General Manager Recalls Windows 365 Cloud PC Buildout as COVID Began
New features coming to Windows 365 include a new app, plus integration with Intune and Citrix HDX.
October 31, 2022
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Channel Futures: To what extent did the pandemic accelerate the development and release of Windows 365?
Microsoft’s Scott Manchester: The timing of when we started forming the team and when we built the product is interesting. We started forming the team in January 2020. But we started to hire people around March, right when we all were sent home. We hired 95% of the team during COVID. And almost the entire engineering work was done during COVID. We were eating our own dog food as we were building the product. As soon as we built enough of it that we could actually use it, we then switched over and started using Windows 365 and literally developed it on top of the platform.
CF: But was the concept of it already planned before the pandemic?
SM: The pandemic just validated that there was certainly a strong demand for this. The success of [Azure Virtual Desktop] really helped drive a lot more attention and customers were open evaluating virtualization. Many customers found AVD is just the perfect solution for their needs. But many asked if they could get an endpoint client that they didn’t have to manage.
CF: Are you seeing organization by a mix of both AVD and Windows 365, or do they usually go with one or the other?
SM: When we first went out to market, our messaging was, “Here are two great solutions, choose one.” And now our messaging is, “Here are two great solutions, you might find that they’re both suitable for different areas within your organization. Maybe in this department, AVD is better suited. And maybe in this other department within an organization, Windows 365 is better. And the good news is, because it shares so many common platform components, it’s very easy for people to deploy a [virtual network], where they’re hosting their AVD workloads, and then use that exact same Vnet to host Windows 365. From an IT admin perspective, I can manage them all, and the Vnet can manage my security group policies, manage the protocol and the device redirections, and all of those kinds of policies in a consistent way between both of them.
CF: A few years ago, managed service providers were showing a lot of interest in AVD and more recently Windows 365, but they didn’t understand or weren’t sure where it would fit, or how much demand there would be. What’s your take on the opportunity for MSPs?
SM: We think that’s going to be a big, big component for Windows 365, and AVD as well. One of the things that we wanted was to open the market up with Windows 365 and allow these MSPs to now reach further down the pyramid, getting to the smallest organizations. With Windows 365, you can provision it on Microsoft’s network. You don’t need an Azure subscription, you don’t need a domain controller, you don’t need AAD [Azure Active Directory] Connect. You can literally just deploy this for an organization of one. So sole proprietor, and do it in a cost-effective way. There are no fixed costs. You don’t need an Azure attribution, you don’t need a Vnet to worry about egress costs, any of those kinds of things. That now has empowered our partners to go open that market with that product.
We’ve been running surveys for years about how our partners are using the various virtualization solutions back in the early RDS days — Azure Remote App and RDMI and AVD. And consistently, we were hearing that that threshold was you couldn’t really reach beyond 25 users and do it in a way that you maintain the right architecture and security. With Windows 365, I can create a solution that doesn’t require people to do things in a less secure way, yet make it cost-effective and truly bring something forward that could open the market up to where I can resell this in a very simple way and do it at scale. You don’t need to bring in an army of VDI experts to be able to support a large customer base. It’s super easy to manage at scale thousands of tenants with Windows 365.
CF: How many organizations are using Windows 365 as a VDI replacement versus as a native Windows desktop replacement?
SM: We’re still early in the journey with Windows 365. You’re seeing a lot of customers that were forced into a decision when COVID hit that are now looking for their more sustained solution. So you’re seeing people that maybe chose VDI because it was the only thing available to them at the time that are now looking at Windows 365. But I think in another year, things will stabilize, and customers will become familiar with all these opportunities and then choose the right one. Also, it will continue to become more stable.
CF: It’s been several years now since you connected with Igel and it’s clear you have worked quite closely with them. Is it safe to say that this alliance has exceeded your expectations?
SM: I think they’ve been a fantastic partner. They were willing to put a lot of engineering effort into working with AVD and later Windows 365. They started with some very early prototype bits and built into that rich capabilities that AVD provided at the time into their client.
CF: I remember several years ago meeting [former Microsoft exec] Brad Anderson at a Citrix Synergy conference and he said that he saw AVD as a billion-dollar market opportunity.
SM: I wouldn’t dispute that. Brad was a mentor for me and one of the key contributors to my career at Microsoft. He is a visionary who sees market opportunities often before other people do. And I think he saw the opportunities in the virtualization space early.
CF: I remember several years ago meeting [former Microsoft exec] Brad Anderson at a Citrix Synergy conference and he said that he saw AVD as a billion-dollar market opportunity.
SM: I wouldn’t dispute that. Brad was a mentor for me and one of the key contributors to my career at Microsoft. He is a visionary who sees market opportunities often before other people do. And I think he saw the opportunities in the virtualization space early.
Microsoft is expanding its Windows 365 Cloud PC with a new app, a government version and support for Citrix HDX. Also, Microsoft has added extended Windows 365’s Zero Trust Security with support for password-less authentication and management using Intune.
Microsoft’s Scott Manchester at Ignite 2022
A preview of the new Windows 365 app is now available in the Microsoft Store. The app is accessible from the Windows 11 taskbar. It lets users switch between the native desktop and a virtual Windows 365 Cloud PC workspace.
Microsoft launched the added Windows 365 features during this month’s Ignite event and last week held technical sessions. The updates come just over a year after the managed virtual Windows service became generally available. According to Microsoft, the Windows 365 app will work on all Windows 11 PCs. The company has optimized it for Microsoft Teams and other Microsoft 365 apps.
“This is a very beautiful app that meets the kind of design elements that an average user can just get behind this and be productive,” said Windows 365 general manager Scott Manchester during a panel discussion at Ignite. Microsoft announced that it would include Windows 365 app in Windows 11.
Citrix designed HDX Plus for Windows 365 to integrate Windows 365 with Citrix Cloud. It uses the Citrix HDX protocols to ensure secure connectivity. It also aims to provide reliable connectivity.
The Microsoft Intune management and configuration platform will also soon be able to support security policies in Windows 365. The Microsoft 365 console will soon let administrators provision Windows 365 Cloud PCs with Microsoft Intune if the tenant has the required Intune license.
Channel Futures caught up with Manchester during a recent stop on Igel’s Disrupt road show, where we discussed Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop.
See our slideshow above for our conversation.
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