How Amazon AppStream 2.0 can help businesses

Posted on Monday August 28, 2017

Today's workforce is no longer confined to office walls. People work from home, while they're commuting to and from work, and even on vacation. This is made possible thanks to remote access solutions, and Amazon's powerful web features. Here's what you need to know about this powerful application streaming service.

What is it?

Initially released in 2013, Amazon AppStream was created as a platform for remote access to digital resources to help businesses streamline the costly process of managing apps on-premises. Simply put, it streams desktop apps to users across various devices via a browser.

Today, Amazon AppStream 2.0 has been updated with major improvements thanks to user feedback. Now, you can stream desktop applications from Amazon Web Services to any device running a web browser compatible with HTML 5.

What can you do with Amazon AppStream 2.0?

You can run desktop applications on any device, including Windows, Linux, Macs, and Chromebooks. Amazon AppStream 2.0 features multiple streaming options, including the General Purpose, Compute Optimized, and Memory Optimized.

Everything is fully managed by Amazon and all your applications and data will be kept on Amazon Web Services. This means you can expect robust security like network firewalls, web application firewalls, secure streaming gateway, encryption in transit across all services, and the ability to isolate your applications for secure delivery.

You'll always have access to the latest version of your applications and minimize the risk of compromising confidential data if your device gets lost or stolen, as data is stored on Amazon's cloud infrastructure.

What other benefits are there?

Apart from mobile access to documents and applications, you'll appreciate the simple user interface that allows you to upload files to a session, access and edit them, and download them when you're done.

What's more, Amazon AppStream 2.0 uses NICE DCV for high-performance streaming. This ensures secure and fast access to applications since NICE DCV automatically adjusts to network conditions.

Amazon AppStream 2.0 also supports delivery of high performance graphics applications from Amazon Web Services. This allows you to stream powerful graphics applications to a web browser on any desktop.

Last but not least, this remote access solution lets you scale up or down as needed and pay only for the streaming instances you use, and a small monthly fee per authorized user. There's no upfront capital or premises infrastructure maintenance costs.

If your business mainly consists of a remote workforce or is planning to adopt  remote work policies, Amazon AppStream 2.0 is one solid option. For other tips on how small- and- medium-sized businesses can leverage technology to improve efficiency and lower costs, give us a call and we'll be happy to advise.