gCLOUD3 | Turn-Key Private Cloud Computing

Why SMB Private Cloud?

VDI and Virtual Servers For the SMB: Now Pricing Makes Sense

Low upfront costs, Lower desktop costs, improved security, hardware consolidation, reuse old workstations, decrease power consumption

SMB customer interest in hosted desktop virtualization, also called VDI, is high – Gartner calls it “the hottest trend among its customers” and says that over 80% of incoming inquiries are on the topic of VDI.

• Why so much interest? PCs cost 3 to 5 times more to manage than to buy. “IT is fed-up with desktops, which are an endless source of security and management headaches,” says Mark Margevicius, Vice President, Gartner.

• How does the SMB Private Cloud help with desktop management? VDI streamlines and reduces desktop management costs by virtualizing the desktop images and running them on central servers. Advantages:
  • Enhance security. Since the OS, applications and data are stored on back-end servers, this model has lower risk of a security breach or data loss via the client than client-based models.
  • Simplified management. Manage a few master images as opposed to hundreds of invidivual desktops. Our customers report over 85% reduction in time spent on patching and updates.
  • Faster troubleshooting. When a desktop misbehaves, simply regenerate a new pristine desktop. This cuts the mean-time to recover from problems. Our customers report on average over 80% reduction in the time spent on troubleshooting.
  • Reduce unplanned downtime. gCLOUD3 partners report over 90% reduction in unplanned downtime for three reasons – they can schedule when updates are propagated to minimize disruption, the meantime to repair end-user desktop problems is lower, and because the gCLOUD3 has built-in high-availability for Virtual Desktops.
  • Business continuity and disaster recovery. With the SMB Private Cloud, users can access their desktops from anywhere, thus ensuring business continuity. High-availability is built-in – if a server fails, the workload is adjusted among the other servers on the grid. The only requirement is that the client has at least 2 Private Cloud nodes. Virtual Servers on the SMB Private Cloud use StorageCraft’s ShadowProtect for granular restore functionality, allowing for bare metal restores,  quick server restores, data center replication, and file or folder restores as well, with backup as frequent as every 15 minutes.
  • Recycle, Reuse, Reduce. Use our thin client conversion software to reuse and recycle older workstations and get more life out of them as converted thin clients. Also new thin clients typically consume 1/10th the power of traditional PCs. With the gCLOUD3 Private Cloud, even the private cloud server footprint is also minimal, so overall total power consumption is reduced as well.

Request a demo to see how the SMB Private Cloud is the best solution for SMB clients and their budgets.