With the global shortage of laptops, the time to virtualize is now

As millions of students return to class remotely, the Covid-19 crisis is presenting yet another challenge: Dell, HP and Lenovo have warned that they’re collectively five million laptops short of what’s needed for a back-to-school season that features distance learning.

It’s a perfect storm. On top of a global pandemic that’s slowed down supply chains and shipping routes, further delays are being caused by the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China.

These shortages have so far had a limited effect on the corporate sector. Suppliers are favoring business customers, who can afford the higher-end machines that are well out of most students’ and school districts’ price range. But the threat to the world’s supply of laptops gives new relevance to a question we at Tehama have been asking since we launched in 2018: Why would anyone accept the risks of relying on laptops when there’s so much more power and security available through virtualization?

The Case for Virtualization

The case for virtualization was clear long before anyone heard of the novel coronavirus. Shipping laptops to remote workers and contractors has always been cumbersome, expensive and dangerous. Thousands of laptops are lost or stolen each year, along with all the mission-critical data they contain. And even a closely guarded laptop can’t protect your organization if your data gets exposed in an unsecured Wi-Fi network or VPN.

Tehama solves all of these problems, and then some. By virtualizing the laptop experience, Tehama gives your business maximum security, agility and power combined with long-term cost savings. With Tehama, shipping laptops is not necessary because the platform was designed for BYOD; any endpoint device, including the one you already have, can access a  highly secure virtual desktop There, approved personnel get only as much access to the zero-trust workspace as you choose to provide. This rigorous security posture puts an end to data breaches, IP theft, malware intrusions and end-user impersonation.

And that’s just the beginning. By supporting the desktop environment of your choice — currently Windows or Linux — Tehama gives your people a seamless and reliable experience that extends even to high-performance computing activities like software and game development, chip design, IT administration and media production.

With Tehama, your teams can be onboarded in minutes instead of weeks or months. You’ll have automatic compliance with regulations like 23 NYCRR 500, GDPR, SOC, ISO, HIPAA, CCPA and FIPS. And with Tehama’s pay-as-you-go pricing, you’ll stop paying extra licensing fees on top of the fees for your primary desktop OS.

More benefits of desktop virtualization

Minimal downtime

As opposed to the delays that come with ordering laptops, virtualized desktops are easy to provision and deploy, since employees can bring their own devices.

Simple scalability

A virtualized environment means the flexibility to adapt as your business grows or your needs change.  Quickly scale up new employees or teams by creating new desktops on-demand, and simplify offboarding by eliminating the need to collect physical devices at the end of a contract.

Savings on IT infrastructure costs

Eliminate the need for costly IT infrastructure and laptop management. IT teams no longer need to spend hours a day replacing hardware, removing malware and troubleshooting support issues.

The global pandemic has forever changed the way businesses operate, and has placed a new focus on what’s required for success in the 21^st century. Your business needs to operate with airtight security, while at the same time allowing a globally distributed workforce the freedom to innovate quickly. In the era of the shipped laptop, meeting both goals was impossible. But with Tehama, it’s the kind of new normal you’ll welcome.