Azure Virtual Desktop: The flexible cloud VDI platform for the hybrid workplace | Azure Blog | microsoft azure (2023)

Azure Virtual Desktop: The Flexible Cloud VDI Platform for the Hybrid Workplace• 4 min read

Published inJune 7, 2021
4 minute read

• Tag: Virtual Machines

When we launched Windows Virtual Desktop nearly two years ago, no one predicted that a global pandemic would force millions of workers to leave the office and work from home. Organizations around the world have migrated critical applications and data to the cloud to gain business agility and resiliency. And to support the new remote workforce, many of you have turned to Windows Virtual Desktop to give remote users a secure, easy-to-manage, and productive personal computing experience with Windows 10 from the cloud. It has been humbling to work alongside you as you have modified your operations to meet new challenges, from front line supporthealthcare workers in the NHSaengineers at Petrofacto educators and students—Hear from some of the best universities in the UK.about your experience with Azure Virtual Desktop.

In the future, organizations will need to support aevolving set of remote and hybrid workscenarios. To help our customers and partners meet these new demands for hybrid work, we are expanding our vision to becomea flexible cloud VDI platform for almost any use case, accessible from virtually anywhere. A modern VDI platform must be secure, scalable, and easy to manage, while providing a seamless, high-performance experience for end users. It should also empower organizations with the flexibility to customize and build solutions with their core technology.

To support this larger vision and the changing needs of our customers, today we are announcing new capabilities, new pricing for application streaming, and renaming the Windows Virtual Desktop service toAzure Virtual Desktop.

New platform capabilities for security and management

we are continuouslyadding new capabilitiesto the core platform of Azure Virtual Desktop. Today we are also pleased to announce thepublic preview of new featuresthis will help you better onboard and manage your Azure Virtual Desktop implementation.

• Enhanced support for Azure Active Directory (coming soon in public preview): Azure Active Directory is a critical service used by organizations around the world to manage user access to important applications and data and maintain strong security controls. We are excited to announce that you will soon be able to join your Azure Virtual Desktop virtual machines directly to Azure Active Directory (AAD) and connect to the virtual machines from any device with basic credentials. You will also be able to automatically enroll virtual machines with Microsoft Endpoint Manager. For certain scenarios, this will help eliminate the need for a domain controller, help reduce costs, and streamline your deployment. While this is an important milestone, it's just the beginning of the journey toward full integration with Azure Active Directory. We will continue to add new capabilities such as single sign-on support, additional credential types such as FIDO2, and Azure Files for cloud users.

• Manage Windows 10 Enterprise multi-session virtual machines with Microsoft Endpoint Manager (now available in preview):Microsoft Endpoint Manager allows you to manage policies and distribute applications between devices. You can now enroll Windows 10 Enterprise multi-session Azure Virtual Desktop virtual machines in Microsoft Endpoint Manager and manage them in the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center in the same way as shared physical devices. This simplifies management and provides a centralized view of physical devices and virtual desktops. Read theWindows 10 Enterprise multisession documentationLearn more.

• Deploy in minutes with a new onboarding experience (coming soon in preview):We're pleased to offer an optimized onboarding experience for Azure Virtual Desktop in the Azure portal. This new experience will validate the requirements, start an automated deployment, and also implement best practices. With just a few clicks, you can set up a complete Azure Virtual Desktop environment on your Azure subscription.

New pricing options for remote app streaming

Many organizations use Azure Virtual Desktop to stream applications to their own employees who are covered byexisting license rights. But many organizations also want to use Azure Virtual Desktop to deliver applications "as a service" to customers and business partners.

Today we are excited to announce a per-user monthly access pricing option for organizations to use Azure Virtual Desktop to deliver applications from the cloud to external users. For example, this would allow software providers to deliver their application as a SaaS solution that their customers can access. In addition to the Azure Virtual Desktop monthly user price, organizations also pay for Azure infrastructure services on a usage basis.

Here's what one ISV had to say about the new pricing option:

“Millions of customers around the world trust Sage to deliver innovative business solutions to manage finances, operations and people. Application streaming with Azure Virtual Desktop makes it easy to optimize user access to our Azure cloud solutions for a great online customer experience.” James Westlake, director of product management, Sage.

Try it during our promotional period

The new per-user access pricing option will take effect on January 1, 2022. To help organizations get started now, we're excited to offer a special free promotion for access to Azure Virtual Desktop to stream first-party or third-party applications. to external users. This promotion is effective from July 14, 2021 to December 31, 2021.

The price of the monthly user access rights as of January 1, 2022 will be:
• $5.50 per user per month (Applications)
• $10 per user per month (applications + desktops)

This promotion only applies to the access rights of external users. Organizations would continue to pay for the underlying Azure infrastructure. Organizations should continue to use existing Windows license entitlements, such as Microsoft 365 E3 or Windows E3 and higher, for streaming apps to their employees.Visit our web pagefor more details.

Expanding partner ecosystem

As a cloud VDI platform, we work closely with our partners and empower them to create solutions that meet their needs. For example, Citrix and VMware provide desktop and application virtualization solutions that leverage the capabilities of the Azure Virtual Desktop platform, such as multi-session Windows 10 Enterprise, and allow you to maximize your existing investments and use the tools and solutions you're already familiar with. . . We're also proud of our ecosystem of hundreds of partners who create custom solutions and provide technical consulting to help you implement with confidence. Visitblue marketfor more information on partner solutions and theadvanced specialization pagefor certified implementation partners.

Starting

My team and I look forward to partnering with you to take full advantage of our flexible VDI platform in the cloud and unlock new possibilities for end-user computing. We appreciate your continued support and welcome your feedback. Join us at ourtech communityto connect with my team and other customers and partners to share your feedback and suggestions. To learn more about these announcements, please register on ournext webinar.