14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 8 was designed to prove a platform specifically designed to meet users' needs, Microsoft claims, while also being meant to prove a great solution in all kinds of environments, including the enterprise area.
At the TechEd Europe 2012 conference in Amsterdam, the company provided a bit more details on the features and capabilities that companies can take advantage of with Windows 8.
Even when it comes to its use in an enterprise network, the platform can offer the experience that people need, Erwin Visser, senior director for Windows Commercial said during a Windows 8 presentation.
Moreover, he noted that the OS does have the performance and reliability capabilities that companies want, and that it is also capable of supporting the side-loading of apps from the start.
Thus, businesses will benefit from a great advantage when choosing to upgrade to Windows 8, as the platform will offer support for their existing deployment models.
This means that companies will benefit from low deployment costs, since they do not need to redesign their existing infrastructure. Not to mention that Windows 8 does promise the security compliance that companies are looking for.
Companies will be able to build their own applications for Windows 8, and then have them side-loaded on devices that employees were either given or brought from home.
What enterprise administrators are looking for are tablets that can provide them with the same functionality that today's PCs have to offer.
At the same time, they are also looking for devices that can be easily operated using a keyboard and a mouse, Erwin Visser says, adding that Windows 8 can provide all these to them.
Additionally, the platform was also designed to enable companies to easily come up with applications for both their customers and their employees.
They can take advantage of Windows Intune and System Center to have those apps delivered to their employees' devices.
Windows 8 tablet PCs can also be developed in different form factors, including rugged designs for field engineers, floor staff in a store, or doctors (provided that, for example, such a device needs to be sanitized).
With Windows to Go, the platform offers increased mobility, while also keeping security tight through features such as BitLocker. Having the platform on a stick means that it can be used on any PC that has a USB port, without access to the storage on that computer, and without leaking corporate info.
In case the stick is pulled out, the platform freezes where it was. The user has 60 seconds to plug it back in to continue working. If not, the PC will shut down automatically.
Work is also protected in case the stick is lost, while the latest changes made to files and settings on the Windows to Go drive are being saved to a server, for access from other Windows 8 devices as well.
Thus, the main requirements for use in an enterprise environment are used, including security, stability and reliability, as well as availability on a variety of form factors, for increased flexibility.