Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a secure cloud platform for virtual desktops and servers (see article below), a new computer input device that can replace your keyboard and mouse, an app for remotely controlling your Mac or PC from your iPad, and an iPad document management app. Don't miss the next issue.
VIRTUAL DESKTOPS OFFER A HAPPY MEDIUM
In the ongoing debate between adherents of cloud applications and those of native software, both sides seem to agree on the trade-offs. Cloud applications are available from anywhere and don't involve any startup costs, but they tend to have more limited feature sets because of the limitations of web development tools. On the flip-side, native software has more robust features but usually involves an investment in servers and maintenance. As it turns out, a happy medium exists.
AppsAnyplace Platform … in One Sentence
Breakthrough Technology Group's AppsAnyplace Platform is a platform for cloud services, virtualization, and hosted applications (e.g., virtual desktops).
The Killer Feature
With AppsAnyplace, your law firm can run whatever desktop and server software it wants without having to buy or manage servers and related equipment and support. Instead, BTG hosts your suite of applications in its secure data centers (the above photo shows a few AppsAnyplace server racks) and provides 24x7x365 support.
For example, let's say 10 people work at your law firm. For starters, you decide to equip each of them with Exchange-based email, Microsoft Office, and a time entry application.
BTG will create 10 virtual desktops for your firm with Microsoft Office and the time entry software. In addition, it will host an Exchange server for your email and set up each user's email account in their virtual copy of Outlook.
Your 10 employees each receive their own login credentials, including two-factor authentication for added security if you choose. When they login, it will seem like all the software is on their computer, and when they access data, it will seem as if it's coming from a server in your firm.
But because BTG is hosting these desktops, your team can log into their desktop from any computer — and even from an iPad and smartphone. The only software required on a user's device is a thin client (BTG provides its own thin client for Windows PCs so you need not purchase Citrix or other such products).
Other Notable Features
What about data integrity, security, and support? The AppsAnyplace platform resides in multiple "SAS70 Tier-4 data centers." SAS70 is a certification bestowed on data centers that meet certain security requirements. The use of multiple data centers provides redundancy as well as multiple backups of your data in different physical locations.
AppsAnyplace supports just about any configuration you can dream up both in terms of desktop applications and server software. For example, it supports Microsoft SharePoint. You can even use it to host your firm's web site and build your own web applications.
"Ideal for law firms of all sizes, AppsAnyplace can scale up to ten thousand clustered servers or scale down to a single-server configuration," Jeff Kaplan of BTG told us. "AppsAnyplace delivers a scalable architecture with simplified deployment management."
What Else Should You Know?
Pricing depends on various factors such as what you want to host and the number of virtual desktops. BTG will put together a proposal for you based on your requirements. Kaplan informed us that AppsAnyplace almost always costs significantly less than purchasing your own servers. Learn more about AppsAnyplace.
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