10 Microsoft Ignite 2019 sessions for VDI admins

Orlando, Fla., is home to many attractions, from Disney's Magic Kingdom and Epcot to Universal Studios. But perhaps the biggest attraction for VDI admins is Microsoft Ignite 2019, which takes place Nov. 4 to 8 at the Orange County Convention Center.

The release of Windows Virtual Desktop is exciting to many VDI admins, because it offers a way to easily deliver Windows 10 virtual desktops to users, with the inclusion of a multiuser version of Windows 10.

Microsoft Ignite 2019 is an opportunity for the company to get potential customers on board with Windows Virtual Desktop, said Mark Bowker, a senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, Mass.

Attendees can expect to hear a variety of customer success stories from early adopters of Windows Virtual Desktop, said Christiaan Brinkhoff, global black belt at Microsoft.

Here are 10 Microsoft Ignite 2019 sessions that VDI admins should consider attending.

"Use GPU VMs to power remote graphics and visualization in the cloud"

GPUs and virtual desktops go hand in hand, especially for organizations that need high compute processing, and hosting GPUs in the cloud brings a variety of benefits. Organizations can use Microsoft's GPU-powered VMs, hosted in Azure, as a part of Windows Virtual Desktop. In this session, IT admins can learn about use cases and best practices for this offering from independent software vendors, such as Citrix and Workspot.

"Improve workplace productivity and save money with GPU partitioning in Azure virtual desktops"

To dig deeper into GPU-accelerated virtual desktops, IT admins can attend this session on GPU partitioning to allow GPUs to support multiple workloads or VMs. Attendees can learn how this process can save cloud resources and maximize user productivity.

"MSIX app attach: The future of app delivery in virtual environments"

MSIX app attach is one of the standout features in Windows Virtual Desktop. It allows IT to go beyond app streaming and layering by containerizing applications to Azure-hosted VMs. In this session, attendees can learn how to take advantage of this offering and how it could change app delivery for virtual desktops.

"Windows Virtual Desktop updates"

This is an important session for any IT admin at Microsoft Ignite 2019 who plans to use Windows Virtual Desktop. Scott Manchester, group program manager of Windows Virtual Desktop, and Jeremy Chapman, director at Microsoft Mechanics, will highlight the latest updates to the service. The session also includes a demo of Windows Virtual Desktop in action.

"The ABCs of Windows Virtual Desktop migration"

Organizations shouldn't migrate to Windows Virtual Desktop without fully assessing their existing workloads and infrastructure. In this Microsoft Ignite 2019 session, IT admins can learn about which workloads are best hosted in Windows Virtual Desktop.

"Deploy and scale Windows Virtual Desktops on Azure with Citrix Cloud"

The partnership between Citrix and Microsoft enables integrations between Windows Virtual Desktop and Citrix Cloud. Existing Citrix customers who are interested in deploying Windows Virtual Desktop will likely want to attend this session. It covers how to implement Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops with Windows Virtual Desktop.

"Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure: Extending Windows Virtual Desktop"

VMware and Microsoft have also partnered up to deliver integrations between Windows Virtual Desktop and Horizon Cloud. VMware customers should attend this session to explore the capabilities of the two products running together. Gabe Knuth, a senior product line marketing manager at VMware, will highlight the future roadmap of Horizon Cloud on Azure.

"Microsoft Teams architecture update"

In this session, a Microsoft presenter will delve into the architecture of Microsoft Teams, including the microservices involved with the product. The session covers how Teams supports VDI.

"Accelerate your RDS and VDI migration to Windows Virtual Desktop"

IT admins from organizations that are using Remote Desktop Services will likely benefit from attending this session, which highlights the migration process from RDS and VDI to Windows Virtual Desktop. Windows Virtual Desktop is a viable replacement for both services, so IT admins should be aware of the best practices and tools to perform a successful migration.

"A reference architecture for Windows Virtual Desktop printing"

Printing is a common challenge for virtual desktop deployments. There are already a variety of printing products that support Windows Virtual Desktop. Christoph Hammer, senior vice president of cloud services at ThinPrint -- one such option -- will present options to simplify printing with Windows Virtual Desktop, including deploying print infrastructure in the cloud.