Press Release

Apptio Launches Solution to Help Customers Manage Desktop Virtualization Service Costs

Leading Technology Business Management Provider Joins Citrix Desktop Transformation Ecosystem to Accelerate Virtual Desktop Adoption

Seattle, Wash. – October 6, 2010 – Apptio, the leading provider of on-demand Technology Business Management (TBM) solutions, today announced that it has joined the Citrix Desktop Transformation partner ecosystem and introduced its Desktop Business Management solution, to help enterprise IT organizations to maximize the economic gains of desktop virtualization initiatives. IT spending on desktop services is a significant portion of overall IT spend, making improved service levels, increased agility and cost reduction in this area a top priority for today’s enterprises. Apptio’s solution accelerates enterprise adoption of desktop as a service by enabling companies to track the cost of desktop services, chargeback for these services based on consumption, and communicate the cost and value to business leaders.

Companies have realized the many benefits of desktop and application virtualization including cost reduction through centralized management, greater security and scalability, improved user access and availability, increased utilization, and the ability to leverage legacy hardware. However, moving from a traditional, distributed end user computing environment to a transformed desktop as a service environment is not an easy undertaking. Organizations must first baseline the cost, value and quality of their desktop services and understand how these measurements change over time. Next, they must communicate this information to line of business stakeholders in a language business leaders understand. Finally, organizations must provide accurate consumption-based costing and chargeback so desktops can truly be ordered and delivered like a service.

“Desktop virtualization is a top strategic initiative for CIOs. In order for enterprises to realize the full business benefits of virtual desktops, enabling virtual workstyles for users and simplifying desktop computing for IT, we have established a set of best practices and practical guidance to help enterprises accelerate their virtual desktop strategies,” said Sumit Dhawan, vice president of product marketing XenDesktop product group at Citrix. “As an integral member of our partner ecosystem, Apptio will extend our desktop transformation best practices to provide customers with a proven solution that will help them quantify, track and present the costs and value of the their virtual desktops.”

Apptio’s Desktop Transformation Business Management Solution enables enterprise IT organizations to accelerate and manage the adoption of desktop and application virtualization by enabling customers to:

  • Baseline existing fully-loaded costs for desktops and applications
  • Compare existing costs to fully-loaded costs of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
  • Monitor, report and manage ongoing cost savings during the transformation
  • Identify and evaluate additional opportunities for cost savings and value creation
  • Communicate the value of the desktop transformation to line of business customers
  • Provide the consumption-based pricing, budgeting and forecasting for desktop as a service

Specifically, the solution automates the collection of data from asset, labor, ticketing (service desk), financial applications and other systems to provide a comprehensive business view of end user computing. Leveraging its Activity Based Costing engine, Apptio’s solution calculates an accurate fully loaded cost for desktop computing – whether the environment is traditional, distributed, fully virtualized or anywhere in between. The solution provides rich graphical reports with drill down that enable IT executives and staff to understand and manage the fully-loaded cost of desktop services. Apptio’s “Bill of IT” provides a way to communicate the cost and value of the desktop services to a company’s line of business leaders, enabling them to more fully participate in the desktop transformation process.

“Citrix is a leader in desktop virtualization , and their Desktop Transformation Model will help businesses realize the benefits of virtual desktops,” said Stan Shull, Vice President of Strategic Alliances at Apptio. “Together, Citrix and Apptio provide enterprise organizations with a clear path from distributed desktop management to a transformed virtual desktop model. By delivering desktops as a service, enterprises can enable greater agility and security, simplify IT support and reduce costs in desktop services.”

The Citrix Desktop Transformation Model

The Citrix Desktop Transformation Model is designed to help businesses quickly realize the benefits of virtual desktops – flexible, virtual work styles for users and simpler, more secure desktop computing for IT. Citrix, working with customers and partners, has developed the first industry-endorsed, repeatable method for transforming desktop computing from today’s device-centric, distributed management paradigm to a more user-centric, virtualized model.

About Apptio

Apptio is the leading independent provider of on-demand Technology Business Management (TBM) solutions for managing the business of IT. Apptio enables IT leaders to manage the cost, quality and value of IT Services by providing deep visibility into the total cost of IT services, communicating the value of IT to the business through an interactive Bill of IT™, and strategically aligning the planning, budgeting and forecasting processes. Apptio’s TBM solutions play a critical role in helping companies understand and drive chargebackvirtualizationcloud and other key technology initiatives. Global enterprise customers such as Bank of America, Boeing, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, St. Luke’s Health System, and Swiss Re rely on Apptio® products and services to reduce costs and align IT with business priorities. For more information, visit the Apptio website or the Apptio blog.

Contact:

Karli Overmier
Barokas PR for Apptio
apptio@barokas.com
206-264-8220