Tech Data has added a Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) offering to the collection of “click-to-run” solutions available through its Cloud Solution Factory.
The new product, which is available now in the company’s StreamOne cloud marketplace, lets Tech Data resellers deploy cloud-based, as-a-service Microsoft desktops to new or existing Microsoft Azure accounts. Flexible sizing options enable partners to accommodate a variety of end users, from knowledge workers with basic productivity and collaboration needs to engineers and designers who run graphic-intensive workloads.
“As a leader in cloud and next-generation solution aggregation, Tech Data makes cloud adoption simple by significantly reducing cloud configuration and deployment processes so that our channel partners can serve their customers more effectively and with fewer risks,” said Sergio Farache, executive vice president of strategy, innovation, cloud, and M&A at Tech Data, in prepared remarks. “We look forward to delivering higher value to our partner ecosystem with the addition of the Windows Virtual Desktop on Azure Click-to-Run Solution to our Cloud Solution Factory.”
Partners deploying WVD to their customers can draw on professional services from Tech Data ranging from assistance with cloud readiness assessments and desktop migrations to fully managed desktop-as-a-service support.
According to Tech Data, partners can also pair the new WVD solution with its previously introduced Modern Workplace with Secure Score solution. That offering configures security settings in Microsoft 365 accounts to meet industry best practices and creates a runbook for implementing mailbox and data loss prevention policies in Azure every time companies add new users.
The system also enforces multifactor authentication on global admin accounts as well as tenant-wide password reset policies. Integration with Microsoft’s Secure Score assessment tool lets technicians compare a customer’s current security posture to recommended targets and identify opportunities for improvement.
The Cloud Solution Factory, which debuted in February of last year, utilizes a standardized methodology to produce pre-assembled, market-ready cloud services that Tech Data partners can provision and manage through StreamOne. Their click-to-run architecture is designed to make adding them to a cloud services business simple for companies with limited in-house skills and resources.
Tech Data’s WVD solution arrives as businesses are increasingly looking to provide secure anytime, anywhere computing to remote users likely to be splitting time between home and the office even after the coronavirus pandemic subsides.
During a press briefing last month, Gavriella Schuster, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s One Commercial Partner organization, said that adoption of WVD “took off like a rocket” after the COVID-19 crisis began. Usage of the service tripled, in fact, during the third quarter of Microsoft’s 2020 fiscal year, which ended in March.
