Amazon WorkSpaces
Analogy: Lisa Hornung/iStockPhoto

The modernistic workforce is more distributed than ever before, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only solidified the fact that working remotely is the fashion of the future for many businesses. That means the calculating needs of modern businesses are changing as well—the perfect time for Desktop as a Service (DaaS) products like Amazon WorkSpaces to finally gain marketplace traction.

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DaaS providers have been growing slower than expected over the by few years, but with the spread of the pandemic and the probable long-term shift to remote work, Gartner has reassessed its position on the boxing between VDI and DaaS, calling DaaS i of the areas of tech experiencing the greatest growth due to the pandemic.

Considering growth has been slow, many businesses may still be unaware of the advantages offered past products similar Amazon WorkSpaces. Read on to acquire why this new way of deploying workstations may exist worth the investment, and the way of the future.

What is Amazon WorkSpaces?

Amazon WorkSpaces is Amazon'southward entry into the DaaS field and gives businesses the ability to create persistent, virtual, and deject-hosted Windows and Linux workstations. Like other DaaS solutions, Amazon WorkSpaces is designed to scale upwardly as businesses grow and new workstations are needed.

Amazon describes WorkSpaces as "an easy way to provide a secure, managed, cloud-based virtual desktop feel to your cease-users," and said that its deject-native, fully managed pattern means IT teams "don't have to worry about procuring, deploying, and managing a circuitous environment."

Meet: Tiptop deject providers in 2020: AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, hybrid, SaaS players (ZDNet)

Amazon WorkSpaces virtual machines (VMs) can be deployed in both Linux and Windows formats and are designed to fill the role of basic terminate-user workstations. To fill up various workstation roles, a number of different bundles are available that allocate more or less CPU ability, GBs of RAM, GPUs, video retentivity, SSD root and user storage, and software.

IT teams tin employ default Windows/Linux images or create their ain custom ones to ensure business organisation-essential apps are installed on new VMs; Amazon also offers Amazon WorkSpaces Application Manager (Amazon WAM) for deploying and managing additional applications on WorkSpaces VMs. Amazon WAM packages applications into containers and makes them appear on user WorkSpaces instances every bit if they were locally installed, while administrators maintain the ability to manage them equally containerized apps, which eliminates the need for time-consuming update, deployment, and retirement cycles.

In terms of the security of WorkSpaces, Amazon said it uses encryption strong enough to see HIPAA and PCI compliance through its PC-over-IP protocol, which encrypts traffic and doesn't send any data to, or store annihilation sensitive on, end-user devices. User admission can also be restricted via IP address, device type, or with digital certificates, and the entire system is integrated with AWS Key Management Service for encrypting storage volumes.

Run into: Navigating data privacy (ZDNet/TechRepublic special feature) | Download the free PDF version (TechRepublic)

Credentialing for Amazon WorkSpaces admission can be handled in a number of ways, including using pre-existing on-premise Microsoft Active Directory installations linked to AWS Directory Service. In that instance, users will be able to log in to their WorkSpaces instance using their existing credentials, and It teams tin apply group policy settings as usual, deploy software with existing tools, and utilise existing RADIUS servers to enable multifactor authentication.

On the user cease, accessing an Amazon WorkSpaces VM can be done on pretty much any device imaginable: Downloadable clients exist for Windows ten, macOS, iPad, Burn tablets, Android, ChromeOS, and Linux. At that place'south as well a web customer for those who don't want to install software, as well. When a new Amazon WorkSpaces example is provisioned for a user, they receive an email with a link to download the client (or employ the web client), verify their identity, and that's it–they're all prepare to work on a virtual, managed, and secured desktop from wherever they are.

What are use cases for Amazon WorkSpaces?

It'due south not hard to come across utilise cases for Amazon WorksSpaces almost immediately, specially in the post-COVID-19 age. The fact that remote workers tin be issued an encrypted, managed, and persistent virtual machine to work from anywhere they are tin be transformative.

Amazon mentions several bones apply cases on the WorkSpaces website that tin exist applied to any number of industries and organizations:

  • Quickly provision secure desktops for remote, mobile, and contract employees;
  • make BYOD more secure;
  • create and scale desktops to exam software on diverse types of simulated hardware;
  • build a standard, persistent set of machines for classroom and laboratory settings; and
  • speedily integrate new employees during a merger or acquisition.

Amazon WorkSpaces can besides be used in a lot of end-user environments where it'due south more advantageous to accept a cloud-hosted desktop than a locally installed or personally owned one.

Which industry compliance standards does Amazon WorkSpaces meet?

Amazon has done its part to get WorkSpaces certified for use in a variety of industries, and it currently meets the following standards:

  • SOC 1,2, and three
  • PCI DSS
  • ISO/IEC 27001:2013, 27018:2019, and 9001:2015
  • FedRAMP Moderate and High
  • DoD CC SRG IL2, IL4, and IL5
  • HIPAA BAA
  • IRAP
  • MTCS
  • C5
  • ENS
  • OSPAR
  • HITRUST CSF
  • GDPR

Since it meets those various certifications, WorkSpaces tin can be used for online payments, storing customer data securely in the cloud, US regime and Department of Defense computing, healthcare needs, and more than.

Come across: AWS Summit Online highlights (complimentary PDF) (TechRepublic)

What are DaaS alternatives, and how much does Amazon WorkSpaces cost?

In an article virtually top DaaS providers, TechRepublic editor in chief Neb Detwiler gave a rundown of the biggest names in DaaS and reasons why each one would exist a adept choice for unlike types of organizations. Bated from Amazon WorkSpaces, nine DaaS providers are mentioned in his article: Citrix Managed Desktops, Cloudalize DaaS, dinCloud dinWorkspace, Evolve IP, itopia Cloud Automation Stack, Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop, MTM Technologies AnywhereApp, and VMware Horizon Deject.

Of the DaaS options listed above, Amazon WorkSpaces may be the almost affordable choice, or at the very least the near flexible: Many DaaS providers crave a minimum number of seats, longer-term commitments, or their prices are just higher for pay-every bit-you lot-get DaaS instances.

Amazon WorkSpaces, on the other hand, has no minimum term, and prices for a unmarried instance start at $vii.25 per calendar month plus 17 cents per hour.

Like whatever kind of new technological investment, it's important to look at each vendor and compare features and pricing to determine what best suits your needs. Amazon WorkSpaces offers a lot of practiced features, just if y'all're not already an AWS customer, it may be better to await at another provider, like MTM Technologies AnywhereApp, which is uniform with AWS, Azure, CenturyLink, and Oracle public clouds. Organizations already operating on Azure would exist better suited to using Microsoft's own Windows Virtual Desktop, and Google Cloud Platform users simply have i option from Detwiler'south list: itopia Cloud Automation Stack.

Come across: How to choose the best desktop equally a service (DaaS) vendor for your business organisation (TechRepublic)

Why cull Amazon WorkSpaces over a VDI product?

In the intro to this crook sheet, I mentioned the battle between virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and DaaS, two completely unlike technologies that perform the same task: Creating virtual desktops for users to work on in identify of their local machine.

VDI is non a cloud-based product–it's the traditional virtualization product installed and operated from an organisation's data center. DaaS is VDI running on a cloud provider's hardware. In the example of Amazon WorkSpaces, that hardware is owned and operated by Amazon Web Services.

SEE: DaaS and VDI: New study underscores the high costs and challenges of virtual workforces (TechRepublic)

Several immediate reasons to cull Amazon WorkSpaces over a locally-installed VDI product come to heed immediately, particularly the elimination of in-business firm hardware dedicated to running VDIs. As organizations abound, VDI hardware may need to be scaled, it tin get old and need replacing or repair, data centre disasters tin occur and cause downtime, and increasingly distributed workforces brand managing VDIs difficult for Information technology teams.

DaaS solutions like Amazon WorkSpaces are just 1 more data center resources that tin can exist foisted off on the cloud, freeing up space in the server room, eliminating hardware direction needs, and ensuring more uptime. Every bit COVID-nineteen transforms the work world into a largely remote 1, DaaS solutions similar Amazon WorkSpaces are becoming even more valuable for forward-looking companies that are considering permanently eliminating concrete function spaces. In that kind of future, a VDI server is just ane more piece of equipment that won't take anywhere to go but the cloud.

How can I start using Amazon WorkSpaces?

Information technology's not as well difficult to start with Amazon WorkSpaces: Interested parties volition need an AWS account, basic knowledge of the AWS console in guild to discover the WorkSpaces section, and time to customize a WorkSpaces instance for deployment, all of which can be done in the AWS panel.

Amazon provides a helpful getting started with WorkSpaces guide on its website, which includes basic steps, starter projects, and best practices documentation.

See: All of TechRepublic's cheat sheets and smart person'southward guides

How much does it cost to use Amazon WorkSpaces?

Organizations looking to enter the Amazon WorkSpaces DaaS sphere can practice so free of charge using the WorkSpaces complimentary tier, which provides two standard bundle WorkSpaces instances for up to forty combined usage hours per month for two months. Afterwards that, the ii instances are billed per 60 minutes. Educational pricing is also available for qualified Windows educational users, who will receive a disbelieve of $3.52 per user per month, and a three cents per user per hour discount on hourly usage.

Pricing varies greatly based on the blazon of machine, its specifications, and whether application bundles are needed. For pricing details, bank check out Amazon's WorkSpaces pricing page.