Microsoft has done a wonderful job of making the setup of Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) quick and easy since its first release. When they developed Windows 365, they went even further in their efforts to simplify the setup and on-boarding for customers to use Cloud PCs. While it is fast and easy to get to the point of having virtual desktops running a version of Windows in Azure, difficulty and delays are still experienced when trying to deploy applications to your users on those cloud hosted desktops.
If you are reading this as someone who was able to get cloud-hosted desktops spun up within minutes but then spent hours or days trying to prepare application packages and deploy them with a modern provisioning solution or doing tedious customization work of multiple desktop images with applications installed in them, this is an article for you.
I am going to break down how Cloudpager provides a faster, simpler, and truly modern approach to managing Windows desktop applications.
Simplify Application Packaging and Accelerate Deployments
Cloudpager is the first cloud-native container management platform for Windows desktops with support for Microsoft MSIX containers and our best-in-class application container format: Cloudpaging. With Cloudpaging application containers, you can successfully package and deploy virtually any Windows application to any modern physical or virtual Windows desktop. Best of all, the packaging process is simple. You just require doing an installation capture of your application, make sure your application does not contain unrelated files or registry keys, then you should be ready to deploy it with Cloudpager.
Cloudpager also supports your existing Microsoft App-V packages and Amazon Workspace Application Manager (Amazon WAM) packages too, making it perfect for extending the life of your existing packages while modernizing the way you manage your Windows applications.
Cloudpager also accelerates application deployments to Azure Virtual Desktops and Windows 365 Cloud PCs. Once your application is uploaded and published, it is ready to be assigned and will be available on your users’ desktops at the next refresh interval as set on your desktops. Rather than put business on hold waiting for applications to become available for installation, applications are dynamically provisioned to end user desktops without requiring logouts or reboots – including those in active user sessions. Cloudpager also clearly indicates the progress of the application upload and when it completes so you can be confident in a timely application deployment which will help you complete these changes inside agreed change windows. You benefit from the scale of the cloud without sacrificing functionality or performance.
Eliminate Time Spend on Desktop Image Management
Many organizations adopting virtual desktops with a traditional VDI or DaaS platform continue to install their applications directly into their desktop images. When they wish to perform an application update on their non-persistent desktops, they must provision their desktops to a version of the image containing that application update. For persistent desktops such as cloud PCs, some organizations install applications into the image in an attempt to maximize performance while pushing updates via Intune. Simply so they can have visibility of the state of the applications installed and available on those Cloud PCs. They must then routinely update base images with the updated versions of those applications to expedite new Cloud PC provisioning.
Installing applications directly into your images creates bloat, which can cost more in terms of storage utilisation. It can also lead to image sprawl, where IT teams must maintain various images due to application conflicts, unique application licensing, and more.
If you use Cloudpaging application containers and Cloudpager, you can use a vanilla image from the Azure Image Gallery, place our client software into the image, and dynamically deliver applications and updates to any physical or virtual Windows desktop. This means you can standardise on a single base image and deliver applications to your users outside of the desktop provisioning process, significantly speeding up time to deployments.
Our container technologies are also perfect for multi-session operating systems such as Windows 10/11 and Windows Enterprise Virtual Desktop (EVD) images in Azure Virtual Desktop. Application configuration options are suited for non-persistent virtual desktops, as containers can only be targeted to entitled users who require. In other words, if someone is on the same desktop as an entitled user, but they are not entitled to the application, they will not see that application. Thus will not consume a software license.
The ability to deploy application updates without desktop provisioning or state changes provides an optimal user experience and eliminates the need for schedule downtime in 24-hour businesses.
Rapidly Modernize Your Approach to Applications Across Windows Desktops with Cloudpager
Managing applications across Windows desktop environments has never been simpler or quicker than it is with Cloudpager. All you have to do is establish a base desktop image and provide end users with a cloud desktop to log into.
Rather than leverage XP-era technologies to manage applications across modern desktop environments, you can establish a single solution to run all your applications on Azure Virtual Desktops and Windows 365 Cloud PCs. Doing so with Cloudpager streamlines IT operations, including updates. Most importantly it will provide the best employee experience possible.
In short, this is your key to eliminating the need for frequent image updates, reduces helpdesk tickets related to application issues, lower virtual desktop run costs more than 5X, and cut spend on cloud resources (read how a major cloud provider reduced storage costs more than 70 percent with Cloudpaging).
To further explore how Numecent technologies facilitate rapid modernization while reducing costs, check out the webinar I hosted with Jim Moyle (Principal Product Manager for Windows Cloud) earlier this year: