In this week’s issue of Computer Weekly, we look at the key trends and technologies that will be on IT leaders’ agenda in 2012. Our first Buyer’s Guide of the year examines how IT consumerisation will affect business technology; and Home Office IT director Denise McDonagh tells us why government IT isn’t working. Download the new issue now. 

Many companies have turned to virtualization technologies for their servers and in their data centers to simplify administration and to reduce management chores and operating costs while maintaining reliability and safeguarding against disasters. Companies are now looking to apply the same technology to their desktop computers. 

This paper examines how personal computers are now an essential business tool in most organizations. But as the PC assumes an increasingly critical role in everyday business activity, the demands on IT staff are greatly intensified. 

Ensuring that a desktop virtualization implementation delivers a satisfactory end-user experience and uses computer resources effectively can be a challenging task. In this expert Pocket E-Guide, brought to you by SearchVirtualDesktop.com, Dell and Intel, you will discover top strategies for a smooth transition to a virtual desktop environment. 

For most IT organizations, the operational cost of deploying, updating and migrating PCs is the most significant expense associated with the PC life cycle. IDC's Michael Rose outlines some key business considerations that you can apply to reduce your desktop TCO while providing an excellent experience for end-users. 

IRMC used VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure to virtualize its call center operations and support multiple call centers from a central data center, reducing IT costs while improving flexibility and competitiveness. 

In this webcast, prominent industry analyst Rachel Chalmers, of the 451 Group, joined by experts from Intel and Virtual Computer, examine how this alternative approach overcomes the challenges of service-centric VDI. They reveal how to use this approach to realize an exceptionally easy-to-use PC management and support environment. 

View this webcast to learn more about the cost-saving benefits of NxTop and how a PC management approach that leverages client-side virtualization provides significant cost-saving benefits versus both server-centric virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) models and traditional agent-based PC management approaches. 

Effective Desktop Management begins with knowing what you have to manage. 

Read this white paper to learn about how to intelligently manage and protect data and information across locations, heterogeneous applications, hypervisors, operating systems and infrastructure from a single console. 

Access this resource to learn about a new approach to desktop virtualization called Intelligent Desktop Virtualization (IDV), which makes it possible to reap the advantages of desktop virtualization without extensive infrastructure investment, reworking of existing desktop management practices, and without compromising user experience.