Manufacturing Firms Can Accelerate Execution with Cloud PCs

COLLABORATION, SECURITY AND MOBILITY ARE ESSENTIAL

Manufacturers are under constant pressure to enhance productivity, improve quality, reduce time-to-market and increase profit margins. They need modern IT infrastructure to enable geographically-dispersed teams of specialized users – everyone from engineers and designers, to factory floor workers, executives, and supply chain partners – to securely access apps and shared data from anywhere, using any device. Engineers and designers are power users who need secure access to graphics-intensive apps, and they need to collaborate in real-time on shared 3D CAD files. Factory floor personnel may only need access to a few key apps on their mobile devices to visualize product designs. Executives and salespeople need anytime, anywhere secure access to apps and shared data to review project bids and designs. OEMs, suppliers and subcontractors in global, distributed sites need instant access to the latest product specs, designs and BOMs on BYO devices, because even small changes can impact the entire supply-chain.

IP security is of utmost importance as the threat landscape continues to evolve and attacks become more sophisticated than ever. IT teams find it nearly impossible to keep up on security patches for physical devices, and that leaves the business vulnerable.

Organizations experiencing high growth or acquiring companies need flexible IT infrastructure. Modern end user computing solutions should enable them to seamlessly integrate systems and new users into existing workflows and provide them with secure access to shared apps and data with an outstanding user experience across all devices.

UNIQUE CHALLENGES FOR MANUFACTURERS

Physical PCs and workstations present challenges for IT teams and they don’t provide the workstyle flexibility end users need today. People need instant and secure access to apps and data, wherever they may be working. As a result, many manufacturing firms have tried traditional, on- premises VDI only to be caught by surprise at the complexity and ever- rising OpEx that goes with it. Physical PCs and legacy VDI present serious challenges for manufacturing IT teams:

• Physical PCs and workstations are expensive, rigid, and stymie productivity
• Legacy VDI performance is inadequate for graphics-intensive applications
• Project team collaboration on complex datasets and files is inefficient
• Difficult to engage the best talent when they reside in remote locations
• Intellectual property is at risk when kept in on-premises infrastructure and insecure endpoints
• Scaling compute resources is complex and time-consuming
• Reconciling end user computing after mergers and acquisitions is complex
• Expensive hardware refresh cycles are required to access new technology

THE ANSWER IS THE WORKSPOT ENTERPRISE DESKTOP CLOUD ON MICROSOFT AZURE

Until now, project team and individual productivity in manufacturing firms has been hindered by laborious collaboration and inability to access corporate assets from outside the office. Enterprise- proven Workspot Cloud PCs address these challenges by enabling end users to securely and seamlessly access their apps and data on-demand from any location, from any device, and with superior performance that keeps people productive anywhere they are working.

Workspot Cloud PCs, cloud workstations and virtualized applications support the productivity, security and agility requirements of manufacturing firms. Unlike outdated, legacy VDI solutions which take months to deploy and do not meet the needs of power users, Workspot can deploy high-performance, evergreen GPU workstations, Windows 10/11 desktops, and apps in Azure in a matter of days. Once configured, IT can add new Cloud PCs and cloud workstations across many cloud regions in minutes with just a few mouse clicks. The performance of graphics-intensive applications such as Siemens NX, SolidWorks, Autodesk Inventor and many more will astonish your power users, and when all your users can access their files and data from anywhere, using any device, everyone will be pleased with the productivity benefits.

Key Benefits

Workspot Cloud PCs and high-performance cloud workstations in Azure enable real-time collaboration and anywhere productivity.

• Cloud PC, workstation, and application access for all types of users from any location using any device
• Real-time collaboration on large, shared CAD/CAM/CAE and PLM files across multiple locations
• Engage the best talent in the world without setting up branch offices
• Full data integrity and security as confidential data remains secure in your cloud tenant
• Instantly provision desktops for new users and easily integrate external users during expansions and acquisitions
• Get instant access to additional GPU and CPU power as needed
• Simplify and consolidate IT infrastructure and make better use of constrained budgets

MANUFACTURING WORKLOADS AND USE CASES

Collaborative Product Design

Computer Aided Design (CAD) is an indispensable tool for product designers, industrial designers, engineers and many others in the manufacturing sector. It drives the product development process, documenting all aspects of a design and provides the foundation for virtual prototyping through the use of complementary technologies such as visualization, simulation, and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM).

Collaborative design is more efficient with Workspot cloud workstations. Teams across the entire manufacturing product life cycle – including design, simulation, built and test – can collaborate on the same 3D model from multiple locations, seamlessly, without having to sync up large datasets before a design/review session.

When data is stored in Azure along with Workspot cloud workstations, data synchronization becomes more efficient compared to traditional methods, which require users to copy data via a VPN connection to work locally, then uploading back to the server. When data is centralized in the cloud, it helps keep the team working on the most recent revisions, while reducing version errors.

Secure Data Management

For most manufacturing companies, security and data protection is of data. paramount importance and it’s a key driver for moving to virtualized environment. With Workspot on Azure, data is stored along with the Cloud PCs and workstations and only the pixels are encrypted and streamed to the end device – preventing the download or removal of data. Furthermore, IT organizations gain greater control over software patching which is critical for defending against security breaches. IT also gains more granular and instantaneous control over who has access to which applications, systems and

Work from Anywhere

The lessons of 2020 illustrated the need for flexible end user computing that combined secure access to critical applications with performance that supported user productivity from anywhere they needed to work. Ensuring design and engineering teams are working optimally is essential for business success.

In addition, when business conditions require more resources for freelance design staff, partners or contractors, Workspot Cloud PCs and workstations can be spun up in a few minutes, anywhere in the world.

Most importantly, users are not tied to their desks. With a simple internet connection, even huge 3D assemblies can be viewed anywhere, on any device. Employees need to be able to move seamlessly between office and home, supporting flexible working or to react to unforeseen, major economic changes.

And that’s precisely what Workspot Cloud PCs and workstations on Azure can offer them. Organizations can scale up Cloud PC resources, spawning new instances to meet project demand or when they need to quickly adapt to the fast-changing global business landscape.

CERTIFICATIONS

ISV workstation application vendors are recognizing the need to provide customers with cloud-based capabilities for their CAD/CAM/CAE applications. As a result, Workspot on Microsoft Azure can deliver cloud workstation options which are fully certified and supported by popular ISV workstation application vendors to deliver the same reliability and performance CAD managers and design engineers expect from traditional workstations towers. These certifications include:

Autodesk | ESRI | PTC | SIEMENS | Inventor | AutoCAD | Revit | ArchGIS |
Creo 7

INNOVATIVE CUSTOMER SUCCESS PROGRAM

Workspot’s state-of-the-art technology is just the beginning. Customer success is our top priority, and we offer the following to all our customers:

Go-live deployment services: Workspot’s dedicated customer success team partners with your IT team to take you live – fast. These services are included in Workspot’s flat-rate pricing.

Flat-rate subscription pricing: You get a single bill with flat-rate, predictable costs that include cloud compute for your virtual desktops.

Absolute commitment to your success: Our customer success team members are seasoned industry experts who are well-prepared to meet the unique needs of your implementation.

SUMMARY

Now manufacturing firms can support a widely distributed, mobile workforce, enable real-time collaboration, and delight users with unmatched performance – even for graphics-intensive applications. With the ability to easily provision tens, hundreds or thousands of Cloud PCs and workstations across multiple Microsoft Azure cloud regions in just a few minutes, manufacturing firms gain new levels of business agility that sets them apart from the competition. When time-to-market is everything, Workspot delivers unprecedented value.