Prosumers are amateurs who buy professional-grade equipment or services for personal use. These consumers are becoming an increasingly important target demographic for companies, even those that are generally more focused on the commercial side of the industry.
Well, in a push to drive consumer adoption of virtual desktop technology, Ingram Micro Inc. has teamed up with Samsung and Amazon Web Services to bring Microsoft Windows Desktop as a Service (DaaS) to the prosumer.
Virtualizing The Desktop
The solution will help automate the setup of Windows virtual desktops for Samsung Galaxy Note8, Samsung Galaxy S8, and Samsung DeX customers, the company said. In “just a few easy steps", customers can have a virtual desktop on their smartphone, the company asserts.
For those not in the know, the Samsung DeX Station is a dock designed to create a desktop experience powered by the Galaxy Note8, Galaxy S8 or S8+. Using Ingram Micro Cloud’s solution, an image of the desktop is put into the cloud using Amazon WorkSpaces so users can access their computers from their smartphones.
Traditionally, virtual desktop solutions like these have been the realm of enterprise and SMBs thanks to configuration requirements and high costs. Ingram’s strategy for getting over that hurdle is built around the company’s platform technology and custom-built Cloud Store designed to help automate the process.
What This Means For Partners
This is the first mobile device-based Microsoft Windows cloud DaaS offered directly to Samsung DeX customers, the companies claim. Amazon WorkSpaces will be available to reseller partners in the U.S. from the Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace later this year.
The company says this will help its partners create a complete mobile desktop solution for their business customers by bundling the Galaxy Note8 or Galaxy S8/S8+ and DeX Station with Amazon WorkSpaces, along with their choice of additional cloud services from the Ingram Micro portfolio.
Of course, many companies have been chasing the DaaS dream but thanks to prohibitive costs and logistics, practical solutions have remained somewhat elusive. This may be, in part, why Ingram Micro is targeting the “prosumer.” Simply put, they’re more willing to spend the money.
