Bridging the Windows 10 to 11 gap: cloud-first strategies with AppsAnywhere
If, like many IT professionals, you’ve planned to tackle your institution’s Windows 11 migration this summer, this article is for you.
If, like many IT professionals, you’ve planned to tackle your institution’s Windows 11 migration this summer, this article is for you.
The transition to Windows 11 presents significant challenges for higher education institutions like yours, due to hardware limitations, application compatibility issues, and new security and licensing requirements. We hear these concerns from many universities looking to adopt AppsAnywhere, and especially around the impact this has on budgets, staff workloads and the potential implications for disruptions for students and staff.
AppsAnywhere provides a flexible, cost-effective solution that directly addresses each of these concerns. It also presents an exciting opportunity to use this opportunity to further modernize the existing software delivery infrastructure, adopt a cloud-first strategy and improve the student experience by further leveraging BYOD.
Here are some ways AppsAnywhere can help bridge the gap to Windows 11 for your institution:
If Windows 11 and hardware estate upgrades are on your “to do” list for this summer, why not give AppsAnywhere a go? You could be up and running within weeks (depending on your setup), save a lot of hassle and workload for your team, and you’ll be set for a better experience for you and your students in the new academic year.
But don’t just take our word for it: learn how Kingston University made their Windows 11 transition “literally an overnight experience” by watching this on-demand webinar.
So, whether you are mid-migration, in planning stages, or facing support deadlines for Windows 10, AppsAnywhere provides the agility and scalability to make the transition seamless.
During the webinar, we hear from Senior End User Computing Solutions Engineer at Kingston University, UK, Mark West about how AppsAnywhere and Cloudpaging technology have helped make their move to Windows 11 “literally an overnight experience”.
Auto validation is still available as an option. We aim to ensure there are as few occasions of attempting to launch but being unable to as possible, and where they occur, explaining why.
Detection occurs during validation - the client is given a list of directories to look in and it returns what it finds.
Dark mode wasn't something we were able to do for this version, but it is something that we are looking to include in the future.
If client download is not available in that instance - such as in labs mode or if client install is suppressed, then the client link will not appear. The client download link will also only appear on platforms which have a client - i.e. Windows and macOS.
If you would like to upgrade to 2.12 please submit a support request and the team will be touch.
To implement BYOD in a cost-effective and sustainable way, schools will need a clear idea of a number of key data points to understand which technologies are necessary and how many licenses of each technology are required: Number of users/devices Weighting of device type/platform (Windows vs Mac vs Linux) Software titles to deliver Usage data on software titles for licensing User groups requiring specialist software You can read more about implementing BYOD policies in schools in the SecurEdge article, ‘How to successfully implement a BYOD program into your school’ > https://www.securedgenetworks.com/blog/how-to-successfully-implement-a-byod-program-into-your-school
With a BYOD policy implemented, schools can begin working to introduce centralized communication points such as Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) or Learning Management Systems (LMSs). Software delivery tools such as AppsAnywhere also provide areas that can be used to communicate with students. Once BYOD is enabled, schools can be more confident that students are actively accessing digital academic resources through specific channels, and that communication propagated through those channels is much more likely to be seen.
Yes, it can do. While BYOD technologies may be expensive, with the correct provisioning and tools implemented, the decrease in hardware investment required from schools by allowing students to bring their own device and insight from reporting data can help schools save money on their software delivery.
BYOD policies in schools reduce the hardware investment of electronic devices, including mobile devices, needed for schools to offer equal access to digital academic resources to all students. By leveraging student-owned hardware, BYOD policies in schools can increase the resources available to students, such as software, digital media and digital learning environments, at a fraction of the cost of ensuring there are enough organization-owned machines for every student to use. Furthermore, BYOD allows students to access school resources outside of school and outside of teaching hours via their own device.
BYOD policies in schools help to introduce students to completing work from their own devices in preparation for higher education and employment. In an ever-more-digital world, getting used to using personal devices to complete work can help desensitize students to the potential distractions offered by those devices. BYOD can also help students learn to manage their time effectively in a society where the lines between work time and free time are becoming more and more blurred.
We’re excited to be releasing AppsAnywhere 3.0 in December 2022, in time for January enrolment. Your dedicated Customer Success team will be in touch when it’s available to ensure your institution gets the most out of AppsAnywhere.
To get the latest version if you are currently using AppsAnywhere, schedule a call with your specialist implementations team and we can help you to start benefiting from AppsAnywhere 2.12 now.
Most IT professionals get excited when considering new technologies and solutions. Without a doubt, the prospect of a VDI deployment project is likely to get your team’s juices flowing. However, deploying VDI is complex and often includes a host of new infrastructure and unique software management tools. The best advice is to engage with a vendor partner early on so that the design for your campus can be vetted by experts who work with VDI on a daily basis. A vendor partner can also help guide through different architecture scenarios, use cases, and potential pitfalls. All of the knowledge transfer gained will put the IT team in a far better position to successfully deploy and support VDI for your campus.
As is the theme throughout the rest of this article, there isn’t really an objective victor in DaaS vs. VDI. However, when it comes to Higher Ed, we rarely see full DaaS deployments. They’re often saved for more limited use cases, such as temporary BYOD access, or delivering to satellite campuses. For the scale of delivery required by HEIT, VDI will usually come out on top. However, you still need to decide whether to go for legacy VDI, or newer, hosted solutions…
DaaS refers to virtual desktops being provided to organizations as a service-based solution. It will include support for managing, upgrading and maintaining virtual machines. It is a more complete out-of-the-box solution with a price tag to match. Fully-hosted VDI is just like legacy VDI, except you don’t need on-premise server infrastructure, and they are often pay-as-you-go. Fully-hosted solutions are also referred to cloud-hosted solutions and they are the same as VDI, except hosted for you, as the name suggests.
Both VMware and Citrix have a robust product offering across many different solution suites. Historically, Citrix has excelled in the realm of remote app delivery or app remoting solutions. On the other hand, VMware leads the way with full desktop VDI delivery. Deciding on the right approach is solely dependent on the needs of the institution and what goals they are hoping to achieve with the project.
A formal BYOD policy helps to ensure a high chance of success and adoption as well as communicating practical information to users on how to interact with and use software on their BYO devices.
To put it concisely, a BYOD policy should include any or all of the following: Device type Operating system Available resources Security Usage conditions
A BYOD policy is a formal definition and agreement between the BYOD provider (universities) and the BYOD users (students). It is similar to an SLA (Service Level Agreement) between service-providers and outlines how users can expect to interact with their university's BYOD program, as well as any limitations, usage conditions, and compatibility information.
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AppsAnywhere is a global education technology solution provider that challenges the notion that application access, delivery, and management must be complex and costly. AppsAnywhere is the only platform to reduce the technical barriers associated with hybrid teaching and learning, BYOD, and complex software applications, and deliver a seamless digital end-user experience for students and staff. Used by over 3 million students across 300+ institutions in 22 countries, AppsAnywhere is uniquely designed for education and continues to innovate in partnership with the education community and the evolving needs and expectations of students and faculty.
Register your interest for a demo and see how AppsAnywhere can help your institution. Receive a free consultation of your existing education software strategy and technologies, an overview of AppsAnywhere's main features and how they benefit students, faculty and IT, and get insight into the AppsAnywhere journey and post launch partnership support.
Register your interest for a demo and see how AppsAnywhere can help your institution. Receive a free consultation of your existing education software strategy and technologies, an overview of AppsAnywhere's main features and how they benefit students, faculty and IT, and get insight into the AppsAnywhere journey and post launch partnership support.