Webinar Description
Key Takeaways
- Webinar examining two strategic approaches to reducing virtual desktop infrastructure risk
- Covers full VDI replacement with direct per-application access and VDI cloaking for organisations retaining virtual desktops
- Addresses zero trust network access as an alternative to traditional gateway-based remote access
- Relevant for IT security teams, infrastructure architects and organisations evaluating VDI modernisation
Introduction
AppGate is hosting a webinar on 19 August 2026 that examines practical strategies for organisations seeking to reduce the security risks and operational costs associated with virtual desktop infrastructure. The session targets IT security professionals, infrastructure teams and decision-makers grappling with whether to retire VDI entirely or optimise existing deployments. As enterprises reassess the security posture of traditional remote access gateways, this discussion addresses a timely question facing many organisations: when does VDI replacement make sense, and when is retention with enhanced security the more pragmatic path?
About This Event
This ZTNA Table Talk session features Corey O’Connor, VP of Product Marketing at AppGate, and Richard Miller, Sales Engineer at AppGate. The format emphasises practical guidance drawn from real customer scenarios rather than theoretical frameworks. Attendees can expect a candid discussion of the trade-offs involved in each approach, with insights applicable regardless of an organisation’s current VDI maturity or scale.
Two Paths for Reducing VDI Risk
The webinar frames VDI strategy as a spectrum rather than a binary choice. For some organisations, complete retirement of virtual desktop environments is feasible, transitioning users to direct per-application access that eliminates the need for centralised desktop delivery. This approach can significantly reduce infrastructure complexity and the attack surface associated with maintaining VDI platforms.
However, many enterprises cannot simply abandon VDI. Workloads such as computer-aided design, medical imaging and other graphics-intensive or latency-sensitive applications often remain impractical to run on local endpoints. For these organisations, the session explores how to retain VDI while addressing its security vulnerabilities through cloaking techniques that remove exposed gateways from public visibility.
The Shifting Security Landscape for Remote Access
Traditional approaches to VDI security have relied on gateway-based access controls, which expose entry points to the public internet. This model, once considered acceptable, has become increasingly problematic as threat actors target these visible infrastructure components. The zero trust network access model represents a fundamental shift in this architecture, operating on the principle that no user or device should be inherently trusted based on network location.
AppGate ZTNA enables organisations to reduce external exposure without requiring wholesale infrastructure replacement. By cloaking VDI environments, organisations can eliminate the publicly visible gateway while maintaining the virtual desktop capabilities their workflows require. This approach addresses both security concerns and operational considerations such as performance optimisation and cost reduction.
Who Should Attend
This session is particularly relevant for enterprise security architects evaluating zero trust implementations, IT infrastructure teams managing legacy VDI deployments, and technology leaders weighing the cost-benefit analysis of VDI modernisation. Organisations in sectors with specialised workload requirements, including healthcare, engineering and manufacturing, may find the discussion of hybrid approaches especially applicable to their operational constraints.
Practical Guidance for VDI Decision-Making
The webinar aims to equip attendees with frameworks for assessing which path suits their specific environment. This includes criteria for determining when full VDI replacement is viable, what the transition to direct per-application access involves in practice, and how organisations choosing to retain VDI can nonetheless achieve meaningful security improvements. The emphasis on real customer scenarios suggests attendees will gain actionable insights rather than abstract architectural principles.