BANGALORE, INDIA: In this recession-stricken environment, enterprises have no second thought on whether to take up virtualization. However, lots of confusion still prevail in this space. Shantanu Ghosh, VP, product operations, Symantec India, tries to answer a few of them in an exclusive interview with CIOL. Excerpts:

CIOL: How can enterprises implement endpoint virtualization? What are the benefits?

Shantanu Ghosh: Symantec offerings in this space are comprehensive and robust, the implementation is very simple. With the help of these products, data, which is streamed from a protected central location, follows the knowledge obtained about usage patterns and preferences of users.

Also, once the user logs off, the information is stored and can be accessed on the fly, as desired, by logging in again without any time lag. Another advantage of endpoint virtualization is that different versions of the same application can co-exist on the same software without any interference or conflict.

This interesting feature cuts down on licensing costs and protection management expenditure, as security is in-built. With endpoint virtualization providing such an edge, financial institutions are increasingly looking at it as an option.

There will be a change that the IT team would have to make depending on the size of the organization. If an organization has around 5,000 users, then the changes that have to be made will be minimal. However, under all circumstances, the IT department would have to configure and set up a new environment.

Data management: With end-point virtualization, the trend is moving toward managing information. Earlier, employees used to come to one location to access information. However, now with enterprise mobility gaining momentum, employees can access information on the move.

With this arises the challenge of security and infiltration of information, which can be avoided with end-point virtualization that detects usage patterns. With endpoint virtualization, data is streamed from a central location, thus, making data management easy, as applications are isolated and siloed in the virtual environment.

CIOL: Is there a standard mode of end-point virtualization? How does it help in data management?

SG: When a new technology is developed, it typically falls outside the realm of established standards - that is, after all, what makes it new. Major endpoint virtualization vendors are now beginning to realize the need for a standards-based approach to accomplish IT chores that endpoint virtualization is tasked with, and most are moving in that direction.

It is important that as the industry moves toward a standardized approach, everything possible is done to comply with existing standards as opposed to creating new ones. This means that the road to standardization is a bit more arduous, but in the end it will prevent certain happening, which were intended to be eradicated in the first place,: i.e. more complexity.