Kingston Creating USB Stick for Windows To Go

Kingston Digital said on Tuesday that it is currently working with Microsoft to create a Windows To Go-compatible USB 3.0 Flash drive. Called the Kingston DataTraveler Workspace USB Flash drive, the device is slated to arrive this October -- likely alongside the release of Windows 8 although no specific date has been set.

Windows To Go is a new feature in Windows 8 Enterprise that is a fully manageable corporate Windows 8 desktop on a bootable external USB stick. This feature will allow IT organizations to support the "Bring Your Own PC" trend, and businesses can give contingent staff access to the corporate environment without compromising security.

Kingston said its new USB stick will be fully bootable and incorporate SSD technology in a small USB form factor so users can access their enterprise system from a portable device. Kingston currently has a beta version of the drive (DTU30) available for enterprises or organizations in need of evaluating the Windows To Go feature of Windows 8 Enterprise.

"This bootable USB drive for Windows 8 is a specialized drive like no other Kingston USB Flash drive," reads the product page. "Currently, this drive is a Beta version available only directly from Kingston. U.S. customers can order from here; others should email us for ordering information. Please do not attempt to purchase this drive through other channels as you may not receive the correct USB drive."

The final version of the USB stick will arrive in three flavors: 32 GB (KW-U4132-1FA) for $75, 64 GB (KW-U4164-1FA) for $140, and an unlisted 128 GB version (prices subject to change). Technical specs include data transfer rates up to 80 MB/s for read and 60 MB/s for write across a USB 3.0 port, and 30 MB/s for read and 30 MB/s for write across a USB 2.0 port.

"We are excited to have Kingston as an associate on Windows To Go. Our joint innovation will further enable mobile work styles. Kingston’s DataTraveler Workspace will give our customers the performance and endurance required to deliver a great experience when running Windows 8 Enterprise from a USB drive," said Karri Alexion-Tiernan, Director of Product Marketing, Windows Enterprise, Microsoft.

For the Windows 8 GA release in October, Kingston will launch the actual drive, DataTraveler Workspace, to replace the current customized DTU30 beta, the company said. For more information about the upcoming USB stick, or to get your hands on the beta device, head here.

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14 Comments Comment from the forums

horribly overpriced
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beardguy

I don't get the draw to this at all. Why would anyone, especially in a business environment, want to run their work space from a flash drive? I could see it being handy when your computer goes down, and you could just plug this into any available machine temporarily, but it's just not practical overall.

Also, the failure rate on these would be way higher than a desktop or a laptop. Think about it, if you are transporting this drive everywhere you go, it could easily end up lost or going through the washing machine. My company would never allow these in our environment. Then again, we are insanely strict on security.
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cscott_it

beardguyI don't get the draw to this at all. Why would anyone, especially in a business environment, want to run their work space from a flash drive? I could see it being handy when your computer goes down, and you could just plug this into any available machine temporarily, but it's just not practical overall. Also, the failure rate on these would be way higher than a desktop or a laptop. Think about it, if you are transporting this drive everywhere you go, it could easily end up lost or going through the washing machine. My company would never allow these in our environment. Then again, we are insanely strict on security.
I don't see this as a security risk at all. This should be fine assuming you are using full disk encryption (bitlocker) on the device. I require full disk encryption on all company laptops. It's good for BYOD and "device agnostic environments".

I prefer a Citrix environment for device agnostic users though. You can create a secure logon page from the web that uses your AD credentials to authenticate and then launch whichever "virtualized" app you need and it will have access to the resources on it's host's network.
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Some businesses use Citrix for actual work, webmail clients (consulting companies), roaming profiles and Citrix VPN.
For these kinds of companies, it might work but it will depend a lot on how long it takes to launch the OS.
Losing a stick doesn't mean much for them because you still need a valid user and password from their Active Directory and anyway there shouldn't be anything sensitive saved on them, the important stuff being either in encrypted folders or on remote storage in the famous clouds.
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fuzzion

I already own a bootable XP to go on my 8gb stick thats costs less than a pack of quality condoms
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vpoko

beardguyI don't get the draw to this at all. Why would anyone, especially in a business environment, want to run their work space from a flash drive?This would actually be pretty useful to me (not that my company is planning on adopting Windows 8 anytime soon, we're still on XP). I usually work at the office but sometimes work from home. Currently, my solution to access my apps is to leave my office PC on and to VPN + remote desktop to it. This works OK but obviously gives me a performance hit versus running programs locally. With this, I could avoid remote desktop entirely.
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cscott_it

Anonymousmouse9398horribly overpricedIt would seem like it. I'm not sure if this has enough performance to make it worth the price.
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beardguy

vpokoThis would actually be pretty useful to me (not that my company is planning on adopting Windows 8 anytime soon, we're still on XP). I usually work at the office but sometimes work from home. Currently, my solution to access my apps is to leave my office PC on and to VPN + remote desktop to it. This works OK but obviously gives me a performance hit versus running programs locally. With this, I could avoid remote desktop entirely.
I need to read up on this more to understand how it would work. For example, does this take the place of VPN? Can you just plug it in and connect to your companies network and resources? Also, what about software? I'm guessing the large amount of storage would be to load up any software onto the actual drive ... not sure how licensing would work this way though.

For those saying "You wouldn't keep any private data on the drive .... but in the cloud" you must be working with small files. I can tell you in my line of work, files can become quite large. This would not be practical for me to upload all my files, and I would be stuck storing everything locally to this drive, which would be a really bad solution. (too easy to lose my files this way)

I agree about security though, drive encryption would make it as secure as my laptop.

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cscott_it

beardguyI need to read up on this more to understand how it would work. For example, does this take the place of VPN? Can you just plug it in and connect to your companies network and resources? Also, what about software? I'm guessing the large amount of storage would be to load up any software onto the actual drive ... not sure how licensing would work this way though. For those saying "You wouldn't keep any private data on the drive .... but in the cloud" you must be working with small files. I can tell you in my line of work, files can become quite large. This would not be practical for me to upload all my files, and I would be stuck storing everything locally to this drive, which would be a really bad solution. (too easy to lose my files this way)I agree about security though, drive encryption would make it as secure as my laptop.
Well in say, the case of a Citrix environment, "The Cloud" is where all of your resources would be hosted wherever your work environment is. That would mean that you'd just need to have everything on the network. For larger companies, this really shouldn't be an issue.
XenApp is more or less the application launched using wshshell as whatever user you authenticate as sent over ICA.

If you have any questions about this or about anything like it feel free to PM me so we can move this discussion there.
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beardguy

@cscott_it

Interesting thanks for the info.
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