Microsoft recognized as a Leader in 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Desktop as a Service

Organizations are constantly considering how technology can improve the workplace experience for employees, the business, and for IT. Remote and hybrid work was something many of us thought would be a temporary trend, but it’s become increasingly clear that flexible work is here to stay, and technological investments will continue to be a major priority for organizations looking to address employee needs.

To provide organizations with secure and versatile cloud solutions that support flexible work options, Microsoft introduced:

• Windows 365, a fully managed solution that securely streams your personalized Windows desktop, apps, settings, and content from the Microsoft Cloud to your Cloud PC which can be accessed from the device of your choice.
• Azure Virtual Desktop, a cloud virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) platform that delivers hosted remote desktops and apps with flexibility and control without compromising on security.

Microsoft understands modernization is an ongoing journey that requires embracing technology to improve processes and create better experiences for both customers and employees. Cloud computing is one approach that can help organizations achieve their modernization goals. We believe the best cloud solutions should adapt to your business requirements and constraints.

Microsoft is honored to be recognized as a Leader in the inaugural Gartner Magic Quadrant™ for Desktop as a Service (DaaS). Gartner defines DaaS as “the provision of virtual desktops by a public cloud or service provider” and uses the term to encompass a variety of cloud solutions and describe them in a way that is familiar to customers of varying backgrounds and technical expertise. We are proud that Microsoft is recognized for its services so early in their product lifecycles as we believe it reflects our commitment to delivering solutions that empower productivity no matter where or how you work.

Figure 1. Inaugural Gartner Magic Quadrant for Desktop as a Service (DaaS)

Windows 365

Our goal with Windows 365 is to give every employee the PC they need to be productive. Windows 365 delivers Cloud PCs—a complete and secure Windows experience hosted in the Microsoft Cloud and accessible on any device.

Windows 365 takes the familiar Windows operating system to the Microsoft Cloud, introducing a new way to experience Windows 11 or Windows 10 for employees of all types—from interns and contractors to information workers, shift workers, and more. It provides an instant-on boot experience for end users, and a streamlined management experience for IT admins through integration with Microsoft Intune, making Cloud PCs easy to configure, deploy, manage, and secure, so organizations can maximize existing technology resources to meet the needs of all employees.

We continuously innovate to help organizations empower their employees with flexible work solutions. Here are a few recent highlights:

• Windows 365 expands its footprint to improve options for flexible work. Windows 365 Frontline provides an easy and affordable way for organizations to extend the power and security of Cloud PCs to shift workers. Windows 365 Frontline Cloud PCs provide these employees with access to their personalized Windows apps, settings, and data, helping them save time and increase efficiency, and freeing them to work from anywhere and on any device.
• Windows 365 on LG TVs allows people to transform their LG TV into a state-of-the-art workstation by setting up cloud-based virtualization solutions, including Windows 365, then pair a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to enjoy a fully equipped office experience from home.
• Enhanced Windows 365 experiences with Motorola will bring an enhanced Windows 365 experience to Android devices like the Lenovo ThinkPhone by Motorola. This new built-in experience will allow people to use the ThinkPhone to plug-and-play Windows 365 connectivity that finds and automatically configures their Cloud PC for use on an external screen.

Azure Virtual Desktop

Azure Virtual Desktop is a cloud VDI solution providing full customization of the infrastructure and management of the resources supporting it—along with flexible, usage-based pricing—for customers experienced with VDI who often seek greater control. With full control over configuration and management, Azure Virtual Desktop provides virtualized experiences to meet a range of employee needs. Azure Virtual Desktop is the only VDI solution fully optimized for Windows 11 and Windows 10 multisession environments, allowing organizations to reduce costs by running multiple concurrent user sessions on a single virtual machine while consumption-based pricing ensures organizations only pay for what they use.

Azure Virtual Desktop includes security features of Azure and continues to make new investments that help keep an organization’s data and applications more secure while providing IT teams full control over configuration and management.

New Azure Virtual Desktop security features help protect your data and your employees wherever they are working.

• Watermarking helps protect sensitive information from capture on client endpoints. When watermarking is enabled, QR code watermarks appear as part of remote desktops. The QR code contains the connection ID of a remote session that admins can use to trace the session.
• Confidential virtual machines offer VM memory encryption with integrity protection, which strengthens guest protections to deny the hypervisor and other host management components code access to the VM memory and state.
• Trusted Launch protects against advanced and persistent attack techniques. This feature allows you to securely deploy your VMs with verified boot loaders, OS kernels, and drivers. Trusted Launch also protects keys, certificates, and secrets in VMs. 
• Private Link with Azure Virtual Desktop allows users to establish secure connections to remote resources using private endpoints. With Private Link, traffic between your virtual network and the Azure Virtual Desktop service is routed through the Microsoft backbone network eliminating the need to expose your service to the public internet and enhancing the overall security of your infrastructure. By keeping traffic within this protected network, Private Link adds an extra layer of security for your Azure Virtual Desktop environment. 

Figure 2. Azure Virtual Desktop Watermarking Example

Learn more

Read the full 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Desktop as a Service report.

Learn more about Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop.

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Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Desktop as a Service, Stuart Downes, Craig Fisler, and 4 more, 5 September 2023

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