Hewlett-Packard targets big players

Hewlett-Packard is targeting large organisations like government departments, healthcare providers and finance firms with the launch of its new Next Generation Desktop solution.

Developed in partnership with Microsoft and Citrix, Next Generation Desktop is designed to consolidate and simplify large, complicated networks. HP says the system uses existing technology to establish an access-based network, allowing users to perform tasks simultaneously on a variety of different platforms.

Nathan Strong, HP Next Generation Desktop sales specialist, says the system represents a shift from using tools to deploy apps on a desktop to using the desktop to access apps in hosted environments.

This makes the system particularly useful for firms performing mergers and needing to integrate their systems, and for those looking to adopt cloud-based services.

Speaking about cloud computing at a launch function at the Microsoft offices today, Strong said, "It’s where everyone knows they’re going but has a lot of fear about how they’re going to get there.”

Strong says when a user logs in to Next Generation Desktop the system automatically determines who the user is, what device they are using and to which network they are connected, and delivers appropriate applications accordingly.

The system is secure because environments are accessed across a gateway, and it allows for consumerisation, which is the tendency for employees to want to work on their own personal devices.

Leon Booth, APAC sales strategy manager, desktop virtualisation for Microsoft, says the flexibility of the solution is vital for the future.

"Today’s device is not going to be tomorrow’s device,’ Booth says.