Workspace is rapidly changing and virtual workspace is the future impacting the way organisation addresses security, workplace flexibility and mobility. Used as Workplace as a Service (WaaS), virtual workplace solutions includes mobile application, virtual desktop and applications, and cloud services which enable the user to find all the required information at one place.

According to the report by Future Market Insights (FMI), owing to the rising demand for BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) in the workplace, regions including APEJ, North America and Europe will have the highest demand for virtual workplace solutions. Among these, North America is projected to dominate the virtual workplace solutions market.

With the virtual workplace solution, the user can upload and share important data or information using any device and from anywhere. The key factor driving the growth of virtual workplace solutions is its ability to connect multiple ends of working line at the same time by employees and consumers.

Use of virtual and augmented reality

Virtual Reality (VR) in the workplace will help the user to have a virtual view of the finished project. While Augmented Reality (AR) will be able to show how the design or product will look like. For instance, Microsoft’s AR headsets, HoloLens, feature sensors that allow a user to interact with virtual elements. It also allows a user to view 3D models and edit them. Virtual conferencing will also become a feasible option when the AR headsets will be combined with 3D lenses.

Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI)

HCI integrates storage, networking and resources into a single unit or hardware box, managed by a common software toolset. Organisations planning to refresh their datacenter hardware are choosing the hyper-converged solution, especially if the datacenter is hosting Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). Since everything is software-controlled in HCI, the organisation just needs to add a single box for better capacity.

Deconstructed VDI- trend towards shrinking stack

Full-stack solutions sold in the VDI market for years are expensive and lock the user in the certain workflow which may not match the organisation’s business use cases. Moreover, it made difficult for organisation to try new technology. Hence, deconstructed VDI is on a rise. Making datacenter more future-proof, deconstructed VDI takes resource layer out of VDI stack and allows the user to change the hosting environment that best suits their needs. Deconstructed VDI narrows down the VDI stack to display protocol, connection broker and gateway.

Growing popularity of HTML5 VDI clients

Most of the VDI vendors are building custom HTML5 clients. These clients are used to access remote desktop present in vendor’s current stack. The HTML5 client offers remote access and enables end users to connect to desktops from any device, like mobile devices, driving the BYOD initiatives.

Also, there is a growing demand in the market for new technologies that can enhance the performance of the HTML5 client. Backed by tech giants like Google, Mozilla and Microsoft, WebAssembly is emerging as a new standard. It is a low-level assembly-like language in compact binary format. It is anticipated to provide a way of running a code written in multiple languages on web along with the client apps running on the web.

Demand for virtual workspace solutions is expected to increase, as it offers centralized storage of data and makes it easy to manage, resulting in security of data and information and reducing data loss.