Workspot deploys cloud desktops at scale in minutes with Compute Engine
About Workspot
Workspot, a forerunner in enterprise modernization, is reimagining virtual desktop delivery with their SaaS platform for delivering desktop as a service (DaaS).
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Contact usWorkspot provisions more virtual desktops faster and easier with the scalability, reliability, and performance of Google Cloud.
Google Cloud results
- Gains 27% more CPU power with N2 virtual machines
- Provisions 2,000 machines in three minutes
- Ramps up easier and faster on Google Cloud than other cloud platforms
SaaS platform went from demo to production in five weeks
You can tell a lot about a person by their desktop. Some are cluttered, others clear, but each is nuanced and often reflective of its user. You needn't think back too far to remember the days when access to one's unique desktop was limited by the availability of a particular device. And for enterprises, this often equated to thousands and thousands of devices. But with the ubiquity of cloud computing, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), and more enterprises digitally transforming, this has begun to change.
Workspot, a forerunner in enterprise modernization, is reimagining virtual desktop delivery with their cloud desktop SaaS platform for delivering desktop as a service (DaaS). Anchored by pillars of reliability, security, and performance, they’re minimizing enterprise device dependency as well as the security, access, and cost issues that often accompany end-user computing. Amazingly, with their cloud-native DaaS platform, they can provision thousands of cloud desktops across multiple regions in minutes. But DaaS wasn’t always this easy or powerful.
In the same way that devices once limited access to local desktops, VDI solutions have historically been constrained by hardware and data center limitations. “When you wanted to deploy thousands of desktops, you were limited by the scalability and availability of your on-premises hardware. That was one of the challenges customers have had for at least a decade,” recalls Jimmy Chang, Workspot Chief Product Officer.
Workspot uses Compute Engine with sole tenancy to deliver their Cloud PC solutions and enable customers to take advantage of the scalability and performance of Google Cloud. After early proof-of-concept conversations with and support from Google Cloud Professional Services (PSO), Workspot went from demo to production in just five weeks, then seamlessly migrated early customers onto the new, elastic platform. With Google Cloud, Workspot could quickly and easily deploy Windows 10 Cloud PC VDI at scale, reducing provisioning time from days to minutes.
Building trust and optimizing a cloud-native solution
Workspot is a SaaS and cloud-native solution. But the term “SaaS” is often misinterpreted by enterprise customers as less secure because their desktops would not be isolated from other companies’. However, Workspot has a unique architecture that separates the control plane from the data plane that holds the customer’s sensitive data. Workspot Control—primarily used by enterprise IT for provisioning, managing, and monitoring—is a multi-tenant service. To keep enterprises secure, Workspot uses customer-specific projects in Compute Engine to isolate enterprise customers, their networks, and highly sensitive information so there’s no data sharing between customers. And with sole tenancy, they ensure compliance with Microsoft licensing. This architecture takes full advantage of Compute Engine’s global footprint to securely deliver high performance, low latency desktops.
In addition to the isolation and security they’re able to provide to their customers with Compute Engine, Chang underscores the customer education and inherent trust that come as a bonus with their Google Cloud partnership. “Customers shared with us that they have confidence in Google Cloud’s enterprise-grade security, built-in at every layer,” he shares.
“We have the ability to give [customers] a higher performance at the top end while managing the average performance across all users. The ability to do this on Compute Engine means that customers can meet their enterprise requirements without compromising on per user cost and performance.”
—Jimmy Chang, Workspot Chief Product Officer, Workspot27% more CPU power with N2 virtual machines
Workspot is not only using sole tenancy on Compute Engine, but they’re also moving beyond cloud provisioning to consider how they can optimize nodes from both cost and performance perspectives. “With N1, we already saw a performance bump over what we have in market. But when we looked at the N2, based on our internal testing, we saw up to 27% more compute power over the N1,” explains Chang.
Leveraging one of their greatest assets, user performance data, Workspot continues innovating to maximize this power to achieve an optimal balance per node while offering customers the best price-performance for enterprise Cloud PCs. “The advantage of N2 is that we’re starting from a higher performance ratio than what was in N1,” explains Chang. “We’re able to look across all users in a customer’s deployment to determine their aggregate usage. And now we have the ability to give them a higher performance at the top end while managing the average performance across all users. The ability to do this on Compute Engine means that customers can meet their enterprise requirements without compromising on per user cost and performance.”
Delivering simplicity and security at scale with Google Identity and Access Management
Enterprise customers are not one size fits all. Customers come with varying complexities, sensitivities, compliance, and governance needs, which in the past may have deterred those with complex security needs from a DaaS solution.
Workspot’s offering focuses on enabling the customer to bring their security tools and processes such as their corporate standard multi-factor authentication (MFA), antivirus, data loss prevention (DLP), and management tools into their Workspot deployment. Workspot offers a standard model to customers to make it simple to deploy quickly, but can also customize this framework based on individual use cases to provide the isolation, security, and permissions those with stricter compliance and governance limitations may require.
“Our enterprise customers are unique,” says Chang. “They have individual security requirements, different MFAs, different Windows images, and different security tools. In some cases, it even differs between business divisions. They can’t adopt a solution that requires compromises. We’ve found that being able to have great flexibility allows us to accommodate our individual customer needs.”
“We were able to demonstrate something we’ve never shown a previous customer before, which was that we could provision 2,000 machines—West Coast and East Coast—in three minutes. And now you’ve onboarded an entire company. That had been a really hard challenge to solve up to that point before using Google Cloud.”
—Jimmy Chang, Workspot Chief Product Officer, WorkspotCompute Engine: Reliable, scalable, and fast
Chang shares that since Workspot migrated its Enterprise Desktop Cloud platform to Google Cloud, the company continues to make strides in their core values of performance and reliability. Additionally, they’ve accomplished things they hadn’t before. In Chang’s own words, “Once we were able to take those safety latches off of our system, we were able to demonstrate something we’ve never shown a previous customer before, which was that we could provision 2000 machines—West Coast and East Coast—in three minutes. And now you’ve onboarded an entire company. That had been a really hard challenge to solve up to that point before using Google Cloud.”
Customers also see improvements. With lower latency, end users can’t differentiate performance between their on-premises and cloud desktops, even when accessing their virtual desktops from a low-cost or zero-trust endpoint. “Right now, I’m using my Google desktop in LA, and I have a 9 millisecond flight time. That’s amazing!” exclaims Chang. Perhaps most importantly, on Google Cloud, Workspot customers aren’t experiencing interruptions or outages. “We look at reliability, security, and performance. That’s what our customers demand of us. We haven’t experienced an outage with Google,” says Chang.
“A lot of our success up to this point has been driven by working with the Google team and the PSO team.”
—Jimmy Chang, Workspot Chief Product Officer, WorkspotWorkspot explores new ways to leverage data insights
Leaning on years of experience and Compute Engine’s ease of use, Workspot engineers ramped up faster on Google Cloud than on their previous cloud platform. Chang attributes the company’s ability to get going quickly and smoothly on Google Cloud to “good API, good documentation, and good response.” He calls his team’s ongoing relationship with Google Cloud “a great partnership” propelled forward by unique perspectives, like-mindedness, and co-innovation. “A lot of our success up to this point has been driven by working with the Google team and the PSO team,” he says. “We’re sharing our learnings, and they’re sharing their learnings,” he adds.
Workspot continues their work to optimize sole tenant node performance, has gone on to complete a data warehouse project, and is now exploring BigQuery to determine new ways to make the data their system collects—12 million records a day and growing rapidly—into more more actionable operation insights for Workspot and their customers’ T organizations. As they work to address new customer use cases, they’re partnering with Google Cloud to build reliable solutions and identify new opportunities to shape new cloud products. “We partner with Google well because we want to deliver the best customer experience,” says Chang. But the innovators aren’t content to stop there.
Tell us your challenge. We're here to help.
Contact us
About Workspot
Workspot, a forerunner in enterprise modernization, is reimagining virtual desktop delivery with their SaaS platform for delivering desktop as a service (DaaS).