VIRTUAL DESKTOP TOOLS, VIRTUALIZED ENVIRONMENTS, VPN
PR Newswire | June 02, 2023
Channel leader CYTRACOM announces a significant update to its ControlOne platform, enabling MSPs to prevent managed clients from evading security requirements and create a passwordless experience for end-users. Managed users are now always on the virtual corporate network, secured by unified global security policies, with an experience that is transparent to end users.
"With the new capabilities of the ControlOne agent, we are demonstrating our continued commitment to driving innovation within the network security market for managed services providers," says CYTRACOM Co-founder and CEO Zane Conkle. "Working closely with MSPs, we are removing the complexity of connecting and securing users without compromising performance and security. The ControlOne platform enables MSPs to meet the challenges of today's distributed workforce and alleviate the increasing pressure from regulatory and compliance entities, all while driving increased profit for our partners."
Game-changing features
With the latest release of ControlOne, CYTRACOM is removing the end user from the process of joining or connecting to corporate network infrastructures. "To achieve this objective, we are uniquely leveraging identity management, initially with Microsoft Azure AD and other third-party identity providers coming soon. With this update, the ControlOne agent can now be silently deployed by MSPs through RMM platforms. Unlike VPN software and other security solutions, no interaction with the end user is necessary during setup," says Eric Romano, Head of ControlOne Development, CYTRACOM.
Once deployed, end users are always on the corporate network regardless of location and are protected by firewall and security policies directly managed by the MSP. This also enables MSPs to prevent users from disconnecting from the network, essentially closing a major security gap that exists in most solutions available in the market today.
CYTRACOM's new ControlOne agent also enables a passwordless experience for users. "No longer do they have to complete set-up procedures or connect and disconnect from the network," continues Romano "ControlOne is always on and enables users to work without having to learn specific processes based on their location like they were forced to do with legacy VPN solutions."
Brandt Ball, Founder of Standard I.T. Security adds, "CYTRACOM's ControlOne agent changes the game for us as it enforces always-on security and dramatically cuts deployment costs and effort. We are no longer reliant on the customer to do the right thing or comply with directions which saves us time and money and dramatically improves the experience for the customer. The ControlOne agent integration with Azure AD takes decision-making out of the hands of the customer and ensures they are always connected, always secure, and able to just work. It truly is a win-win."
Cyber insurance ready
The combination of the new silent deployment and passwordless experience of the CYTRACOM ControlOne agent, along with its ability to eliminate VPNs and firewalls, ensures MSPs innovate and achieve compliance with industry regulations and mandates set forth by cyber insurance providers and other regulatory bodies.
"In today's hybrid work environments, we know everyone isn't working inside an office building, but with CYTRACOM's ControlOne platform, MSPs can securely connect and protect users as if they were inside the perimeter of their corporate network at all times," says CYTRACOM COO John Tippett. "ControlOne enables MSPs to regain control over their customers' networks. By eliminating the end user from the equation, MSPs can achieve secure networks and enforce compliance, eliminating vulnerabilities introduced by legacy VPN and on-premises firewalls."
About CYTRACOM
CYTRACOM delivers infrastructure software purpose-built to empower managed service providers (MSPs) with cloud solutions that connect and secure both traditional and hybrid workforces. Our secure access service edge (SASE) solution provides identity-based network security and connectivity within a single platform that enables businesses to deploy zero-trust networks, enforce compliance and eliminate traditional firewalls and VPNs. Our unified communications suite (UCaaS) uniquely aligns with the operating needs of MSPs and enables their customers to experience seamless communication and collaboration regardless of physical location. Together, these solutions deliver a communications, security and networking platform that is exclusively available to CYTRACOM channel partners.
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VIRTUAL DESKTOP TOOLS, VIRTUAL SERVER INFRASTRUCTURE
prnewswire | June 07, 2023
Scale Computing, the market leader in edge computing, virtualization, and hyperconverged solutions, today announced ongoing momentum with education customers and the SC//Platform, which enables educational institutions of all sizes to optimize and scale operations with self-healing, automated infrastructure for all applications.
The company also announced that Michael Patterson, Director of Sales, is speaking at the Utah Education and Telehealth Network (UETN) Tech Summit next week in Murray, Utah. Patterson's session, "Eliminate Virtualization Complexities with VMware Alternatives," examines how a hyper-converged approach to virtualization can simplify ongoing management and save schools' IT budget and time while allowing a scalable and secure infrastructure.
"We are seeing education leaders at every level invest heavily in new technologies to meet the continuing demands for online learning. These educational institutions require powerful systems that can run workloads with speed and efficiency," said Jeff Ready, CEO and co-founder of Scale Computing. "The Scale Computing Platform is simple to use and easy to manage. It eliminates any downtime by leveraging our patented self-healing technology in a single solution to make IT infrastructure easier for schools and universities. SC//Platform allows IT leaders to manage workloads of any size, leaving more resources available for learning."
The Scale Computing Platform enhances learning experiences in the classroom, the campus, and beyond by delivering agile, always-on IT across a variety of environments. Using cutting-edge technologies, the award-winning solution uses self-healing and automation to maximize application uptime and performance, simplify management, and protect data. SC//Platform addresses the two biggest costs in IT — downtime and people.
American College of Education (ACE), an online graduate school that caters to teachers who want to further their education, is one customer that found a lower cost of entry into virtualization and a lower cost of ownership with SC//Platform. With both a national and international online student population, ACE requires IT infrastructure that is not only up and running 24/7, but is also easy to access and manage. Previously using a cloud-based managed services provider platform, ACE was unable to meet the around-the-clock demands of their international student users and needed to move to a more controlled system. By partnering with Scale Computing, ACE achieved a simple-to-manage, streamlined IT operation, with both a lower cost of entry and a lower total cost of ownership over time.
As James Aldridge, Vice President of Information Technology at ACE, explains, "We were facing all kinds of different struggles before we moved to Scale Computing. We would have systems go down, and we would have downtimes anywhere between an hour to two hours to sometimes up to twelve. I had never used Scale Computing before, but it has been one of the most stable platforms, and the best platform for streamlining our operations internally. With Scale Computing, everything is integrated and being able to manage it all so easily, in a single pane of glass, is hands down the most streamlined I've ever seen."
Like most institutions of higher education, each college within Auburn University functions autonomously, with each dean deciding how best to appropriate their respective budgets and staff various departments in the interest of its students and programs. The SC//Platform brings storage, servers, virtualization, and management together in a single, comprehensive system. With no virtualization software to license and no external storage to buy, it lowers out-of-pocket costs and radically simplifies the infrastructure needed to keep applications running, making the deployment and management of highly available and scalable infrastructure as easy to manage as a single server.
As Joel Beckum, IT Coordinator, Auburn University noted, "Scale Computing Platform does everything that I need it to. It simplifies my network infrastructure so that I can be an expert. I was a desktop support guy who's now a system admin. Scale makes me look like a pro. As far as my users know, I'm a genius."
Willard Public Schools, an award-winning public school system in Willard, Missouri, has partnered with Scale Computing since 2011 for its long-term, future-proof IT infrastructure to power its educational institutions. After its initial implementation, Willard Public Schools decided to replace all of its remaining legacy infrastructure with Scale Computing, creating an all-in-one hyperconverged solution with reliability, maximum availability, and ease of use. With SC//Platform as its IT foundation, Willard Public Schools has a future-proof, efficient, high-performing IT infrastructure in place, allowing Willard's IT team to focus on more strategic projects.
About Scale Computing
Scale Computing is a leader in edge computing, virtualization, and hyperconverged solutions. Using patented HyperCore™ technology, Scale Computing Platform automatically identifies, mitigates, and corrects infrastructure problems in real-time, enabling applications to achieve maximum uptime, even when local IT resources and staff are scarce. Edge Computing is the fastest growing area of IT infrastructure, and industry analysts have named Scale Computing an outperformer and leader in the space, including being named the #1 edge computing vendor by CRN. Scale Computing's products are sold by thousands of value-added resellers, integrators, and service providers worldwide. When ease-of-use, high availability, and TCO matter, Scale Computing Platform is the ideal infrastructure platform. Read what our customers have to say on Gartner Peer Insights, Spiceworks, TechValidate, G2, and TrustRadius.
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VIRTUAL DESKTOP TOOLS, VIRTUAL SERVER INFRASTRUCTURE
globenewswire | June 05, 2023
Nerdio, a premier software solution provider for organizations of all sizes looking to manage and cost-optimize native Microsoft cloud technologies, today has announced the general availability launch of a major new version of Nerdio Manager for Enterprise, version 5.0.
Nerdio Manager for Enterprise version 5.0 includes the highly anticipated Unified Application Management (UAM) functionality, which gives IT professionals the ability to consolidate and control applications delivered to their Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop virtual machines, Windows 365 Cloud PCs, and physical desktops.
With unified management across all virtualized and physical endpoints and applications, enterprises can become more agile, more efficiently leverage IT and staffing resources during the current economic conditions and provide great user and employee experiences.
“Ensuring efficient and secure cloud operations is something that is becoming more and more complex as new technologies and attack vectors are introduced into corporate environments,” said Alan Hazell, Chief Executive Officer, Nimbus DTI. “Nerdio is drastically reducing this complexity with a truly unified management platform that reduces human error and allows us to consolidate the most important aspects of our day-to-day IT operations.”
The new release introduces several major new areas of functionality including:
Unified Application Management (UAM) allows IT professionals to consolidate and control applications delivered to their Azure Virtual Desktop, Windows 365, and physical desktop estates. They can link a wide range of application repositories, public and private, including Winget, to Nerdio’s new Unified App Catalog that simplifies the process of finding, deploying, and managing custom applications. Applications linked in the Unified App Catalog can be automatically deployed to Azure Virtual Desktop session hosts or desktop images, and Microsoft Intune-managed devices. Additionally, admins can use Deployment Policies to automatically install, uninstall, or update applications across the organization’s environment.
Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) allows Intune-managed devices such as laptops, mobile phones, and Cloud PCs, to be managed in a single pane of glass. Admins are equipped with extensive device management and device visibility features in addition to new RBAC (role-based access control) specific to endpoint management. UEM functionality is currently free to use during preview and is expected to be generally available later this year.
Nerdio Advisor is a suite of technologies to estimate cost, simplify, and automate deployment, continuously optimize costs, and recommend relevant features based on usage patterns. The first tool available in the suite, Nerdio Modeler, is now generally available for public use. Modeler is a free tool that allows enterprise organizations and partners to model and cost-predict virtual desktop environments in Microsoft Azure without any Nerdio commitment or licensing required. The next tool, Nerdio Optimizer, will be generally available later this year.
Finally, the PowerShell Module allows developers and administrators to interact with Nerdio Manager for Enterprise via PowerShell. This allows IT professionals and developers to solve issues beyond the traditional scope of the management platform by extending its value into a tool most are already using or familiar with.
“At Nerdio we have a relentless focus on how to make life easier for IT teams at organizations of all sizes. Many organizations are buried under IT tool sprawl, at the same time looking to simplify the management of virtual and physical endpoints,” said Amol Dalvi, VP, Product, Nerdio. “We have had great success accelerating Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop deployments, simplifying their management, and further optimizing costs. We are bringing those same principles and focus to other areas, specifically application management and endpoint management.”
In total, there are over a dozen new features in Nerdio Manager for Enterprise v5.0. Organizations seeking to trial the new features and functionality may install the platform directly from the Azure Marketplace and trial for 30 days at no cost.
About Nerdio
Nerdio adds value on top of the powerful capabilities in Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop, Windows 365, and Microsoft Intune by delivering hundreds of features that simplify management, ensure efficient operations, and lower Azure compute and storage costs by up to 80% via automation.
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