To meet these next-generation demands, IT organizations need a platform that can deliver on the productivity requirements of the modern work place, while allowing IT to maintain stringent standards around security and manageability.
Advancing the vision set forth in the Windows 8 operating system, Windows 8.1 was designed from the ground up to address the needs of the modern enterprise. The update is primed with usability, security and virtualization advances that help IT organizations stay ahead of the BYOD trend—giving users a seamless Windows experience from desktop to mobile device, while safeguarding sensitive corporate information and leveraging the business investment in enterprise infrastructure.
Windows 8.1 can help IT organizations rise to the challenge by providing workers with the computing experience they’ve come to expect on the devices they love without sacrificing security or putting the corporate network at risk.
Five Supporting Pillars: Windows 8.1’s enterprise-grade foundation sets the stage for modern-day business computing by addressing five key areas:
1. Best-in-class Business Tablets and PCs
With Windows 8.1, business users no longer have to choose between productivity and convenience. The update delivers a touch-first experience for users hungry for the modern and convenient interface championed by mobile devices, yet it still offers full support for a keyboard and a mouse.
Enhancements to the desktop allow users to easily toggle between the desktop and Start screen, and work via touch or with the mouse and keyboard. And with the new Assigned Access feature, a device can be locked down to support a single application like a Web browser—a capability that provides greater flexibility configuring Windows 8.1 devices as kiosk or point-of-sale systems.
Windows 8.1’s foundation is already spawning a new generation of PCs and tablets delivering the fundamentals companies have long expected from Windows—performance, stability and security—along with innovations in areas like screens, battery life and performance.
2. Windows Apps for Business
Thanks to the near ubiquity of mobile devices, users are increasingly relying on tablets and smartphones to conduct daily business, and ISVs are responding with a new genre of interactive, connected business apps. Available through the Windows store, the Windows phone store or through internal corporate channels, the growing array of Windows 8.1 business apps range from expense reporting tools to business intelligence dashboards to custom line-of-business apps targeted to specific vertical industries. By adhering to a consistent deployment approach across all Windows mobile apps, IT departments are assured of streamlined provisioning and management of mobile Windows devices, while business users benefit from a consistent, cross-platform experience.
3. Productive and Connected Mobility
The days of the average worker being tied to a specific workspace or desktop computer are over. According to IDC, the world’s mobile worker population will surge to 1.3 billion by 2015, accounting for 37.2% of the total workforce. This desire for mobility is upping the pressure on IT to take the hassle and uncertainty out of connectivity while ensuring that the workforce stays productive.
Windows 8.1 is stocked with a wealth of capabilities—including mobile broadband, Wi-Fi and Near Field Communications (NFC) features—that make connecting to the Internet, office printers, projectors and other devices a seamless experience. Expanded VPN functionality, including an autotrigger VPN function, and DirectAccess, which lets on-the-go users access corporate data, applications and files securely without having to deal with cumbersome VPN connections, ensure users get the connectivity they need without adding to the administration burden of IT. The OneDrive cloud storage service is also more deeply integrated into Windows 8.1, allowing users to save, sync and access documents, files, images and other resources across Windows desktops, laptops, tablets and phones, making for a more seamless user experience.
4. Empowering BYOD
One of the thorniest challenges for IT today is how to enable BYOD for mobile users while optimizing its current investment and infrastructure. Windows 8.1 provides robust enterprise management technologies for corporate devices, while also facilitating BYOD scenarios with such capabilities as expanded support for third-party Mobile Device Management (MDM). The new Windows To Go feature is another option that accommodates BYOD and allows for the deployment of the corporate environment to users straddling multiple Windows devices. IT can deliver a managed corporate image on a certified and bootable USB drive that can be booted from any compatible PC, giving users access to their applications, data and personalized Windows environment across
multiple systems.
5. Enterprise-grade Security
The security landscape is changing, with a shift to targeted, persistent attacks that are more difficult to detect and financially devastating to the business—and further complicated by the rise of BYOD. A February 2013 study conducted by Ponemon Institute found that malicious data breaches cost organizations an average of $840,000 per breach, and the average breach takes close to 80 days to detect and more than 123 days to resolve.
Windows 8.1, which has been designed with enterprise security needs in mind, incorporates new capabilities in the areas of biometrics, malware protection and encryption to ensure corporate data is properly protected. A new capability called Remote Business Data Removal gives IT more control over data that’s been provisioned to both managed and unmanaged BYOD devices, allowing for a remote wipe that securely erases data and makes it completely unrecoverable.
As the influence of consumer-driven technology on the corporate computing landscape continues to spread, there’s no turning back. It’s more incumbent than ever for IT organizations to embrace an enterprise platform that balances delivery of the seamless, on-the-go computing experience users crave with the security controls and manageability that are crucial for protecting enterprise assets.
Much of the negative attention about Windows 8 has focused on the initial lack of a Start button, and the unique aspects of the Windows 8 Start screen. Microsoft addressed the Start button issue with the Windows 8.1 update, and the backlash about the Start screen is melodramatic.
It’s simply a matter of perspective. Rather than looking at Windows 8 as Windows 7 that has been handicapped by the Windows 8 Start screen, users should look at it like Windows 7 that includes a bonus Start screen that opens up new potential—whether you choose to use it right now or not. It seems that most of the Windows 8 naysayers are really just Windows (or Microsoft) naysayers in general. It may not make their opinions completely invalid, but it would seem reasonable to take the opinion of a diehard Mac OS X or Linux user with a grain of salt when it comes to Windows.
Download Cloud-Server
Download Direct-Server
No comments:
Post a Comment