IGEL Disrupt 2024 was held from April 29th to May 1st at the Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood, Florida, and we were fortunate enough to attend in person.
IGEL Disrupt 2024 was held from April 29th to May 1st at the Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood, Florida, and I was fortunate enough to attend it.
The End-User Computing (EUC) space is currently undergoing a significant transformation. Industry giants in desktop and application virtualization, Citrix and VMware, are experiencing substantial changes, and the EOL of Windows 10 is prompting companies to reassess their desktop strategies. In this article, I will provide an overview of my experience at the event and my interactions with some of the people that I had a chance to visit with. This article is more about the human side of the event. As in subsequent posts, I will delve into my interviews with some of the critical figures and innovators at the conference.
Who is IGEL?
For those unfamiliar with it, IGEL is a trailblazer in the EUC space. It offers a transformative secure endpoint OS designed for SaaS, DaaS, VDI, and secure browser environments. IGEL’s solutions significantly reduce endpoint TCO and your endpoint attack surface, making it a leader in this field and a supporter of all modern VDI and DaaS solutions. We have a few good reviews involving IGEL, one with LG’s All-in-One and another with an HP Elite t655.
Now, let’s delve into some of IGEL’s key announcements during the event. These announcements are crucial as they provide insights into the company’s future direction and impact on the EUC space.
IGEL’s first big announcement was its expanded partnership with LG Electronics to deliver cutting-edge commercial digital display solutions powered by IGEL OS. This is IGEL’s first entry into the operational technology (OT) and Internet of Things (IoT) industry. LG highlighted digital display solutions built upon their CreateBoard technology. CreateBoard is a versatile smart monitor with a multi-touch screen, smart viewing, whiteboard software, and management software and tools. LG’s new digital display solutions will leverage IGEL’s Preventative Security Model to provide a more secure experience. With IGEL’s secure Linux-based operating system, LG commercial displays and digital signage solutions will be easier to manage, protect, and control.
Another significant win for IGEL was being one of the first operating systems to support Citrix Enterprise Browser. This browser will offer zero trust access across virtual, web, and SaaS applications in conjunction with IGEL OS and Citrix Secure Private Access.
Citrix plans to release support for uberAgent, a physical endpoint monitoring tool recently acquired by Citrix, for IGEL OS shortly.
IGEL launched a new IGEL Ready Developer Program and SDK to facilitate the swift creation and development of apps for IGEL endpoints at scale. The program enables independent software vendors who are IGEL Ready partner program members to package, publish, and promote their IGEL apps seamlessly. Program members receive access to new IGEL SDK and IGEL technical resources, which provide app developers with the latest tools and blueprints to create apps for IGEL-powered enterprises faster and with greater scale.
Monday
After picking up my badge on the first day of the event, I attended some great sessions and interviewed some of the leaders and innovators in the EUC field.
One of the sessions I enjoyed was a Broadcom boot camp on app virtualization with Jeff Ulatoski and Joe Copper. They discussed application virtualization and delivery, which was very interesting, as I see this as the direction many companies are headed.
On the interview side, I chatted with Matthis Hass, IGEL’s CTO. He told me about IGEL’s current portfolio and its plans for the future. In a series of blogs, I will provide more details about my discussion with him and other leaders in the EUC space.
At the welcome reception that afternoon, I caught up with some old friends from ControlUp.
I also got to chat with some of the folks from VMware’s EUC community.
XenTegra was the event’s head sponsor. I caught up with its team before the party began.
All those who attended the party seemed to have a good time.
Tuesday
The master of ceremonies for the keynote sessions was Matthis Hass, who did a great job talking about IGEL and introducing the other speakers. The keynote theme was “NOW,” where IGEL and others spoke about the current state of EUC and some of the challenges we are seeing. The topic of the following days’ keynotes will be “NEXT,” where IGEL and others will talk about the future of EUC and the features and products that will enable it.
I was pleasantly surprised that Alex Thatcher from HP Cloud Clients gave me a shout-out during his keynote session! I stopped by HP’s booth and looked at their extensive line of thin client devices.
I had a chance to meet with Andy Nieto at the Lenovo booth, where he showed me their latest line of thin clients and other EUC devices. I was especially enamored by their X1 Fold PC, which has a 14″ foldable glass screen!
Parallels RAS is an agnostic VDI/DaaS connection server. It supports almost any type of virtual or physical desktop and streaming applications. With the current disruption in the EUC space, companies looking to move off their existing platforms are showing great interest.
I also got to catch up with some old VMware pals: Joe Cooper, Dale Carter, and Jim Yanick.
Wednesday
The Wednesday keynote focused on the exciting things IGEL and its partners are working on that will soon be included in their products.
IGEL announced enhancements to its App Creator Portal and OS12 Apps portal, which will be available in Q2 2024.
IGEL also gave a preview of its new modern interface.
IGEL announced IGEL Insight for monitoring and managing IGEL endpoints.
Microsoft Intune has a massive presence in the EUC space and seems to be everywhere. IGEL announced that OS 12 will soon be supported on it.
Many of the vendors had a chance to speak at the keynotes and discuss the future of the EUC products. In other blogs, we will examine their announcements and plans.
To wrap up the keynote, Mark Tempelton, EX-CEO of Citrix, was invited on stage to talk.
After the keynote, I had a chance to talk to more of IGEL’s partners.
As more work is done using web browsers, we see a new EUC category: Secure Enterprise Browsers. One of the pioneers of this technology is Island. Judging by the crowds at their booth, this space in the EUC market is getting hotter and hotter.
Apporto was another exciting company that I had a chance to visit. While many other companies focus on larger companies, Apporto is happy to offer affordable web-delivered desktops and applications to mid-size players and educational institutions.
IGEL and the attendees at Disrupt should consider this event a success as there were slightly under a thousand people that attended this event, four boot camps, more than 30 named speakers, and twenty-five sponsors for it. During the three-day event, much information was passed along about the current and future state of EUC.
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