Using Open Source VirtualBox to Instantiate Corporate-approved, Encrypted VMs

The post-COVID-19 reality for enterprise IT is now settling-in. Business executives need to give workers the ability and flexibility to work from a preferred location while fostering collaboration and motivation. Uncertainty is now a facet of the business climate and it is best to be prepared for potential disruptions down the road.

In order to cope with COVID-19, enterprises adapted – essentially overnight – to a workforce that was, practically speaking, entirely remote. And they did it by deploying resources they found to be immediately accessible. These included the extensive use of a well-established technology known as Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), coupled with immediately available cloud resources and Virtual Private Network (VPN) connectivity. Doing so allowed business users to conduct critical, day-to-day operations with little to no lapse in productivity while enterprise IT was able to control the remote workplace environment. VDI also added much needed layers of security and manageability vs. simply connecting remote user devices (laptops, desktops) over VPN links.

In this Evaluator Group Technical insight report, we look at the technologies now in use to support a remote workforce that preserves aspects of the office environment that fostered productivity. As mentioned, one immediately available solution is to simply replace office desktops with remote laptops connected via (VPN) connection. However, this solution might not be sufficient for many critical business applications as it engenders a host of enterprise security and data governance-related issues as well as creating a complex and error prone environment for managing remote devices. Using VDI as an alternative enabling technology addresses these issues.

Here we review Oracle’s VM VirtualBox solution as an example of a VDI platform that combines open source development with Oracle extensions and support while simplifying remote device management and addressing enterprise IT’s security and data governance mandates.

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