Amazon WorkSpaces and FlexApp Working Together
Amazon Workspaces Overview
“Amazon WorkSpaces is a fully managed, secure desktop computing service
which runs on the AWS cloud. Amazon WorkSpaces allows you to easily provision
cloud-based virtual desktops and provide your users access to the documents,
applications, and resources they need from any supported device, including
Windows and Mac computers, Chromebooks, iPads, Fire tablets, Android tablets,
and Chrome and Firefox web browsers.” Amazon Workspaces website
This is groundbreaking
considering that within a few mouse clicks, uses could get access to the
desktop and the resources they need, provisioned for them in the background.
The challenge then evolves to more of an application strategy scenario as
opposed to a resource availability scenario.
At the end of the day
Amazon WorkSpaces are still just windows desktops delivered to end users. Therefore,
the default capabilities of FlexApp Layering from Liquidware can perfectly
augment the Amazon WorkSpaces solution. The FlexApp Layering solution can be
implemented to provide an application management platform servicing, VDI,
Private Cloud and now Amazon Workspaces.
FlexApp with Amazon Workspaces Overview
FlexApp
Layering is an advanced technology, tightly
integrated within the ProfileUnity User Environment Management platform.
Application installs are redirected to virtual hard disks that can be stored
and managed centrally. If you think about the Windows operating system like a
puzzle piece, the FlexApp Layering technology essentially converts the
applications into portable puzzle pieces that can snap onto the host operating
system. Additionally, now that the applications are portable, they can follow
the users across the various endpoints they leverage.
As part of the tight integration with
ProfileUnity, FlexApp leverages profile settings and policies but can also
be implemented as a stand-alone solution. ‹FlexApp enables
Administrators to assign department-level applications to groups of users across
both physical and virtual environments. This flexible framework allows for a
seamless transition to support a Public Cloud enterprise strategy.
FlexApp integration with Amazon Workspaces
The ProfileUnity
management infrastructure can be provisioned within the Amazon Workspaces
customer instance. Liquidware has integrated both the ProfileUnity and FlexApp
solutions with the Amazon Marketplace workflow, so that within a few mouse
clicks both platforms can be implemented within the customers environment. FlexApp can be implemented and integrated with
the customers’ existing enterprise application strategy alongside the new
Amazon infrastructure. This simplified architecture has
allowed for a seamless transition to integrate with cloud platforms like Amazon
Workspaces. ProfileUnity and FlexApp both support any kind of enterprise
storage including cloud-based storage like S3 from Amazon.
As you will see from the graphic below,
FlexApp Layers leveraged within the enterprise datacentre on prem, can be
replicated to Amazon S3. At which point they can be attached like puzzle pieces
onto the new Amazon WorkSpaces instances.
As the user’s login into their corresponding
Amazon WorkSpaces instances, the FlexApp Layers have been attached behind the
scenes so that they are available just as any other natively installed
applications would be. The corresponding windows operating systems think that
the new FlexApp Layers are natively installed, when in fact they are just
attached through standard windows virtual disk technologies in the background.
A proprietary Liquidware filter drive manages communications between the host
operating system and the FlexApp Layers for optimal efficiency.
Amazon WorkSpaces are currently designed to
be persistent endpoints. ProfileUnity and FlexApp have the ability to create a Persistent
/ Non-Persistent environment within the Amazon WorkSpaces solution, by making both
the user’s profile and applications more portable in nature. This ultimately
eliminates the complexity of supporting the base windows image that the Amazon
WorkSpaces are built from.
For information
regarding Liquidware integration with the Amazon EUC portfolio please contact Alliances@liquidware.com
For additional information
around Liquidware, please visit Liquidware.com