Working with Google Cloud on an Industry-Specific Enterprise Strategy

Most enterprises in any industry are still heavily dependent on Windows applications and infrastructure. itopia is working with GCP to moderize it all

Working with Google Cloud on an Industry-Specific Enterprise Strategy

At Google Cloud Next’19, new CEO, Thomas Kurian, made the company’s enterprise strategy clear. Kurian and his team made many announcements regarding how they are enabling digital transformation in the enterprise – from Anthos to AI to multi-cloud support – and, notably, expanded support for enterprise Windows workloads. Google Cloud is also targeting specific industry verticals with tailored solutions. These include retail, oil and gas, financial services, media and entertainment, contact centers, and more. Considering that 80 percent of enterprise workloads are not yet running in the cloud, there’s plenty of opportunity.

Windows workloads – Key to the enterprise cloud

Let’s face it, most enterprises in any industry are still heavily dependent on Windows applications and infrastructure. At the same time, while the value of migrating to the cloud seems like a no-brainer, CxOs, enterprise architects and admins, and network and security administrators have valid concerns about which Windows workloads to migrate or keep on premises. Whether or not those will be secure and compliant, how application performance will be affected, and so on, are legitimate concerns for all parties involved. Another challenge is that many enterprise IT architects and admins are relatively new to managing cloud and/or hybrid on-premises and cloud environments. The elephant in the room? “How do we get there and meet all of our specific business requirements in our industry?”

Enterprise strategies in the cloud

Different industries have different requirements, yet striking similarities in many cases. Let’s dig into how itopia’s solutions + Google Cloud address vertical markets directly or as a whole.

  • Heavily regulated industries – Some industries must comply with strict security and compliance regulations more than others. For instance, financial services, healthcare and retail deal with highly sensitive customer transactional data and private information that must meet strict government mandates on a regular basis. Google Cloud is highly compliant, has over 750 security experts and undergoes third-party audits of its practices regularly. itopia CAS gives enterprises the ability to set granular user and group policies on the front line.
  • Resource-hungry applications – Not all workloads are alike. Industries like oil and gas, media and entertainment and architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) use graphics- and data-intensive applications that require more resources to run than. itopia CAS’ Workstations for VFX leverage NVIDIA GPU accelerators on GCP to eliminate the need to procure and maintain expensive on-premises workstations in massive data rendering farms.
  • Fluctuating demand – By leveraging cloud infrastructure, industries like retail and call centers can scale resources up or down as demand fluctuates. For instance, during the holiday season, retailers and their customer service centers experience a massive uptick in demand in both infrastructure and personnel resources. Without the hyperscale cloud, that would require a huge up-front expenditure on infrastructure that will sit idle in the off-season. itopia CAS enables IT admins to deploy secure workspaces for seasonal and temporary workers on GCP easily.
  • Mobility – To be clear, mobility affects all industries. Whether it’s students, your employees or customers, people today expect to be able to access their applications and data whenever and from whatever device they choose. The most effective way to meet this demand while managing and securing these dispersed environments is by migrating them to the cloud. Don’t want to move everything to the cloud? No problem! itopia CAS enables hybrid Active Directory deployments, as well. AD getting too surly to manage? itopia is already integrated with GCP’s new Managed Service for Microsoft AD.

Overall, our solution takes a more modern and lightweight approach to cloud-based desktop virtualization than the legacy alternatives. Our goal from the beginning has been to create a cloud-native solution that eliminates the “VDI burn” many early adopters experienced in the past. While we are only scratching the surface of the solutions itopia + Google Cloud provide here, one thing is certain – we are continuing our work together to execute on a robust enterprise strategy.

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