Terminal servers key as BYOD takes firm hold in enterprise

Mobile devices are changing the data center and network worlds.

By Donna Donnawitz
May 23, 2013

The bring-your-own-device movement and broader consumerization of IT trend are combining to disrupt traditional data center operations. In response, many businesses are becoming more dependent on terminal server architectures and similar solutions.

Smartphones are not called smart because they have a little brain in them or can do stuff that feature phones can't. They're called smartphones because they can connect to the web just about anywhere, turning the internet into the smartphone's brain and allowing users to do all kinds of things with their phones. Suddenly, calling a friend when you aren't anywhere near a landline, though still present, takes a backseat to being able to access social media, send emails or run applications. According to a recent ZDNet report, smartphones are already outselling feature phones and are more prominent as data use devices, not voice solutions. As a result, the data center is facing major changes.

Smartphones and the data center
The big challenge with smartphones comes from the BYOD movement. As workers become comfortable accessing apps, email, use social media, shared files and perform other operations with smartphones, they often start wondering why they can't just use these solutions for work. Before long, many people will start to act on their desires to use their phone for work, whether the IT department likes it or not. According to ZDNet, BYOD has gained so much prominence that companies are starting to expect their workers to use their personal smartphones for business. However, this means the data center has to adapt in order to secure data being sent to end users through the web and possibly stored on devices not owned by the company.

The news source explained that terminal server architectures could prove an ideal option for companies trying to support BYOD. Terminal servers make it much easier to establish virtual desktop infrastructure, allowing companies to segment the business and personal sides of employee-owned smartphones. As a result, a business can control company-owned data without interfering with employee privacy by deleting or altering their personal data.

Considering the sweeping impact of BYOD
The mobile revolution could also have a major affect on the network. Many experts agree that more mobile backhaul and even wireless backbone infrastructure will be needed to support mobile devices as they gain popularity. This could lead to innovative fiber-optic network deployments and a growing market for fiber to Ethernet media converters as people increasingly expect to connect to the web for data-intensive applications just about anywhere.

Perle has an extensive range of Managed and Unmanaged Fiber Media Converters to extended copper-based Ethernet equipment over a fiber optic link, multimode to multimode and multimode to single mode fiber up to 160km.

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