As more Macs move into the workplace--whether through C-level or departmental desires or as part of intentional "Bring Your Own Computer" programs -- you need to think about ways to speed corporate Mac deployment, protect your investment in your application stack, maintain compliance and deliver positive ROI sooner rather than later.

As you build your plans, you will need to consider several alternatives for providing Windows applications to your Mac users. These are among the most popular.

Proven technology for more than a decade, using virtual machines to provide a managed corporate desktop is simple.  The desktop virtualization application is installed on the target computer and allows that hardware to run multiple independent "desktops" at the same time. For example, on a Mac, you could run a Windows virtual machine and provide Microsoft Outlook, Internet Explorer and Project without having to provide any additional hardware or connectivity.

Benefits:

• Low cost:  ~$100 per seat for visualization application, then operating systems and applications are typically already covered under existing site licenses.
• No costly servers or infrastructure needed, so ROI is nearly instantaneous.
• Easy to deploy and manage using a variety of industry-standard management tools.
• No need for internet connection - users stay fully productive 24/7.
• Applications run at near native speeds.
• Flexible subscription licensing means you only pay for what you need to use.

VDI is a way to deploy Windows applications to your Mac users by creating corporate images that live in a datacenter and are delivered  over a high-speed connection to the end user when needed.

Cloud-based applications live in a hosted environment and are accessed via a web connection.  Applications can be hosted in a "private" cloud owned and managed by your IT department or on a site hosted by a third party.

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