By Bridget McCrea, Contributing Writer
Since July, service providers have been able to offer hosted Microsoft Dynamics GP solutions through Remote Desktop Services (RDS) running on Windows Azure virtual machines.
As we heard in MSDW's recent look at the partner perspective on Dynamics GP and NAV in Azure, the availability of RDS is an important benefit, especially in the short term when some features still require it and many customers may be unwilling to transition to the web interface.
In the recent blog post RDS Solution for Dynamics GP on Azure, Microsoft program manager Jay Manley explained that the option is available to service providers who obtain the RDS SALs (Subscriber Access Licenses) through a Microsoft Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA). (To read more about licensing RDS with Windows Azure Virtual Machines read the FAQ here.)
A Move to Hosted EnvironmentsWhile the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 web client offers browser access to the application, Manley notes that there are a few peripheral components that require Remote Desktop Services (formerly known as Terminal Services) for access in a hosted solution. As a result, it is now possible to offer these Microsoft Dynamics GP components on Windows Azure Virtual Machines using session-based hosting through RDS.
Rob Helm, managing vice president of research at Directions on Microsoft in Kirkland, Wash., isn't surprised that Microsoft has made yet another move into the hosted space. "With its Azure infrastructure, Microsoft is taking on cloud providers like NetSuite," Helm states by utilizing its "enormous collection of data centers" that it's now opening up to partners to host Dynamics NAV and GP.
"This move allows partners to take advantage of a huge amount [of money] that Microsoft has invested in secured data centers all over the world," says Helm. "That's something that smaller partners would not be able to replicate."
Replacing Rich Clients
One point that companies should keep in mind, says Helm, is that traditionally both Dynamics NAV and GP have relied on rich or "fat" clients that provide rich functionality on their own - independent of the central server. "One way to simplify life for the both the service provider and the customer is to have the fat client run on servers in the service provider's data center," says Helm. "That also simplifies the security side because data isn't being pushed down to a client over a network."
Helm emphasizes the fact that Azure - both on the technical side and from a licensing perspective - has historically not enabled the use of desktop services (and if it did, the service was offered on a very limited basis). But a partner/provider can now run a fat client and the rest of the Dynamics components within Azure - and offer its own customers a turnkey solution - while the data remains secure inside one of Microsoft's many data centers.
On the Azure side, Helm notes both NAV and GP are moving toward more of a web-based architecture that will be less reliant on fat clients. "Whereas the whole infrastructure is important and valuable now," says Helm, "it will become less important over time, which means both customers and partners should be thinking about moving towards the new web clients for each of those [programs]."