What is most valuable?
Our favourite features are:
The ability to cross publish windows apps to linux and linux apps to windows. We have a lot of niche applications that we have never been able to virtualise that have had to sit on dedicated virtual machines for many years, and now all users can easily share them
The administration console has to be one of the easiest we have used. Previously we were a Citrix house, its administration is very scattered having many different management consoles which could be confusing. With OVD everything is in a single console.
It works on any device that supports HTML5, plus we can use the Enterprise Desktop Client on Windows/Mac/Linux and our growing number iOS and Android devices. As a BYOD company, we embrace software that makes administration easier
It uses port 443. A lot of our workforce travel 80% of the time, so having a service that is ‘firewall friendly’ makes hotel/café/airport wifi much more accepting of a system like this, plus it’s all encrypted so we know our data is secure
We can stop our staff using copy and paste – this is fantastic for us as we deal with sensitive information which must under no circumstance end up on the client device.
How has it helped my organization?
If anything, we are more efficient as a business now. We spend less time waiting for apps to load on our local machines and more time working.
We also have less to worry about if a device goes missing, as no data is stored on our mobile devices as its all in our OVD cloud
What needs improvement?
To be honest, not a great deal. We have been very impressed by what OVD has to offer.
The only thing I can see that OVD will need is additional scalability i.e. if we were going to expand to a larger implementation in excess of 1000 users. But that is not overly limiting as even in that case additional farms can be set up, as it is unlikely all users will be using the same applications.
For how long have I used the solution?
We had it in POC for around a month, then scaled up to a live user environment as we were very impressed with how our trials went.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
We had a few issues with some older thin clients, but due to the quicker ROI on using OVD instead of Citrix, we could look to replace these aging devices with newer more capable hardware ahead of time.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No. In fact, given the load we put the system under in testing, I was very impressed that it handled it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We found the process of scaling up our POC to a live environment to be very simple. Inuvika’s support team guided us through the process, and assisted us with capacity planning for a larger number of users.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
Excellent. Any queries I had were promptly answered, and the pre-sales team were at the end of the phone when we needed to speak about anything. We would also like to say that the demo provided was very conclusive and gave us a good feel of how OVD could work for us.
Technical Support:
Considering we hadn’t paid Inuvika anything to run the POC, the support was very good. They are keen to make sure the product works as it should, and will help you wherever possible to make that happen.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously had a XenDesktop 7 environment. Whilst it was a good system, it had its caveats. Administration was a major headache for us, and difficulty switching between devices (including losing user profiles) caused problems on a daily basis.
We also needed an environment to enable us to share our linux applications easily, and whilst Citrix now offer this as a service, the configuration is not straight forward and the price was astronomical when it came to renewal.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was very straightforward. We decided on CentOS 7 as our base OS on which installation was a breeze. The guides provided on Inuvika's documentation site are very detailed and you can easily get an environment setup within a couple of hours (not like Citrix which takes a couple of days!)
I should add that they also provide a Demo Appliance which we used initially to get a taste in-house of what an OVD setup looked like after being shown a demo.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented it in house with the technical team on tap when we needed them. The experience overall was very good.
What was our ROI?
Based on the figures we have over the next 3 years, OVD should come in at around 60% less than upgrading and renewing our Citrix subscription for the same period. We weren’t using half the features that Citrix provided as there was just no requirement. A number of other businesses we have spoken to are in a very similar position to ourselves.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
OVD works on concurrent user licensing and it’s a subscription model, so we don’t need to worry about an OPEX outlay for perpetual licenses. We much prefer the ‘rental’ model where maintenance is already included for a defined monthly figured.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Our need to virtualise Linux applications alongside Windows made the search pretty limited. As I mentioned earlier, whilst Citrix now support a way to deploy Linux applications into a Windows farm, its incredibly expensive, and functionally complicated.
