Nutanix Added Capabilities to Xi Frame Desktop-as-a-Service Solution

Nutanix, Inc. added several capabilities to its Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) solution Xi Frame, delivering a richer experience for enterprise customers, including strengthened security, increased flexibility, and broader availability.

These capabilities include: enhanced onboarding for on-premises desktop workloads on Nutanix AHV, expanded support for user profile management, the ability to convert Windows Apps into Progressive Web Apps (PWA), and increased regional datacentre support to 69 regions across Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

An offering to help customers deliver remote work capabilities in minutes, Xi Frame delivered a record quarter, based on total revenue, in 3FQ20, and represented an important contribution to the company’s end user computing business which brought in about 20% of new customer deals during the same quarter.

The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in a shift in operations for most companies. Many had to turn on a dime to deliver remote work capabilities to employees overnight, with solutions like Xi Frame helping them in the process. While countries slowly begin to reopen, many companies are looking at extending remote work programs in light of increased productivity during the lockdown and continued social distancing recommendations. Remote desktop and DaaS solutions that can support organisations’ long term needs are well placed to see increased adoption.

“At Nutanix, our focus has always been on our customers, how to simplify their IT operations and deliver solutions to help drive their business forward, and the last few months have not been any different,” said Nikola Bozinovic, VP and GM, desktop services. “The current global situation has driven many companies to embrace remote work even when they didn’t have the basic building blocks in place ahead of time. Nutanix Xi Frame was especially well-positioned to meet their needs. To help our customers, our focus has been squarely on delivering exceptional service and making it easier for customers to rapidly integrate into their existing environments.“

Xi Frame is a cloud-based service providing companies with a way to run virtual apps and desktops on their choice of infrastructure – including on-premises with AHV and in the public cloud with Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, or AWS. It removes the headache normally associated with remote work expansion while securely delivering virtual workspaces, for both employees and customers, in under an hour and helps businesses to minimise management overhead for their desktop and app deployment.

“When Covid-19 hit, PATHS needed a solution to provide secure, dependable remote access to employees at dozens of sites, as well as hundreds of employees working from home,” said Tony Mackiewicz, principal, Physician and Tactical Healthcare Services, LLC, provider in healthcare finance solutions. “Nutanix Xi Frame running on AHV enabled us to quickly provide secure access to support 200 people working from home, with no connection issues. Employees can now remotely access the systems and applications they need from any device in any location.“

Cloud Connect

With launch, company will deliver following features on Xi Frame to strengthen solution for enterprise customers:

• Enhanced experience on AHV: Since launching Xi Frame on AHV to support customers’ on-premises deployments, the company has added several features to deliver an enhanced user experience. These include a version of the Cloud Connector Appliance that streamlines deployment, as well as the Streaming Gateway Appliance (SGA), a secure reverse proxy that supports the Frame Remoting Protocol (FRP).

• Expanded support for enterprise profiles: Xi Frame supports enterprise user profiles for use cases where desktops are not joined to a domain. Previously, this feature was only supported for domain-joined VMs, so this added flexibility opens up more use cases for Xi Frame. The built-in enterprise profile feature is enabled through a simple one-click integration and is delivered through a partnership with adaptive workspace management solutions provider Liquidware Labs., Inc.

• Support for progressive Web Apps: Xi Frame supports automatic conversion of Windows apps into cross-platform Progressive Web Apps (PWAs). A PWA is a web application normally delivered through web pages or websites in a browser, but can also offer the appearance and ease of use of native, installed applications. Once a PWA is ‘installed,’ users can access the software without needing to go through a browser and can simply click on the app icon. Since the technology is cross-platform, this means that Windows applications streamed by Xi Frame from the cloud can appear to run locally on not just Windows devices but Chromebooks, Macs and other non-Windows devices. Having pioneered running any Windows software in a browser, PWA support is another example of how Xi Frame is bridging the gap between traditional Windows software and modern web applications.

• Expanded worldwide datacenter footprint: In recent months, Xi Frame has added support for more regional datacentres in South Africa, France, Hong Kong, Finland, Japan, South Korea, Australia and the US

The DaaS solution is available in 69 datacenter locations worldwide in partnership with Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and AWS.

These Xi Frame features are available to customers.

Resource:
Test Drive

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