Want to better understand what the world of desktop virtualization will look like throughout 2018? Read #predictions from 11 of the industry's leading experts to learn more about #VDI, #DaaS, #ThinClients and more! View this Slideshare to hear from industry thought leaders from companies like Cortado, dinCloud, eG Innovations, IGEL Technologies, Liquidware, NVIDIA, Uila and more. Make sure to also read the more than 280+ other expert predictions from technologies across #virtualization, #cloudcomputing, #hyperconverged, #IoT, #security, etc. here: http://bit.ly/2DQi2OT at VMblog.com.

2. Cortado Full Predictions: http://bit.ly/2J4Y7xX
GOODBYE WINDOWS LICENSE KEY… HELLO MICROSOFT 365
Henning Volkmer, presidentand
CEO, Cortado Inc.
2018 will be the beginning of a vastly different end user computing landscape. Instead of
selling one Windows license per PC and one Office license per PC the next generation of
Microsoft is a subscription for all Microsoft products for every user.
There's incredible potential in hosted, virtual Microsoft Windows desktops and
applications. End-users benefit from the possibility to shed much of the maintenance
overhead and gain the ability to connect to their desktop and application from just about
any device.You're a Mac person? Great! Need to look something up from your Android
phablet? Go for it! Prefer your Dell/HP/Lenovo/Acer/etc. Windows PC/laptop? Sure!
Microsoft's licensing was always difficult for those looking to provideWindows desktops
and applications to users.That also goes for company IT looking to implement a BYOD
policy and is especially true for those looking to provide IaaS, DaaS, PaaS etc. services.
With Microsoft 365 a service provider can build their DaaS platform, charge the best price
they can get for their services, and their customers simply log in with their Microsoft 365
ID. If the customer also operates Windows laptops for the same user to connect to the
service provider, those are covered under the same subscription.

3. dinCloud Full Predictions: http://bit.ly/2GlkykK
THE NEXT 3 YEARS
Ali M. Din, General Manager and CMO,
dinCloud
Coming from 20 years in the IT channel, it's been interesting to see what has
come from vendors, what the market has dictated, and what is on the horizon.
Cloud computing, which I've been following for over 7 years now, is at a stage
where we have seen the early adopters come through.We are now moving into a
next group of adoption where customers are more sophisticated and
knowledgeable about what they want.This doesn't mean they know how to
achieve it, but it does mean that they are looking at cloud services, such as
Desktop as a Service (DaaS), to help solve specific issues. Security will drive
growth in DaaS as customers seek turn-key solutions and keep their focus on
day-to-day operations of the business.

4. eG Innovations Full Predictions: http://bit.ly/2E6NFCj
THE RISE OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND PERFORMANCE
EXPECTATIONS
The era of digital transformation (DX) has begun.The IT landscape for organizations is
changing with software defined infrastructures, cloud computing, big data and internet of
things exemplifying transformative technologies that are becoming mainstream. At the same
time, newer applications and uses of technology are emerging. Historically, IT operations have
lagged behind the advent and deployment of technology, and it will be no different in the
digital transformation era as well. 2018 will be the year when IT operations for the digital
transformation era will begin to take shape.
DigitalWorkspaces in the Cloud
With the rise in cloud adoption in enterprises, another popular trend that is on the rise is the
use of digital workspaces in the cloud. IT organizations will find it easy to spin up a virtual
desktop in the cloud (AWS, Azure, etc.) and provide it to an end-user.This improves scaling and
reduces the hardware footprint required to manage and maintain virtual machines on-
premises. 2018 will see an increase in the number of service providers offering desktop-as-a-
service (DaaS) solutions.
Whatever protocols in use for on-premisesVDI deployments - ICA, RDP, PCoIP, Blast - these will
be adopted for cloud-based desktops too. And, performance monitoring and user experience
monitoring will retain their importance in the cloud.Troubleshooting of performance
slowdowns will be even more challenging in digital workspace environments, as multiple
domains of control are involved and there is limited visibility across these domains. More
intelligent cloud-awareVDI monitoring tools will be needed to meet the needs of the digital
ecosystem.
Vinod Mohan, Senior Product Marketing
Manager, eG Innovations

5. IGEL Technologies Full Predictions: http://bit.ly/2pQCuJM
VDI WILL GROW AND EVOLVE AS DAAS AND ENDPOINT SECURITY
RAMP UP
The overall virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) market will experience double digit growth in
2018, continuingVDI's ascent as the solution of choice for enterprises serving their distributed
workforces. The market landscape will change, however, as Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS)
prompts more IT organizations to look at outsourcingVDI solutions. DaaS will continue to chip
away at locally deployedVDI deployments and by the end of 2018 be a totally reliable solution
for small-to medium-size businesses and all startups.
By disrupting traditional on-premises, end-user computing environments, DaaS opens the door
for endpoint solutions that support the flexibility DaaS offers. DaaS will also see more
movement during 2018 as organizations keep pursuing ways in which to control IT
costs. Moving from hardware investments to endpoint management software, and employing
DaaS, are two means by which organizations will become more nimble and more effective at
budget control.
A related change in theVDI market is an anticipated push by major vendors (Citrix,VMware) to
move from perpetual licensing models to subscription-based sales models. The as-a-service
model, SaaS and DaaS included, lends itself better to recurring revenue, to greater ability to
add feature sets and upsell the customer, and gives the customer a predictable budget, with
more flexibility than a perpetual, locked-in license.
Matthias Haas, Chief Technology
Officer, IGEL Technology

6. Ivanti Full Predictions: http://bit.ly/2GkAeVj
WINDOWS 10 COMES OF AGE AS IT FACES A HYBRID WORLD
Simon Townsend,EMEA
Chief Technologist,Ivanti
The year 2018 will see Windows 10 coming of age, moving from the planning stage for many
organizations, to actual deployment. Organizations spent much of 2017 trying to understand the
minefield of updates, multiple deployment rings, and what Microsoft would and would not
support, and for how long. Keeping enterprises in the constant state of migration, Microsoft also
released another two versions of their "Windows as a Service" OS.
Going into 2018 more organizations have a better understanding of how they will deploy and
manageWindows 10 and the cadence of updates. They are finding out, however, that Windows 10
knowledge is becoming even more imperative asWindows 10 machine purchases are increasing
whileWindows 7 available machine stock is heading towards non-existence. New hardware which
now only supportsWindows 10 is coming into the enterprise and IT has to deal with Windows 10
migrations as part of business as usual.
With legacyWindows 7 machines diminishing, and moreWindows 10 machines coming in, IT has
no choice but to support a hybrid world of operating system environments.

7. Liquidware Full Predictions: http://bit.ly/2Igpbc3
2018: THE YEAR OF "PURE DAAS" EMERGENCE
Jason E. Smith, Vice President of
Product Marketing at Liquidware
Why Pure DaaS is Set for Emergence in 2018
There are two Pure DaaS solutions that are set to emerge in 2018 because the technology,
owned by Citrix and Microsoft and by Amazon and AmazonWorkSpaces, has matured.
Citrix and Microsoft now jointly provide an end-to-end solutions stack that can run desktops
natively in the cloud (onAzure). File shares are present in the cloud, Azure Active Directory also
works more seamlessly for cloud hosted desktops than traditional Microsoft AD has previously.
Although the big player that is emerging in Pure DaaS is Amazon WorkSpaces, along with
Amazon S3 Storage, and AmazonAppStream.Amazon's overallAWS is already much bigger
than Azure and with the seamless desktop hosting they have built with Amazon WorkSpaces,
they are set to take on the desktop market as well.
The truest instance of Pure DaaS to date is AmazonWorkSpaces.Where else can you just enter
your credit card credentials and go straight to DaaS? Depending on what you sign up for, you
can pay by the month or by the hour. There is no need to get bogged down on where your
desktop will be hosted, what provisioning will you use, etc. Among our own customers, we've
already seen significant adoption with call centers, and task workers. Advanced use cases have
also started to go into production. From assessment to user on-boarding and management, to
layering applications for Amazon WorkSpaces and AppStream, Liquidware solutions have been
integral to many of those enterprise accounts.

8. Nerdio Full Predictions: http://bit.ly/2o0VV0H
TRENDS IMPACTING ENTERPRISE PRIORITIES
Amol Dalvi, Senior Directorof
Product, Nerdio
Performance management tools will become more specialized for desktop
virtualization.
Organizations have historically used general-purpose legacy tools to manage the performance of
application and desktop virtualization. However, these tools aren't sufficiently specialized to proactively
identify and resolve performance issues in a virtualized infrastructure. Performance management tools
specifically designed for this environment will therefore become more common in 2018.
Effective performance management will become a more critical requirement for virtualized applications
and desktops as end-user computing continues to evolve. For example, the use of dedicated graphics
processing units (GPUs) is an increasingly common method of improving user experience. Performance
management tools will therefore be required to monitor GPU utilization and suggest corrective action.
More organizations will monitor virtualized applications and desktops from a
single integrated console.
Improved performance management will also require the use of an integrated console. Platform vendors
typically focus improving the performance of their own platforms, often at the expense of developing tools
that can keep pace with these performance improvements. Organizations have therefore needed to use
multiple tools and consoles to monitor different tiers of infrastructure in a virtualization service.
This practice has resulted in an increasing reliance on virtualization experts to perform manual analyses to
determine a course of corrective action.The maturing virtualization industry will require a faster
troubleshooting cycle, which will increase the degree of automation in performance management. This
process will require a single console to correlate metrics from multiple infrastructure tiers, which will
become essential for virtualized infrastructure.

9. NVIDIA Full Predictions: http://bit.ly/2J4XpR6
THE FUTURE OF THE DIGITAL WORKSPACE
Anne Hecht, senior directorof
product marketing for vGPU
solutions at NVIDIA
From mobile and cloud computing to Windows 10 and CAD, the way businesses are delivering
digital workspaces is changing. GPU computing plays a part in all of these areas.
The New Data Center Will Never Sleep
Tomorrow's data center will be always-on and able to run workloads 24x7.Workloads will no
longer be sticky, and hardware will no longer be special purpose. Because of this flexibility,
enterprises will achieve maximum utilization of their infrastructure, such as through
implementingVDI by day and HPC by night.
And with the benefits of new technologies crossing the lines between different teams and
functions, siloed lines of IT will dissolve. Synergies between IT departments, particularly the HPC
and end-user computing admins, will bring teams together to build data centers that meet the
need to more tightly collaborate and converge.
VDI Captures the Elusive User Experience
In 2018, new tools and approaches will allow enterprises to measure the user experience - the
most frequently noted success factor forVDI projects.Tools like the NVIDIA vGPU SDK will shed
light on this challenge. Companies who understand users' exact needs and develop products that
prioritize the user experience stand to succeed.

10. PolicyPak Software Full Predictions: http://bit.ly/2E8wPTo
MDM AND VDI BUILDS STEAM
Jeremy Moskowitz,founderand CEO
of PolicyPak Software
The concept of Unified Endpoint Management-managing Windows with the same tools used
for mobile devices continues to be a hot topic.Windows has evolved to the point where it can
be managed as a mobile device, however traditional management is so entrenched in IT that
challenges are still an issue. Mobile Device Management (MDM) will continue to be standard
for mobile devices, but not yet overcoming fat systems like Group Policy, SCCM or other deep
management solutions (with inventory capabilities, and so on).
Richer management:
Microsoft is suggesting that with MDM you can do more with less. But that remains to be seen
as of 2017. I think 2018 will more likely be the year of richer management and less is more
management.
PCTrends:
Windows 10 will start to finally become the norm in corporate and PC land. And even Grandma
will say goodbye to her oldWindows 7 machine this year. Some companies will flirt with the
new Windows 10S, but I don't expect big rollouts, except for maybe an airline or two target
customers. But Windows 10S is trying to compete with Chromebooks, and I think there's a
little room before they catch up. PCs in the cloud will still be outside the norm,VDI taking on a
little more steam, but still laptops and desktops will rule.Windows Autopilot is a new method
to roll out brand new PCs, and I expect the big manufacturers to come on board in 2018.

11. Stratodesk Full Predictions: http://bit.ly/2pTCw2z
THIN CLIENT MANUFACTURERS WILL FEEL THE SWELL CAUSED BY
THE RASPBERRY PI
Joseph Anderson,Content Creator
and Social Media Specialist at
Stratodesk
Raspberry Pi - a Cataclysm for Change
Using the Raspberry Pi in theVDI isn't a new idea. However, it wasn't considered a viable option
to replace high qualityThin Clients in the past. A host of issues presented themselves as
potential barriers to creating an enterprise grade,VDI solution around the Raspberry Pi. Fast
forward a few years, however, and Citrix has announced their HDX Ready Pi for the enterprise
market.The Raspberry Pi can in fact serve all the functions you would expect from a traditional
Thin Client, at a fraction of the cost.
For this reason, the Raspberry Pi is essentially going to do to theThin Client space what Uber
did to the taxi cab companies. By introducing a cheaper, more logical solution, the Raspberry Pi
will make bloatedThin Client companies obsolete.
How Raspberry Pi sets a new industry trend for 2018
Our prediction is this - that the second tier thin client manufacturers will feel the shift that the
Raspberry Pi has made in 2018.They will flounder for a bit, try different tactics to overcome this
change. But ultimately, they simply won't be able to ride the wave of change that the
Raspberry Pi has made.

12. Uila Full Predictions: http://bit.ly/2uytOwp
APPLICATION-CENTRIC SHIFT FOR INFRASTRUCTURE TEAMS
Dilip Advani, VP of Marketing, Uila
In-houseVDI deployments are at a critical crossroad
VDI will continue to dominate in the Educational and Healthcare verticals with large
deployments. But as many of these large deployments continue to experience end user
performance issues,VDI troubleshooting will need tools that provide the necessary insight to
quickly troubleshoot before they bring the user-productivity to a standstill. If IT
organizations do not quickly find a way to resolve the issues on hand, they might as well
move away fromVDI or will be forced to move to aVDI as a service type of a scenario.
Accelerated shift towards an Application-centric world
The IT landscape is shifting from an infrastructure-centric view to an Application-centric view
with the mandatory expectation of Application Performance, Service Delivery and Business
Impact being the endpoint for every person in IT, irrespective of whether they are in
traditional IT Operation teams or DevOps.

13. READ 280+ EXPERT PREDICTIONS AT http://bit.ly/2DQi2OT