interesting that files themselves are not a complicated thing, but because there is so much confidential and proprietary data to a business stored in those files, how to collaborate with them effectively while also managing security is a HUGE HUGE HUGE topic. That old file server and domain controller setup is crap. Hopefully this video gives you the direction you need to get beyond having your email in Office 365, but also get your files up there as well. - Wayne P.S. - next video will be migrating legacy Windows apps to a Microsoft Azure Virtual Network as once emails, files, phones and security are inside Microsoft 365, we are just left with any legacy Windows apps...and those go to Azure. :)
Hey everyone - I'm currently working on the script for an updated video to one of the biggest things people contact us about: decomissioning their file sever and working with their shared files to Office 365. People normally come to use wondering how to use SharePoint with their shared folders and moving their files server to Teams is not even on their radar, or they don't understand how OneDrive makes the magic happen. The back end access controls and management are so much more sophisticated and interesting than old fashioned file servers. I'm going to show what end-users can do, what admins need to know and manage, and demo the heck out of this video. This is going to be another comprehensive video with everything we know at Xerillion updated for 2019. If you would like to suggest something around files in Office 365, just let me know as I'll be ion script development for another week or so.
A life without servers is here. A life where your critical business IT services are delivered to you at a fraction of the cost with SUBSTANTIALLY more features and security capabilities through the Microsoft Cloud than could ever be available to you through anything you can build onsite. What you need is to work with a consulting company that really KNOWS how to FULLY and COMPLETELY implement not just the Microsoft cloud services you know and love like email, document sharing and communications to your business, but also replace your very limited domain controller based security infrastructure with Microsoft cloud-powered security. ALL OF OUR TECHS are Microsoft Certified Solutions Associates in Office 365. You know having physical servers at your office is a pain in the rear, and really even having virtual servers offsite at a datacenter just to host your file server, or some legacy business applications is a waste of resources--there are better uses for your money.