IGEL and Apporto: Simplifying Endpoint Device Management in Education

Apporto, a leading provider of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) technologies, recently joined a growing number of forward-thinking businesses integrating and validating their products through the IGEL Ready program.

Offering customers in the education sector a comprehensive, cost-effective virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution, Apporto enables students, faculty, and staff to access their desktop from anywhere, anytime, and on any device.

When combined with IGEL OS, Apporto delivers a secure and simplified IT infrastructure that gives educators the freedom and flexibility of a virtual desktop environment without the typical challenges associated with hardware or software management.

By integrating Apporto’s VDI technologies with IGEL OS, educational institutions can benefit from an effective endpoint management system that ensures security, performance, and compliance across all endpoint devices. Apporto has helped improve the end-user experience for more than 200 universities, colleges, and schools, benefiting over 2.5 million students with its VDI solutions, including Virtual Computer Labs.

 

Expanding Student Access Beyond Traditional Boundaries

One of Apporto’s primary focus areas is to increase accessibility to educational resources for everyone. To ensure secure access, Apporto implements robust endpoint management policies that govern the configuration and security of all devices, including BYOD, by managing device configurations effectively.

They achieve this by offering secure, 24/7 access to desktops and apps on any device, including students’ own devices (BYOD). This means that learning is not restricted to physical classrooms or computer labs.

 This flexibility allows students to study at any time and from any location, removing the barriers that previously hindered access to continuous learning.

 

Creating a Collaborative and Secure Learning Environment with Endpoint Security

It’s important to note that Apporto isn’t just about accessing resources – it’s about transforming education delivery. With features like virtual classrooms and collaboration tools that integrate chat and voice communications, traditional computer labs are reimagined into dynamic, flexible spaces.

Apporto’s endpoint management systems play a crucial role in providing secure access to resources, ensuring that all devices are compliant with security standards. Apporto’s endpoint security solutions are integral to this process, ensuring that sensitive data and systems are protected.

With Apporto’s innovations, such as enhanced screen sharing and desktop control, we can facilitate an interactive and engaging learning and teaching experience. This can be achieved regardless of physical location, encouraging students and faculty to work together in real-time. This fosters a sense of teamwork and promotes an active, engaged learning process that is both more enjoyable and effective.

In response to the growing importance of cybersecurity, Apporto offers Modular Cyber Labs that allow students and tutors to quickly build, load, save, adapt, and attack fully operational network environments. This hands-on learning environment is completely isolated from the campus network, providing a safe space for experimentation and skill development.

Protecting Against Cyber Threats

Apporto’s endpoint management efforts are pivotal in safeguarding against cyber threats by ensuring that all devices connected to the network are secure, authorized to access resources, and user-friendly.

 Their robust endpoint management strategy plays a vital role in preventing cyber attacks by swiftly identifying and addressing vulnerabilities, detecting and responding to threats, and maintaining compliance with security policies and regulations.

 By implementing a unified endpoint management (UEM) solution, Apporto empowers organizations with complete visibility and control over all endpoints, significantly reducing the risk of cyber attacks and data breaches.

 

Unburdening IT Teams with Unified Endpoint Management to Focus on What Matters

The administrative burden on IT teams in educational institutions can often be overwhelming. With advanced remote management capabilities, Apporto allows IT teams to monitor and manage endpoint devices and network access from any location, ensuring compliance and security.

 Apporto significantly lightens this load by managing all virtual infrastructure, software deployment, backup, recovery, and even antivirus. This level of support simplifies managing and configuring endpoint devices, freeing up IT teams to concentrate on higher-priority tasks that improve the educational experience.

 

Benefits of Unified Endpoint Management (UEM)

Apporto’s unified endpoint management (UEM) offers numerous benefits to educational institutions, including enhanced security, increased productivity, reduced costs, and improved compliance. By providing a centralized console for managing all endpoints, Apporto allows IT teams to monitor and manage devices, applications, and data in real-time.

 This capability enables organizations to respond swiftly to security threats, reduce downtime, and boost overall efficiency. Furthermore, Apporto simplifies endpoint management by automating routine tasks such as patch management and software updates, ensuring that educational environments remain secure and operationally efficient.

 

Reducing Costs While Enhancing Flexibility with Mobile Devices

Financial efficiency is another important aspect of Apporto’s offering for educational institutions that can experience up to 50-70% lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) with Apporto’s straightforward, all-inclusive subscription model. This approach reduces hidden costs and makes expenses predictable, allowing for improved financial planning and resource allocation.

 This approach not only reduces hidden costs but also ensures that corporate data is protected from vulnerabilities. Apporto’s endpoint management solution provides a cost-effective and flexible approach to managing endpoint devices, ensuring security and operational efficiency.

Apporto also offers versatile deployment options, including cloud, on-prem, or a hybrid approach. Compatible with AWS, Azure, and on-premises solutions, Apporto provides educational institutions with comprehensive coverage for flexible and scalable computing needs based on user preferences.

 

Delivering a Superior User Experience with Endpoint Devices

The virtual desktop solution offered by Apporto is genuinely next-generation. It utilizes advanced compression, geo-optimization, and autoscaling to provide a superior experience directly in the browser.

 With features such as running at up to 60fps and supporting up to three screens, students can enjoy a seamless, high-performance interface. Launching a desktop with a single click from the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) via LTI integration has never been easier. Apporto’s mobile device management (MDM) tools ensure that mobile devices are securely managed and monitored, providing a seamless user experience.

Apporto’s VLE also enhances online learning by enabling teachers to view all student screens simultaneously, ensuring active engagement. With features like hand-raising for communication and screen sharing, teachers can easily interact with and assist students in real time, creating a more interactive and supportive digital learning environment.

 The mobile device management (MDM) capabilities of Apporto distinguish it from other solutions, focusing exclusively on the management of mobile devices within the broader context of enterprise mobility.

Moreover, Apporto’s Cloud Mounter integrates with major cloud providers such as OneDrive, Dropbox, Box, and Google Drive, as well as supporting on-premises storage. This allows for easy access to files, streamlining management and collaboration. Users can efficiently access, manage, and share files across platforms, enhancing productivity and simplifying workflows.

 

Advancing Digital Equality for All Students

By leveling the educational playing field, Apporto enables any device to become a fully capable workstation, removing financial barriers to education. By effectively managing mobile devices, Apporto ensures that all students have secure and equal access to educational resources, regardless of their device.

This ensures that all students can have the opportunity to learn and succeed, regardless of their economic background. Additionally, built-in learner analytics empower tutors to track and support student learning, making education more inclusive and effective.

 

Learn More About Apporto and IGEL for Education

Visit Apporto’s IGEL Ready Showcase page [here] to learn more. To explore the IGEL Ready ecosystem of solutions, visit igel.com/ready.

Arrow/Citrix Deal: Implications for Partners

In this article, I am going to discuss what Citrix outsourcing their sales and support to Arrow means for their customers, and the negative impact that will likely have. But before I do, I just want to start by underlining what was announced and what the relationship between the two companies currently looks like.

 

The Citrix Solutions and Arrow Partnership

As we already know, Citrix is a vendor, and a company known for virtualization, networking, and cloud services focused on delivering end-user computing, whereas Arrow Electronics is one of the leading distributors of tech solutions.

As a business unit within the Cloud Software Group, Citrix’s strategic initiatives include forming exclusive distribution agreements and enhancing support for mid-market and small business customers through partnerships with distributors.

 So now outsourcing sales and support to Arrow will mean that Arrow will front all sales and support activities for those customers that Citrix will no longer service. And there are a lot of customers that this is going to affect given that Citrix claims to have over 400,000 customers and they are only going to deal directly with the top 2,000 customers.

 

What Was the Agreement and What Does It Mean?

The agreement, announced on January 16, 2025, outlined a new strategic mid-market and sole distributor agreement with Arrow, coming into force on March 3, 2025. From this date forward, Arrow will assume responsibility for exclusively servicing the Citrix mid-market and SMB business in North America and Europe. Then from June 2, 2025, Arrow will also serve as the sole Citrix distributor for all channel partners in North America and Europe.

Arrow will assist service provider channel partners with managing their Citrix licenses, enhancing support, and streamlining processes.

As we already know, Citrix has gone through several rounds of layoffs, which are still seemingly ongoing even today, so this outsourcing could be seen as potentially helping with those cost cuts and help to streamline operations. However, typically this will be an exercise in ensuring the shareholders are kept happy!

But this does place a huge expectation on the distributor and their expertise, which to date is untested. Key to all this is how does that affect customers? Maybe there are pros and cons here. But both come at the expense of customer and partner experience.

 

Impact on Sales

Let’s break that down. Firstly, sales and support are two different areas, so let’s start with the sales side. If sales are outsourced, customers, in this case, the partners, will interact directly with Arrow’s sales teams instead of the Citrix sales teams. Potentially, Arrow could have a much broader reach or more localized presence, which could be seen as a bonus, but what about the expertise and knowledge? Do they have that?

The risk here is that they will not have the same specialized level of knowledge you would get when working directly with the vendor. There is going to be a steep learning curve to transfer that knowledge and experience and in the meantime that will have an immediate effect on customers, and there is no getting around that.


Impact on Channel Partner Support Teams

For support, when Arrow takes over, end-user customers will have to use a different process for logging support tickets. Typically, a support call would be placed directly on the vendor to manage through to resolution. In this case, Citrix. But now that support call will need to be raised on Arrow.

End-user customers don’t typically talk to or have a relationship with distribution, so does that mean end-user customers have to raise a support call with the reseller partner first? Or will Arrow have a completely new support process? This will cause delays in support calls being resolved in a timely manner.

Arrow’s global channels will have to facilitate a tailored support and streamline processes for Citrix customers, ensuring a more efficient and effective support experience. But this will take time to implement.

Again, there is the question of Arrow having the same level of knowledge and expertise as the vendor? Citrix will have to train Arrow’s support staff, and there could be a transition period where support quality dips while Arrow gets up to speed.

And then there is the question of escalation. What do Arrow have in place when they can’t help solve a customer issue? Back support calls off to Citrix? In the event of a bug needing to be raised how are Arrow going to deal with this as they won’t have access to internal systems or any code.

Potential Customer Challenges

All of this will affect existing contracts or relationships. If a customer was used to dealing directly with Citrix, now they have to go through Arrow. That could lead to confusion or frustration if the transition isn’t smooth, especially as end-user customers don’t typically have a relationship with distribution.

In the official announcement from both companies, Citrix says this move allows them to focus on product development, while Arrow emphasizes their capability to scale and provide a better level of service.

Regardless of this, it is the end-user customer that matters, and they won’t be concerned about either of these points. All that they will be concerned about is whether their specific needs will still be met, especially if they have complex setups or enterprise-level agreements. And of course, the licensing costs.

The Risks Involved

Of course, this isn’t the first time, nor will it be the last, where vendors outsource to partners. In those cases, sometimes it works well if the partner is competent, but other times customers feel neglected. So, the key factors here are communication during the transition, training of Arrow’s staff, and maintaining service quality levels and customer satisfaction.

Risks could be possible delays in support responsiveness, a less personalized service, confusion during transition, and risk of miscommunication between Arrow and Citrix with some potential finger-pointing. None of which is good for customers.

The Pricing Factor of Citrix Licenses

The one thing we haven’t talked about yet is pricing. This again is going to be under the microscope, especially given recent licensing and renewal costs being much higher than customers were expecting.

Arrow could potentially have different pricing structures or bundles, meaning that customers might need to renegotiate contracts or adapt to new purchasing systems, which leads us onto how that purchasing mechanism works.

The Impact on Purchasing Channels

Currently, customers purchase Citrix via a reseller channel partner, who in turn buy from distribution. It’s the tried and tested three-tier channel model. As Citrix used to work with other distributors or partners, how does this exclusivity with Arrow affect them?

 Maybe some partners lose access and no longer qualify to be Citrix resellers, which could impact customers who worked through those channels. Does it mean Arrow can charge what they like given they are the only game in town when it comes to purchasing Citrix?

Conclusion

While the partnership could enhance Citrix’s operational focus and customer reach through Arrow’s distribution strengths, the transition’s success hinges on seamless execution, transparent communication, and sustained service quality.

Customers should remain vigilant, adapt processes as needed, and leverage Arrow’s potential synergies for long-term benefits. On the other hand, this could be yet another reason for customers to seek alternative solutions.

Apporto is that alternative solution.

With a proven track record of delivering lower pricing (no more paying for bundles with features never to be used), lower complexity (simple containerized deployment), but with all the features and performance customers have come to expect delivered directly to the browser.

Apporto is not just about the tech, it’s all about putting the customer first too and this is set out in the Apporto Customer Bill of Rights which reflects our commitment to fairness, transparency, and customer satisfaction that ensures fair pricing, flexible purchases, and clear communication.