Peer to Peer Magazine

"There were version control issues among the various offices." WORKING OUT THE KINKS After that we looked for buy-in from users. Logging in to another desktop to access the litigation support applications was going to be a departure from procedures to which they had become accustomed. We started this process by doing our proof-of-concept with some of our more vocal users in the satellite offices. After logging in with their RSA token, the users were not thrilled with having to also log in to the desktop. But once the login process was done, they were pleased to find that their applications and case data were accessible more quickly than ever before. I went back to our network manager to investigate how we could remove the two-factor authentication for internal users. After some research and testing, he was able to accomplish this by having the users select an option to log in as the current user on the login splash screen, which eliminated the need to add their credentials again. Once we overcame that hurdle and some other minor issues with allowing users to access their email messages from the desktop, we had few complaints from the user base. SEEING THE BENEFITS OF DEPLOYMENT After we successfully tested the litigation support VDI, we deployed it concurrently with the desktop image rollout taking place across all 12 offices. We immediately realized the benefits of our new environment. • Management: Using technology such as VDI allows litigation support to have central management of all user desktops and really control what is being installed and used on the desktops. Deployment of virtual desktops is lightning fast and always the same for all users, allowing us to troubleshoot problems with ease. • Security: We have greater administrative control of how we secure the virtual desktop. We can lock down the image from external devices or prevent the copying of data from the image to the user's local machine. Remote users or road warriors also benefit as sensitive data are stored on the server in the data center and not the device. If the device is stolen, the information is protected. • Platform Independence: It doesn't matter what operating system or device is being used, if there is an Internet connection, users can access their applications and data. Whether using a Mac, Chromebook, Windows PC, iPad or Android tablet, a user gets a "single pane of glass" to look into their matters with any broadband connection. • Snapshot Technology: A snapshot gives you the ability to roll back to a previous desktop if needed or use one snapshot for many purposes. For example, if you use third-party vendors, contractors or consultants, you can use secure/encrypted locked-down images to allow them to work in your environment. Peer to Peer the quarterly magazine of ILTA 37

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