Can a platform vendor be an effective management vendor?

Today we announced a preview of MokaFive’s new VirtualBox client for desktop management. With the addition of an open-source hypervisor, we are fulfilling our vision to be truly both OS-agnostic, as well as hypervisor-agnostic, giving our customers freedom of choice. This is only our first step, and we will continue to add support for more hypervisors, including broadening our current Linux-based baremetal to address Type-1.

This made me wonder: Can an OS or hypervisor platform vendor also be an effective management vendor? In other words, is it in the customer’s best interest to buy a management solution from the same company that supplies its operating system or its hypervisor? It seems to me that it’s impossible to meet your customers’ management needs when your company is tied to one platform. If you’re Microsoft, you’re going to sell a management solution that supports Windows. But what if, down the road, the customer wants to deploy a few Macs on the network? The customer will be out of luck because they are locked in to the Microsoft ecosystem.

As enterprises undergo transformation with more remote, mobile and contract workers, different platforms will have to be deployed or managed based on specific situations. IT needs to have a management solution that is not tied to one platform and is truly future proof. We’re already helping our customers to expand choice in operating systems and in hardware. Today we’re expanding choice in hypervisors. We’ve added our first free hypervisor for Macs—the open-source VirtualBox client—in addition to the VMware Fusion we have long used.

Choice has always been an important factor for our customers, who need the freedom to purchase the IT solutions best tailored for their business, regardless of which solutions they already have in place. It all needs to work together seamlessly. Increasingly, Macs are being used in the enterprise and, with the right tools, they can be managed easily alongside PCs. I believe this is where end-user computing is going, and as such, what IT needs to factor in for their decision-making.

Purnima Padmanabhan, VP of Products

The free Player is back! The free Player is back!

By popular demand, you can once again download a free MokaFive Player and use our sample LivePCs (Fearless Browser, among others). We took it down at the start of the year to make upgrades to our website as well as the Player. The all new free Player is aligned with our enterprise product and now supports Mac 10.6 and Windows 7. And yes, we are planning to expand the list of sample LivePCs – keep checking back. Enjoy!

Purnima Padmanabhan, VP of Products

Learnings from our CIO Summit

Last month, we hosted our first quarterly CIO summit session that was attended by several CIOs representing some of the largest organizations in the US. The goal of this session was to investigate the priorities and the associated drivers for end-user computing within these large organizations. Over the course of a terrific power packed discussion, several themes emerged - one of which struck us as very distinctive.

We were expecting the usual themes around cost and control to emerge when, right at the beginning, one of the CIOs of a leading services firm said, “Look, it is not about control. IT doesn’t want to control; we just want to deliver enterprise value at the lowest possible cost, ensuring that every user is productive.” Quite a profound statement. Which brings us to the question, “Why are IT conversations always peppered with the word control?”

Upon further discussion, the answer became clear. The CIOs want to enable user productivity at the lowest cost and risk to the business. In the past, the only way to achieve a reliable, secure desktop was through lockdown and control. But over the years in many organizations, “control” has become the primary objective which, in turn, has lead to myopic decision making.

A number of influences seem to be changing this trend. One reason is that IT is required to support new business initiatives, which cannot be supported using traditional models. As the CIO for a large healthcare firm put it, “I have to enable new work models including teleworking and outsourcing. We hire talent where we get it and do not worry whether it is in the corporate location or not. These users need a secure, reliable working environment at their home, on the go, right at their fingertips at all times.” Second, there are finally a number of solutions now that can enable an IT organization to provide user flexibility without additional cost or risk penalty, so you don’t need to control and lockdown the user. In fact, client- based virtual desktop management solutions like MokaFive can significantly drive the cost and the risks down by enabling single image management across corporate and employee owned assets. (More elaboration in subsequent blog posts).

Another alternative that is commonly considered is VDI. Almost all the CIOs had investigated or were investigating VDI. But they found VDI to be too expensive, too complex, and most importantly, too restrictive for their users. This seems to be a growing sentiment and is reflected well in this article by Randy Eckel . We will explore more of the CIO comments and feedback in upcoming blogs.

Purnima Padmanabhan, VP of Products and Marketing

MokaFive, a green technology?

Yesterday we announced our new round of funding lead by NGEN Partners with contributions from existing investors Khosla Ventures and Highland Capital Partners, MokaFive Raises $21 Million in Venture Capital Funding. Over the past year, we have built a great enterprise-class product that is now deployed within large F1000 companies. With our product now proven in production, this funding allows us to rapidly scale our business and deploy new customers.

Why did a clean technology VC firm like NGEN Partners invest?

Like all successful venture capital firms, first and foremost they seek to invest in companies with a sound business model and huge market potential. Secondly, they look for opportunities to advance the mission and benefits of clean and green environments. You may ask yourself: how is a desktop management (virtualization) company like MokaFive “green”?

It’s very simple. Compared to VDI, or server-based computing, MokaFive's distributed virtual desktop solution offers a 90% reduction in number of servers needed –that is 90% less power, less space, less cooling and less bandwidth. In addition, the model provides *all* the benefits that accrue from a centralized management model. Also, the MokaFive model is a perfect solution to enable green initiatives, such as work from home. You can now simply provide employees with a secure, encapsulated virtual image that can run either on their machine at home or at work (bye-bye to worries about VPN on unknown, unsecured machines, access to terminals over low bandwidth, etc.). Telecommuting avoids not only the fuel used by commuters, but also the overhead energy costs needed to maintain a workplace.

Now, let’s talk about the market potential. End-user computing is being transformed by a huge variety of new devices and increasing numbers of mobile users. This change has marched right into the enterprises. As a result, managing computers with the necessary security and flexibility has become enormously expensive. MokaFive’s revolutionary approach allows you to cut traditional desktop management costs by as much as 50%. Our management solution enables you to maintain a single virtual image across any device and any user (e.g., employee, contractor, or teleworker). The virtual image is deployed to the endpoint so it eliminates the huge outlay in servers that VDI requires. The market potential to deliver a new, more effective model to update and maintain secure corporate environments across disparate, dispersed device and user types.

We are very excited to have NGEN on board, and we look forward to accelerating our business this year.

Purnima Padmanahban, VP of Products