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Google is ramping up its efforts to help companies effectively move to Chrome OS and life in the cloud. The recent announcement of Parallels Desktop for Chromebooks will allow enterprise customers to make the shift to the security and flexibility of Chrome OS while still having access to legacy Windows applications needed to keep things running smoothly. The biggest step for companies making this shift will be ensuring that their infrastructure is ready to utilize the Chrome OS platform and the Google Admin Console that manages those devices. Thankfully, Google is ready to help that process along with a new testing tool that will give admins insight on how ready they really are to migrate.
Chrome OS Readiness Tool
In addition to the Parallels Desktop and Zero touch enrollment tools, Google will soon launch the Chrome OS readiness tool that “determines device readiness based on application usage,depending on a classification library for software.” Essentially, this tool will check to see if you have applications that can be used natively on Chrome OS or can be ported using other means such as Parallels. The applications will be grouped into four categories – Chrome OS ready, possibly ready, blocker apps and unknown applications. Here’s an example of what a readiness report will look like:
The Chrome OS readiness tool will launch early next year but you can go ahead and sign up now to be notified when it’s available and express interest in early testing. You can also download the sample report above as well as sign up for Chrome OS Demo Day that will take place on December 3rd. This event will demo the readiness tool, zero touch enrollment, Parallels desktop and more. These tools will be a huge catalyst for companies wanting to move to Chrome OS but have lacked the tools to do so. While the Chrome OS readiness tool won’t solve the app gap that many businesses could experience, it will help companies hone it on which applications could be potential blockers to using Chrome OS exclusively. Learn more on the Google Cloud Blog.
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