How Do You Guys Keep Up?
I've been around long enough to know that keeping up with technology developments is a constant challenge for IT pros, but I can't begin to fathom how anyone could stay on top of all the changes--new concepts, new products, new companies--that are coming down the pike daily from what I would loosely term the desktop virtualization market.
From my perspective, I can tell you that being a one-man editorial shop for a publication and Web site whose coverage includes desk virtualization is a daunting task. Every day, it seems like there is an unending flow of new desktop virt product press releases flooding into my inbox. I try to do at least a couple of vendor briefings per week, but that is just scratching the surface.
The extreme state of this situation was really driven home to me when I read a March 3 brief about Unidesk, in which Rachel Chalmers, an analyst with the 451 Group describes how that vendor is relying on its "deep roots in storage" to simplify provisioning and maintaining state for virtual desktops. She then goes on to paint a crowded picture of Unidesk and a multiplicity of other virtual desktop companies trying to carve out space for themselves in this nascent but very competitive market.
To quote Rachel, "Unidesk's true rivals are other newcomers--themselves often drawing on storage expertise--that hope to help decompose the workspace in various ways: Ceedo, Endeavors Technologies, InstallFree and Xenocode around application streaming; AppSense, RES Software, Tranxition and SlickAccess around user virtualization; Kaviza and Wanova with new takes on the VDI model; and Atlantis Computing and Viewfinity with many-layered approaches that closely resemble Unidesk's own."
That was in March, and I'm sure the roster has swollen since then.
Question: How do you keep up with this kaleidoscope of companies? How do you make sure you don't miss the one outfit that fits like a glove with your organization and can drive it to new heights?
Posted by Bruce Hoard on 06/17/2010 at 12:48 PM