Businesses demonstrate “mobility” when their employees can access their files, emails, and/or applications from anywhere via the Internet (including web-enabled mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones). Mobility benefits companies in several ways: first, it gives businesses the opportunity to establish a single, centralized IT infrastructure that can be accessed by employees everywhere (helpful if the company has multiple offices or if its workers travel or telecommute on a regular basis); second, by letting users access high-performance and full-featured IT resources from anywhere, mobility adds up to nine hours of productivity per employee per week; and third, it makes the business more attractive to higher-echelon young job applicants, who expect—much more than employees that grew up in an era before commercially-available mobile technologies—to be able to access their files, emails, and applications from their smartphones and tablets no matter where they are.

Businesses that decide to remain an “immobile” organization—retaining their on-site IT infrastructure, which can only be accessed from an on-premise workstation, and refusing to allow employees to access their files and applications remotely and/or from personal devices—do so because of security concerns. They believe that by extending the accessibility of their IT infrastructure to authorized users everywhere, they also open themselves up to unauthorized access by cybercriminals. But the truth is that the mobile-ready applications, virtual desktops, and infrastructures of an external hosting provider are actually more secure than the cloistered solutions delivered by a self-hosted, on-site IT infrastructure.

For the most part, hosted solutions (including hosted desktop infrastructures, virtual hosted desktop infrastructures, and cloud hosted desktop infrastructures) are more secure than on-site IT solutions because of how they are managed. For example, each onthenetOffice hosted solution is protected by a combination of firewalls, file encryption, IPS/IDS, antivirus software, and SPAM blockers. Not only are our hosted solutions well-protected, they are also monitored 24x7x365 by our keen-eyed and experienced personnel, which gives us the ability to respond to potential security threats or breaches before the hacker or malware can do any damage. The security of most on-site IT infrastructures is limited in comparison—it usually amounts to nothing more than a firewall and perhaps a single on-site IT specialist (who’s restricted to 40-hour weekly availability).

For an IT solution that’s the most effective combination of mobility and security, businesses should select a Hosted Desktop Solution from onthenetOffice. An onthenetOffice Hosted Desktop appears and performs just like a Windows desktop operating system. Each user is assigned to their own permanent hosted desktop—which retains all of their files and settings—and accesses it via the Internet from any device (including smartphones, tablets, thin clients, and Apple PCs). In a way, a Hosted Desktop Infrastructure is the ultimate mobile IT solution because it provides users with the ability to remotely access all of their files, emails, and applications in a single program—when these things would normally have to be separately hosted and paid for in the form of a file storage service, web-based email inbox, and hosted application. We protect our Hosted Desktop Solutions with our advanced 4-D Security System. All of the data in a Hosted Desktop Infrastructure remains on our servers—so even if a user’s device is stolen, the thief won’t be able to extract a business’s sensitive data onto a hard drive.

To get started with a 30 day free trial of Hosted Desktops, contact a helpful onthenetOffice sales representative today!

A Hosted Desktop Infrastructure from onthenetOffice has a number of advantages over an on-site IT infrastructure (it’s more cost-efficient, easy to access, and less vulnerable to downtime and security breaches); it’s also—because of its quick and easy deployment, familiar interface, and compatibility with all devices, file types, and applications—one of the easiest IT solutions to switch to. As a result, regardless of a business’s current IT infrastructure (on-premise or hosted, recently deployed or nearing the end of its lifecycle), it’s never a bad time to sign up for a Hosted Desktop Solution from onthenetOffice. However, because the benefits of hosted desktops are amplified in certain situations where their quick deployment, scalability, and anywhere-availability are even more valuable, it’s almost mandatory for businesses in these stages of their development to sign up for onthenetOffice Virtual Desktop Hosting:

• New companies. Businesses that sign up for Virtual Desktop Hosting don’t have to maintain any on-premise servers or hire any on-site IT personnel. For established businesses, this makes having an IT infrastructure more cost-effective and less of a hassle, but it also leaves some of them with surplus hardware and personnel. It’s isn’t too difficult to resell or reassign these suddenly-unneeded assets, but new companies that adopt a Hosted Desktop Infrastructure from the get-go are fortunate to not have to undergo this transition. New companies also benefit more than the average business from the scalability of an onthenetOffice Virtual Hosted Desktop Solution—instead of having to make immediate, irreversible, and long-term investments in servers and other IT hardware and software, with a Hosted Desktop Infrastructure businesses can add and subtract computing resources on an as-needed basis as they grow or condense.

• Growing businesses. Another type of company that benefits more than the average business from the scalability of a Hosted Desktop Infrastructure is an expanding business. With Virtual Desktop Hosting, expanding businesses can add CPU, RAM, long-term storage capacity, and bandwidth without purchasing any additional hardware or hiring any new personnel. A Hosted Desktop Infrastructure, because it requires little to no training time (Hosted Desktops appear and perform exactly like locally-installed Windows desktop operating systems), also makes it easier for expanding businesses to add users. It also provides a centralized, anywhere-accessible infrastructure for expanding companies that are adding new locations or moving to bigger offices.

• Businesses with an IT infrastructure approaching the end of its lifecycle. It’s always a good idea for a business to switch to a Hosted Desktop Infrastructure when its current on-site IT infrastructure reaches the end of its lifecycle. Otherwise, they will have to wait 3-5 years for the next lifecycle to end to switch to a Virtual Hosted Desktop Solution.

Regardless of what type of business you are, however, you’ll always benefit from signing up for a secure, scalable, and anywhere-available Hosted Desktop Solution from onthenetOffice. All of our Virtual Hosted Desktop Solutions come with 24x7x365 technical support, 4-D Security, SMX Speed Technology, and managed backups. In addition, if you’d prefer a different type of IT solution or one with different features or settings, we also provide a variety of other Hosted Services (Managed Hosted Servers, Hosted Applications, VoIP, etc.) and have the ability to customize our solutions to more perfectly match your IT requirements and preferences. For a 30 day free trial, contact one of our helpful sales representatives today!

To be successful in a fast-paced and highly-competitive economy, you need a flexible hosted IT infrastructure. An adaptable hosted IT infrastructure makes it faster and easier to get a new business up and running; to take advantage of favorable conditions or occurrences in the marketplace such as newly-implemented tax breaks, declining real estate prices, or newly-developed technologies; and to adjust to fluctuations in demand. Usually, it takes less than a week and as little as a few minutes to deploy or make drastic changes to a hosted IT infrastructure.

On the other hand, with an on-site IT infrastructure, a company has to acquire and install a lot of hardware and software and implement and configure a bunch of networks on its own. In the time that it takes to complete this process (1-2 months, usually), whatever conditions or opportunities that prompted the new deployment or adjustment will have passed, and all of the potential benefits will have been squandered—or, even worse, have been seized upon and co-opted by a rival.

It isn’t hard to switch to a more adaptable hosted IT infrastructure—all it takes is to sign up for an onthenetOffice Hosted Infrastructure. Simply select your preferred type of hosted infrastructure (among which we offer Hosted VDI, Virtual Private Servers, Terminal Servers, Citrix Servers, and Compliance Hosting) and initiate contact with an onthenetOffice sales representative via email, phone, or online form. We will then design a customized Hosted Infrastructure based upon your IT requirements and preferences. In addition, we’ll help you transfer your applications, files, settings, and software licenses to your new Hosted IT Infrastructure. No other hosting provider can match the swiftness, cost-efficiency, and convenience of our setup and migration process.

After you’ve deployed your onthenetOffice Hosted Infrastructure or Hosted VDI, you can also take advantage of the unprecedented scalability of our solutions and adjust its allotment of users, processing power, storage capacity, and bandwidth. Utilize this feature whenever you need to add new employees to the infrastructure; when your website experiences a spike in traffic; to prepare your e-commerce platform and inventory management system for what is typically your busy season; etc.

onthenetOffice Hosted Solutions, including Hosted VDI, are flexible and scalable enough to make quick changes and support businesses of any size. Though customized, they are also one-size-fits-all Hosted Infrastructures that have the adaptability and stability to support your business in the long term, while having the agility to adjust to contingencies in the short term. Our multifaceted Hosted Solutions come with 24x7x365 technical support, around-the-clock performance monitoring, SMX Speed Technology, 4-D Security, and managed data backups. There aren’t any long-term expenses (you don’t have to purchase any on-premise servers or hire any on-site IT personnel) or surprise costs, either; our Hosted Solutions require a low, flat monthly fee. All you have to do to get yourself ahead of the curve is to start your 30 day free trial of onthenetOffice Hosted Solutions today!

QuickBooks Enterprise is a reliable and easy-to-use accounting program for larger businesses, as well as for small-and-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with larger-than-average inventories or voluminous financial records. It provides organizations with an integrated financial solution that covers not only purchases and sales, but also inventory tracking, lead management, taxes, and statistical analysis. QuickBooks Enterprise also improves on the technical capabilities of QuickBooks Pro and QuickBooks Premier, giving users the ability to open two files within the program at once and raising the maximum number of simultaneous users from 5 to 30 and the maximum number of inventory items from 14,500 to 100,000.

Whether a business is switching from the Pro or Premier version of QuickBooks or doesn’t have existing accounting software and wants to start off using QuickBooks Enterprise, QuickBooks Hosting from onthenetOffice is always the best option.

The advantages that Hosted QuickBooks from onthenetOffice has over a locally-installed version of QuickBooks include:

• Anywhere-accessible. Hosted QuickBooks can be accessed from anywhere with any Internet-connected device. Using this feature, accountants can continue their work (for example) from home or a coffee shop; executives, even while traveling or otherwise out of the office, can monitor the real-time finances of their company; and businesses can avoid costly and distracting on-site visits from financial services contractors by giving them temporary access to the web-based software.

• Less hassles and costs. You don’t have to purchase or manage any on-site servers with QuickBooks Hosting. Maintaining and securing the Hosted QuickBooks isn’t your responsibility, either. Everything that’s required to keep your Hosted QuickBooks deployment up and running will be handled by onthenetOffice’s highly-skilled team of technicians.

• Managed, supported, and protected. onthenetOffice Hosted QuickBooks comes with 24x7x365 technical support, around-the-clock performance monitoring, 4-D Security (firewall, file encryption, antivirus, SPAM blocker, IPS/IDS, patch management, and content filter), and managed backups. You don’t have to pay anything additional for these services; they’re all included in the low, flat monthly fee that you pay for your Hosted QuickBooks.

• Same features as the desktop version. It’s common for developers to remove features and processes from a desktop application when converting it to a hosted application. The reasoning behind this is that, typically, aspects of software that require a lot of processing power or storage space can’t be delivered in an effective way over a network. The Hosted QuickBooks Enterprise of onthenetOffice is the full desktop version, however, and thanks to SMX Speed Technology it’s as fast and reliable as a locally-installed deployment.

Upgrade your IT by signing up for onthenetOffice QuickBooks Enterprise Hosting today!

In general, hosted IT solutions are more cost-efficient than on-premise IT solutions. A lot of the cost-efficiency associated with hosted solutions can be traced to a technology called virtualization, which increases the flexibility and efficiency of IT hardware. With virtualization, a single physical server can be divided into multiple virtual servers. In the past, a physical server would be limited to supporting only a single hosted solution (an arrangement that results in a 10-15% server utilization rate), but virtualization makes it possible to support multiple solutions on a single physical server. As a result, businesses that couldn’t afford to purchase or rent a physical server now have the ability to rent virtual servers (or virtual server-based hosted solutions) that are a much better fit for their IT requirements and budget.

Virtual servers don’t make financial or logistical sense for every company, however. For certain companies, a single physical server (also known as a dedicated server) is more in line with their IT requirements and budget. For example, there are businesses that want to be able to select their server’s hardware and operating system; that are prohibited by data security regulations from sharing a server with any other business; and/or that, because they have a frequently-visited website or frequently-used application, need the abundant resources and centralization of a private physical server.

Just because hosted dedicated servers don’t have the flexibility or multi-tenant architecture of virtual private servers doesn’t mean that they aren’t still preferable to on-site servers, however. The Hosted Dedicated Servers of onthenetOffice, in particular, are more cost-efficient and valuable than on-site servers because of:

• Economy of scale. onthenetOffice has an economy of scale advantage over on-site IT personnel because we have more than 50 technicians spread out among our six offices (including one international location). Aside from that, our sizable customer base also enhances our operational efficiency by providing our personnel with a steady stream of assignments; it also decreases the amount that each customer has to pay to cover our operating expenses.

• Better performance, security, and reliability. onthenetOffice Hosted Dedicated Servers are faster and more secure and reliable than on-site servers because we utilize state-of-the-art hosting technologies and provide in-depth support. Our Dedicated Servers are built and hosted using our ultra-fast SMX Speed Technology and highly-protective 4-D Security, as well as backed by an industry-best 100% uptime guarantee. They are monitored and maintained around-the-clock by our knowledgeable and experienced technicians.

• No hassles. onthenetOffice purchases the servers, storage devices, and datacenter networking equipment; manages the infrastructure; and maintains the solution, all for a flat, monthly fee. Our Virtual Dedicated Server customers don’t have to do anything but sign up and sign on.

To switch to a more cost-efficient and valuable IT infrastructure, sign up for Hosted Dedicated Servers from onthenetOffice today. Businesses looking for a different kind of hosted IT infrastructure (for example, Virtual Private Servers, Citrix Servers, or Terminal Servers) should visit our main site or contact one of our helpful sales representatives for more information on our other Managed Server Hosting solutions.

It was announced last week that the United States economy added 165,000 jobs in April. In February, it was reported that American businesses had spent triple the amount on mergers and acquisitions ($219 billion) in the first month and a half of 2013 that they did in the same period of 2012. In 2008, businesses with a staff size larger than 500 employed 50.6% of the national workforce, a 5% increase from 1988.

As U.S. businesses continue to grow, so will their on-site IT infrastructures and IT departments. Large on-site infrastructures and IT departments can be complicated, expensive, and difficult to manage, however. The costs of purchasing hardware and software and hiring IT personnel by themselves can be enough to impede or reverse the growth of a business, for example.

Another problem with on-site infrastructures and personnel is that they aren’t flexible enough to keep up with rapidly growing businesses. When expanding an on-site IT infrastructure, for example, a big company has to redesign and recalibrate its systems and networks; research, purchase, and transport a sizable amount of hardware; and perform a large number of installations and integrations. As a result, it can take several months to upgrade or alter the on-site IT infrastructure of a large business. Meanwhile, adding new personnel to an on-site IT department takes an average of 7.7 weeks and costs $4,000 per hire. From these examples, it’s easy to see how a slow-to-adapt on-site IT infrastructure can hold back a rapidly-growing business.

Businesses that want an IT infrastructure that can quickly and easily expand and support any level of growth should sign up for a hosted IT infrastructure from onthenetOffice. A hosted IT infrastructure from onthenetOffice is the best option for a large or growing business because:

-It’s capable of completely replacing an enterprise-level, on-site IT infrastructure. Though many businesses utilize a hosted IT infrastructure from onthenetOffice just to deploy a specialty application or two, our hosted IT infrastructure is capable of a lot more. It can replace an entire on-site IT infrastructure. Anything that can be hosted on an on-site IT infrastructure—applications, virtual desktops, email, SharePoint, VoIP, etc.—can be hosted on an onthenetOffice hosted IT infrastructure, as well.

-It doesn’t require any on-site IT personnel. Businesses that sign up for infrastructure hosting from onthenetOffice don’t need to hire any on-site IT personnel. We provide all the monitoring, maintenance, management, security, and technical support required by the hosted IT infrastructure. Our personnel are available 24x7x365 and work around-the-clock to maintain the speed, security, and reliability of a business’s hosted IT infrastructure at its highest levels.

-onthenetOffice hosted IT infrastructures are highly scalable. A business can add any amount of users and computing resources (processing power, storage capacity, and bandwidth) to its hosted IT infrastructure at any time. Also, it generally only takes a few seconds to deploy an application with an onthenetOffice hosted IT infrastructure. In addition, if a business wants to streamline its IT infrastructure, our hosted IT infrastructure can also be scaled down.

An onthenetOffice hosted IT infrastructure is an infrastructure that a large or rapidly-expanding businesses can depend on. The scalability of our infrastructure hosting allows it to support any type of business—no matter how sizable or complex—and any rate of change—no matter how fast or in what direction. Along with our hosted IT infrastructures, businesses of all sizes can benefit from a wide variety of hosted solutions offered by onthenetOffice including hosted desktop infrastructures, application hosting, SharePoint hosting, QuickBooks hosting, EMR hosting, and VoIP. All of these solutions include 24x7x365 technical support, around-the-clock performance monitoring, 4-D Security, SMX Speed Technology, managed backups, and low, flat monthly fees. To sign up today, contact a helpful onthenetOffice sales representative.

There are more ways to build an IT infrastructure these days than with just on-site servers and storage devices. An option that many businesses choose is Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). A hosted IT infrastructure provides the same computing resources (CPU, RAM, long-term storage, and bandwidth) as a traditional server. At the same time, a hosted IT infrastructure is more cost-efficient and convenient because it doesn’t require businesses to purchase any on-site servers or hire any on-site IT personnel and can be accessed from anywhere via the Internet.

In addition, a hosted desktop infrastructure is also a suitable replacement to an on-site IT infrastructure. Hosted desktops are web-based computing environments that appear and perform exactly like Windows desktop operating systems. It isn’t common to view them as a form of IT infrastructure—most people classify them as a category unto themselves (Desktop as a Service or DaaS) or as a platform or application further down the cloud “stack” from IaaS. Nevertheless, a hosted desktop infrastructure has all the essential features of an IT infrastructure, including:

-Application hosting. The primary purpose of an IT infrastructure is to host applications. Most companies prefer the efficiency and centralization of hosted applications over having each employee install the applications on his or her own device. Similarly, the applications in a hosted desktop infrastructure are centralized, multi-user solutions that are accessible from any of the HDI’s hosted desktops.

-File storage. To support the output of their hosted applications, IT infrastructures need the ability to store documents and data. Another reason that IT infrastructures have to be able to store files is that many businesses use their infrastructures as a central database. Fortunately, there are multiple ways that a hosted desktop infrastructure lets its users store their files: first, they can store their data in the private folders of their assigned desktops; second, each hosted desktop infrastructure has a common folder where documents and data can be shared; and third, file storage platforms such as document management and project management systems can be integrated with a hosted desktop infrastructure.

-Flexibility. IT infrastructures support all files and applications. Infrastructures aren’t limited to hosting one application at a time, either; using a single virtualized server or several virtualized servers, they can host multiple applications at once. For their part, hosted desktop infrastructures can also support any file or application and can install and give users access to as many applications as they want.

Though a hosted desktop infrastructure has many of the same useful features as an on-site IT infrastructure, it’s also more cost-efficient, accessible, and dynamic due to these unique features:

-Doesn’t require any on-site servers or storage devices

-Has a familiar, easy-to-use interface

-Can be accessed from anywhere, at any time

-Is scalable

-Has a centralized architecture

To make the switch from an on-site IT infrastructure to a hosted desktop infrastructure today, contact an onthenetOffice sales representative. All of our hosted desktop infrastructures come with 24x7x365 technical support, SMX Speed Technology, 4-D Security and automated backups. In addition, our hosted solutions cost only a low, flat monthly fee. Sign up here for a 30 day free trial of the best-performing and most secure and reliable hosted desktop infrastructure.

There are several benefits to switching from an on-site IT infrastructure to an onthenetOffice Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. With a hosted VDI, businesses don’t have to purchase or manage any expensive on-site IT hardware such as servers and storage devices. High-end, well-maintained PCs aren’t required with a virtual desktop infrastructure, either. Any Internet-connected device—including low-cost, zero-maintenance devices such as thin client, tablets, and smartphones—can be used to access a hosted VDI. In addition, businesses don’t have to waste any of their time or resources managing an onthenetOffice Virtual Desktop Infrastructure; their hosted VDI will receive around-the-clock monitoring, protection, and technical support from onthenetOffice personnel. An onthenetOffice Virtual Desktop Infrastructure not only removes many of the costs and hassles associated with a self-managed, on-site IT infrastructure, but it’s also more secure and reliable due to our comprehensive 4-D Security System (including firewalls, antivirus, and IPS/IDS) and dedicated support team.

It isn’t just under ideal circumstances that an onthenetOffice Virtual Desktop Infrastructure is better than a self-managed, on-site IT infrastructure, however. Even when an IT disaster occurs, an onthenetOffice Hosted VDI is much better at preventing data loss and mitigating downtime. The business continuity features of our hosted VDIs include:

-Durability. Businesses with on-site IT infrastructures are susceptible to power outages and natural disasters. Without power or with their on-premise hardware physically damaged, these companies have no way to access their files and applications. Our datacenters, on the other hand, have been designed to withstand power outages and natural disasters with backup generators, fire suppression systems, and geographically-separated facilities. Even if a business’s office has been destroyed by a natural disaster, employees can still access an onthenetOffice Virtual Desktop Infrastructure from anywhere via the Internet.

-No hassle data backups. Setting up your own data backups requires the purchase of additional hardware and software. You will also have to spend multiple hours per week configuring and monitoring the backups. With an onthenetOffice Hosted VDI, however, you won’t have to purchase any new hardware or software or complete any tasks. Our personnel will back up your virtual desktop infrastructure on a daily basis.

-Absolute-minimum downtime. Our personnel work around-the-clock to uphold our 100% uptime guarantee. We strive to limit downtime as much as possible, but we also make sure that when it occurs we are prepared for it. We utilize disaster recovery best practices to deliver a remarkable Recovery Point Objective of 4 hours and a Recovery Time Objective of 12 hours. Our personnel also have the ability to respond to any problem at any time due to their 24x7x365 availability.

Whether it’s a normal day or you’re in disaster mode, it’s always wisest to host your files and applications with an onthenetOffice Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. To learn more about hosted desktops and how they work, check out some of our previous blog posts on the subject. If you’re interested in signing up for a hosted solution besides a virtual desktop infrastructure, direct your attention to our Hosted Applications, Hosted QuickBooks, Hosted SharePoint, or onthenetPhone (VoIP) services. Our hosted solutions all include 24x7x365 technical support, 4-D Security, SMX Speed Technology, and automated backups and cost only a low, flat monthly fee. 

Most small businesses have on-site IT infrastructures, but can’t afford to hire any on-site IT personnel. Small businesses in this situation usually respond by assigning employees with limited IT training to monitor and manage the infrastructure when they aren’t doing anything else. Occasionally, small businesses will hire a freelance IT specialist to deal with problems or projects that are beyond the knowledge or ability of anyone inside the company.

Unfortunately, replacing on-site IT personnel with untrained employees and freelancers isn’t as cost-efficient or effective as it might seem. Undoubtedly, the initial costs of assigning untrained employees to manage an infrastructure are much lower than hiring on-site IT personnel. However, the ineffective management of amateur IT workers usually transforms the infrastructure from a productivity-enhancing asset into a high-cost liability. For example, a poorly-managed infrastructure reduces productivity by delivering slow and unreliable applications. It also increases costs through its lack of security (leaving the business vulnerable to expensive data breaches) and its inefficiency (which leads to less reliable hardware that has to be repaired or replaced more frequently). Freelance IT specialists don’t help to lower costs or raise efficiency, either; they only fix and repair aspects of the infrastructure that have stopped working.

Small businesses attempting to lower their IT costs and improve the security and performance of their IT infrastructure should sign up for small business hosting from onthenetOffice. Our small business hosting services include hosted infrastructure, hosted applications, hosted desktops, and onthenetPhone (VoIP). These solutions can all be customized to fit the exact IT requirements and preferences of the customer. onthenetOffice small business hosting services all come with 24x7x365 technical support, 4-D Security (including firewalls, antivirus, and IPS/IDS), SMX Speed Technology and automated backups. The costs of our solutions are also predictable, stable, and extremely-affordable—even with all of the services and support included, users of onthenetOffice small business hosting only have to pay a low, flat monthly fee for their accounts.

Other benefits of onthenetOffice small business hosting services such as hosted IT infrastructure and hosted applications include:

-Limited hardware costs. Doesn’t require any on-site servers or storage devices

-Worry-free IT. Fully-managed; doesn’t require any on-site IT personnel

-Extremely accessible. Can be accessed from anywhere with any Internet-connected device

-SMX Speed-enabled. Performs as well as or better than on-premise IT solutions

-Ultra-secure. Protects a company from malware and hackers and prevents data loss

To get started with a 30 day free trial, businesses should contact a helpful onthenetOffice sales representative today!

Businesses are increasingly choosing hosted desktops over PCs. Last week, IDC reported that worldwide PC sales had declined 13.9% in Q1 2013 compared to Q1 2012. It also said that this was the largest reduction in PC sales since it began tracking the statistic on a quarterly basis in 1994. Meanwhile, experts predict a 15% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) market. In addition, more than 50% of businesses expressed interest in migrating from PCs to hosted desktops in a 2012 poll.

A hosted desktop has the same appearance and all the same features as a Windows operating system installed on the hard drive of a PC. In contrast with a PC operating system, however, virtual hosted desktops reside on the servers of a hosting company and are accessed via the Internet. In a typical deployment, each user receives his or her own unique, permanent virtual desktop. These virtual hosted desktops aren’t newly-generated environments without any of the files or settings from the user’s previous sessions, and they aren’t even “sandbox” environments that contain the files and settings of multiple users that share the hosted desktop and access it at different times. A user’s hosted desktop will retain all of the same files, settings, and applications from all of the user’s previous sessions. Changing one’s device doesn’t alter anything about the hosted desktop, either: a user’s hosted desktop will remain the same whether he or she is accessing it, for example, from a Mac, iPad, or iPhone.

In addition to sharing all of the best features of PCs—including the familiarity of their interface and the ability to support any application—hosted desktops are less costly and more secure, accessible, scalable, and eco-friendly than a traditional server/workstation environment. They don’t require the purchase of any expensive on-site IT hardware or the hiring of any $50,000+ per year on-site IT specialists. Their centralization (being hosted on a small number of interconnected servers) makes them easier to secure and manage than individual PCs. They’re also web-based solutions that can be accessed any time, from anywhere, and with any device. Due to the scalability of hosted desktops, businesses can quickly and easily add processing power, storage space, and users to an existing deployment. Devices used to access hosted desktops such as thin clients, tablets, and smartphones also create less e-waste and consume less energy than PCs and servers.

To take advantage of these benefits, businesses with PCs should switch to onthenetOffice Hosted Desktop Solutions today. We offer the fastest, most secure, and best-supported Virtual Hosted Desktops in the world. Sign up for our 30 day free trial to get started!