Healthcare organizations face an escalating cybersecurity risk as biomedical teams continue running critical medical devices on older versions of Windows. These legacy systems, often essential for imaging machines, meds dispensing, and diagnostic tools, remain unpatched and vulnerable due to vendor restrictions, operational dependencies, or the excessive costs associated with replacing medical hardware. Not only does this create a security issue, but it also creates an operational issue in finding hardware for these critical controllers to run on as new hardware – think TPM2 chips – does not support the outdated version of Windows. 

According to a Help Net Security report, 70 percent of medical devices in hospitals run outdated operating systems, making them prime targets for cyberattacks. Meanwhile, research from Claroty’s Team82 found that 63 percent of known vulnerabilities tracked by CISA exist within healthcare networks, due to aging infrastructure and the inability to update Windows-based systems. 

The need for a secure, efficient, and cost-effective way to continue operating these devices, using new endpoint hardware, without exposing hospitals to cybersecurity threats is more urgent than ever. This is where IGEL Managed Hypervisor comes in. 

How IGEL Managed Hypervisor Strengthens Security for Biomedical Devices

Isolating Vulnerable Windows Instances

IGEL Managed Hypervisor allows biomedical teams to run legacy Windows-based applications securely within a controlled virtualized environment. Instead of running outdated Windows versions directly on endpoint hardware, the IGEL OS acts as a separation layer between the hardware and the Windows instance running inside a managed hypervisor. This approach eliminates persistent malware risk by ensuring a fresh Windows session at every reboot, and provides a read-only, tamper-proof operating environment. 

Extending Medical Device Lifecycles with IGEL Managed Hypervisor

Many medical devices rely on outdated versions of Windows, which are incompatible with modern hardware. This forces healthcare organizations to source and maintain aging systems—an expensive and unsustainable approach. IGEL Managed Hypervisor solves this by decoupling software from hardware, enabling legacy Windows-based medical applications to run securely on modern devices. This eliminates the need for outdated equipment, reduces maintenance costs, and enhances security, allowing hospitals to extend the lifecycle of critical medical devices without compromise. 

Meeting Compliance and Zero Trust Security Requirements

Regulatory bodies like HIPAA, FDA, and NIST emphasize cybersecurity in medical technology, yet legacy Windows systems often lack built-in Zero Trust protections. IGEL Managed Hypervisor, built on the Preventative Security Model, provides a secure-by-design endpoint foundation that integrates with leading Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) solutions. It adds an additional firewalling layer to prevent malicious activity and works alongside network segmentation tools to contain threats. By enabling IT to create an immutable, rollback-ready Windows environment, IGEL ensures medical systems can be restarted in a known-good state—much like a non-persistent VDI desktop—supporting the uptime and availability critical for patient care. 

Seamless Integration with Existing IT Infrastructure

Healthcare IT teams are stretched thin, managing both modern and legacy environments. IGEL Managed Hypervisor is managed from the IGEL UMS simplifying endpoint management by allowing centralized policy enforcement across all devices, enabling remote updates and patches without disrupting workflows, and supporting Browsers, SaaS, DaaS and VDI integrations 

Why IGEL is the Right Fit for Healthcare Biomedical Teams

Hospitals need a pragmatic security approach that works within existing constraints. IGEL Managed Hypervisor offers a security-first design that minimizes attack surfaces by isolating legacy Windows environments, removes the issue of maintaining old hardware, reduces hardware refresh cycles and extends device lifespans, and works across distributed healthcare environments with zero-trust-ready architecture. 

In a time where cyber threats to medical infrastructure are escalating, IGEL provides a proven, scalable, and secure way to modernize healthcare IT without disruption. 

Want to Learn More?

If your biomedical team is managing legacy Windows devices, IGEL Managed Hypervisor can help secure your infrastructure without sacrificing operational efficiency. Contact us today to discuss how we can help your healthcare organization stay protected. 

Learn more about IGEL Managed Hypervisor
View the Demo Video

The post Securing Biomedical Devices in Healthcare with IGEL Managed Hypervisor appeared first on IGEL.

If you want to continue running Windows, Windows 11 will be the only option after the 14^th of October 2025. That’s a long time away, so no need to hurry, right? Remember Windows 2000 -> Windows 7 race? Or even worse Windows 7 -> Windows 10? IT admins remember it surely. Maybe some users haven’t even left Windows 7 behind yet on all endpoints?

PCs and laptops that are in use today have a challenge, and that challenge is Windows 11.
I like Windows 11 as an operating system, and I use it daily for all my work. Windows 11 has a modern user interface, though it still has the ‘same ol’ well-known Windows experience. What is the challenge for Windows PCs and Laptops then?
With Windows 11 Microsoft introduced a set of hardware requirements that draws a line for supported hardware:

• CPU – Dual-core 1 GHz minimum
• RAM – 4 GB
• Storage – 64 GB
• UEFI – Secure boot support
• TPM 2.0
• Graphics – DirectX12 – WDDM 2.0

Out of this list, TPM 2.0 and 64 GB Storage stand out the most.  64 GB is usually not a problem, but it might be for lower spec’d devices like older laptops. Many of those will not have TPM 2.0 either.  The lack of TPM 2.0 chips is the biggest hurdle for older PCs and Laptops. While I cherish the functionality of TPM 2.0 and especially the raised security that comes with 2.0 (Released 2014) in comparison to 1.2 (released 2005) the biggest difference is that TPM 1.2 is using SHA-1 algorithms, which is not secure.  TPM 2.0 can use SHA-1 algorithms but offers the strong SHA-2 256 alternative.

Apart from that, does it make any sense to throw perfectly functioning PCs and Laptops in the recycle bin, just because they cannot run Windows 11? IGEL OS is an alternative, and it will help you to contribute to a more sustainable IT posture by optimizing older devices to expand their lifespan by up to 3 years, reducing e-waste by preventing those devices from landfill.

It is time to make a shift to virtualize Windows 11 and connect remotely. There are so many benefits of virtualizing Windows. Here are some of them:

• Stability
  While Windows is built to support many types of hardware, with drivers from many, many hardware manufacturers for PC components, running Windows virtualized makes the hardware separated from the software. This means that the OS will talk to a virtualized hardware stack- where virtualized in this case means software. Windows will talk to a generic stack, think it runs with direct access to hardware but rather talk with streamlined software drivers. This enhances stability as the quality of the software drivers is more reliable, and the hardware is accessed in translation of the hypervisor. The hypervisor is the operating system running as a translator between the hardware components in the server and the OS in the virtual machine.
• Anywhere access
  The concept of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) enables remote connections to virtual machines. Most VDI solutions support direct connections to the VDI from user devices on the on-prem network but also have features to support secure connections to the same VDI desktops from anywhere. This means that a user can roam freely between the office, the internet café, a hotel, and home. The user always connects to the same VDI running in the data center of the company. This is the foundation for Desktop As A Service (DaaS) – In this scenario, the “Virtual Desktop Infrastructure” runs in a hyperscaler, like Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS, Google Cloud to name some, as the virtual desktops run in the cloud.
• Highspeed connection to data / slim connection to user endpoint
  Imagine that you put all your PCs on the same network backbone as your servers. The server backbone consists of high-speed switches with minimal latency and maximal throughput. Any data access from your file, database, and web servers will be with the shortest possible impact to speed. Especially important for transaction-intensive applications.
  As it is not wise to have the company employees have their desks in the data center, instead we give the users binoculars. They will use an endpoint where the only purpose is to take input from the user’s keyboard and mouse, forward it to the user’s virtual desktop, and display the results on the user’s screen. It is very beneficial that the traffic generated back and forth from the user’s endpoint and the virtual desktop is very slim, and with compression algorithms in place the amount of data that needs to be transferred from screen updates and input is even reduced further.
• Multi-Session?
  While a PC or laptop generally is a 1:1 relationship = One user using One device, with virtual operating systems, you have multiple options you can give the users dedicated virtual Desktops, or you can give users shared virtual desktops.
  With dedicated virtual desktops, each user has their own virtual machine running in the data center. Still, hundreds of virtual machines can simultaneously run on one single server.
  With Multi-Session, each virtual machine can serve multiple users at the same time, and hundreds of virtual machines can run on one single server. The biggest benefit here is for every single multi-session virtual machine, the operating system only needs to be loaded once, and then shared between the users on that virtual machine. This gives a “One-to many-to many” relation. Every virtual machine serves many users, and each server serves many virtual machines. That is when the user density of one single physical server increases dramatically.
• Security
  What happens if a Windows laptop with lots of company intellectual property gets lost or stolen?
  If you instead have your users using that binocular to connect remotely? That will leave all the intellectual property tucked in safely in the data center. As the endpoint is just a binocular, there is no user data stored on the user’s device. If it gets lost or stolen, of course, it’s not fun, but still, it is not a big deal.
  What about securely connecting a device in the home office using Virtual Private Network (VPN) – basically you connect the network in the user’s home with the company’s data center.
  First of all, it is costly to set up and maintain VPN solutions. Second of all, the users get further and further away from the data which results in longer waiting times and frustrations.
  VDI and DaaS solutions use a thing called a reverse proxy, which allows the user session, not the device, to connect securely over the internet and reach the virtual desktop running in the data center. Whatever happens on the user’s current network is of no matter for the security of the company.

Why IGEL?

In the first part of this blog, you have learned about many challenges that companies are facing today. How can IGEL help you to address the challenges and take advantage of virtualizing Windows?

Hardware requirements

IGEL OS is a small-footprint operating system, that belongs to the Linux Debian family.
For the user, they do not need to understand anything about Linux, it’s just a way for me to describe the roots.
IGEL OS installs and runs on any x86-based, 64-bit operating system. It requires 4 GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. Even though more RAM, storage, and faster CPU are beneficial, it is not a requirement.

Comparison of minimal hardware requirements IGEL OS 12 vs Windows 10 vs Windows 11

Summarizing the hardware requirements, if you are running Windows 10 on your endpoint, and that endpoint doesn’t fulfill the requirements of Windows 11, then IGEL OS is a good alternative. I’d even argue that IGEL OS is a good choice even if the hardware supports Windows 11 on the endpoint! Let me continue explaining the real transition to Windows 11!

Windows 11

Windows 11 is designed for use in virtual environments. Microsoft is pushing hard to deliver the Windows experience from the cloud/data center with Windows 11. Look at services like Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop, both are cloud-native desktop delivery models.
Azure Virtual Desktop is now also extended to run in your private data center with Azure Stack HCI. This will give you the best-in-class mix of cloud-delivered desktops, with the advantages of zero latency connectivity.
Instead of having Windows 11 running on laptops everywhere, with the challenges it gives (read latency, security, patching etc.), the obvious to me is to run Windows 11 tucked in safe and nice in the data center and allow your users to connect remotely to the desktops in a modern way. This means that you can harden the perimeter of the data center, making remote access to data sources super secure. What do I mean by that?

Let’s look at a common scenario with Windows endpoints in the field and on-prem:

In this scenario you have devices on the Internet (@), you have devices on-premises, and all of them are using native protocols to connect to the data center. As this is a very high-level drawing, the number of connections is limited. In a real-world scenario, there would be many many more connections crossing between endpoints and servers. Your firewalls will need to be of Swiss cheese type!

And now with Windows in the data center and IGEL on the endpoints:

Traffic flow from the IGEL endpoints goes with one secure connection type, it does not matter if the endpoints are on the Internet or on-premises. The same connection protocol is used no matter if the endpoints are connecting over the Internet or on-premises, which simplifies and secures communication from the endpoints to the data center.
I’d love to be the firewall admin in this scenario!

When putting Windows in the data center, you can focus on managing and patching Windows with low latency and high bandwidth. You will enjoy a much simpler admin experience!
IGEL OS 12 allows a very simple administration, Actually the IGEL Universal Management Suite can be set up as a self-playing piano. The UMS can orchestrate updates of applications, which is the way to go with cloud-native, or with manual approval from admins, which is the traditional management. You will spend fewer cycles administrating an IGEL estate compared to a Windows estate.

Roll out

How long does it take to roll out a Windows endpoint in your organization?
What if you run Windows 11 in the data center, making sure that you have the capacity needed to serve your users, and then roll out new devices in a matter of minutes? IGEL OS does allow a user to be productive within two minutes of powering on IGEL OS the first time. There is no need to pre-stage the device in a config center.
IGEL OS, the UMS, and IGEL Onboarding Service enable the rollout of new devices anywhere in the world with minimal user interaction.
If the IGEL OS endpoints are located on-prem, the rollout process is even simpler, as IGEL OS on the first start will find the UMS and register plus configure itself based on how the admin has architected the configuration, and the UMS will make sure to that all devices are configured in the designed way.

Financials?

IGEL OS will enable you to use your endpoints for a long time. With a Windows endpoint, many organizations replace hardware on a three-year basis. With IGEL OS that can be extended easily to five, six, maybe 10 years before you need to replace the hardware. It all depends on how your requirements change over time.
When the time comes to exchange hardware, the IGEL licensing model allows you to easily decommission the old endpoint, returning its license to your pool, and the new device will fetch a license automatically.

If you want to investigate the TCO of IGEL and understand the financial benefits, the IGEL TCO calculator is a powerful tool. Make sure that you fill out the form with real values matching your existing environment to make the best out of the calculator.
Here is a link to the IGEL TCO calculator: https://www.igel.com/tco-calculator/

Security

IGEL OS is designed with security as the top priority. The read-only operating system ensures that no cyber threats will become sticky, if at all even target, IGEL OS.
Additionally, IGEL OS comes with security principles, Chain-of-Trust, Microsoft Secure Boot, Signed applications, and Partition validation to name a few. It is all part of the IGEL Preventative Security Model, read more about it here: https://www.igel.com/preventative-security-model/
IGEL OS will not store any user credentials or user data (if you don’t explicitly allow it to). This will help to protect Intellectual Property, customer data, corporate information, etc in the event of a stolen, lost, or damaged device.

User Experience

The final but maybe most important thing for success in your IT environment. The User and what they experience when working with the day-to-day duties.
IGEL OS is designed to provide a high-performing operating system that is customized and able to fit your user’s needs. Do you want it to be a simple kiosk endpoint that the user cannot be mistaken on how to operate? Or should it be a full-fledged desktop experience? It doesn’t matter which requirements you need to fulfill, IGEL gives you the possibilities. And the Digital user experience is delivered without compromise.
With over 7.000 configurable items and additionally the capability to create your own scripting to control IGEL OS and its apps gives unlimited possibilities.

IGEL Ready

IGEL Ready is a program where IGEL and its 3^rd party collaboration partners ensure interoperability and functionality. With the IGEL Ready Certified Hardware Program, you will know that the hardware you choose is going to be functional over its lifetime.
The IGEL Ready Developer Program accelerates software integration in IGEL OS providing a wide range of software and agents to choose from that fit your needs. Through close collaboration with key ecosystem partners, support for modern collaboration tools and enterprise peripheral compatibility enhances productivity and satisfaction for users of virtualized Windows 11 on IGEL devices.

Certainly, this is not all the benefits of choosing IGEL for your endpoint strategy. I’d recommend you check out https://www.igel.com/preventative-security-model/ and the IGEL Community www.igelcommunity.com to get more inspiration about what IGEL can do for your organization.

The post Seamless Transition to Windows 11 with IGEL OS appeared first on IGEL.

TL; DR

• Use IGEL at the endpoint.
• Move up to 75% of your existing endpoint budget to optimize an existing VDI or DaaS environment with Windows 11.
• Improve IT security and sustainability.
• Avoid extra support costs while simplifying future upgrades.
• Contact IGEL for a personalized TCO review.
• Request a trial of IGEL for AVD

We know IT teams are struggling to staff up sufficiently. We know organizations are heavily under attack from cybercriminals. With all the competing projects and priorities, undertaking the task of upgrading endpoints to Windows 11 is just one project too far—that can be theoretically delayed—at a financial cost. When you consider the tasks involved, such as identifying hardware that won’t run Windows 11, creating a purchasing and deployment plan, testing the gold image on various endpoint hardware, managing security, training IT and users, recycling old hardware, to name but a few, it’s hardly surprising that many organizations are opting for a bailout option.

Of course, many IGEL customers already have deployments of Citrix, Omnissa Horizon, or Microsoft AVD/Windows 365, which will also require a Windows 11 desktop project.

But with analysts forecasting growth in Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) and Microsoft announcing that Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) is also growing quickly, centralizing Windows deployment through Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and DaaS has become a well-established option for many organizations. This approach is now accessible to both large enterprises and smaller businesses, thanks to DaaS.

IGEL can play a significant role in helping organizations transition to Windows 11—in the cloud (private, hybrid, or public).

Benefits of Moving to Windows 11 in the Cloud with IGEL at the Endpoint:

• Use existing endpoint hardware: Run on almost any x86/64 hardware—laptops, desktops, thin clients from leading manufacturers including HP, Lenovo, LG and Dell. Save significant CAPEX by moving resources to VDI/DaaS enablement.
• Reduce CSRD and ESG impact: Extend the lifetime of existing hardware to 6 to 8 years or longer, reducing the carbon footprint and e-waste from your IT estate
• Reduced endpoint testing: IGEL OS is modular by design and less than 2GB. IT deploys exactly what the user needs to connect to the VDI/DaaS environment, delivering a great user experience.
• Significant security benefits: A smaller endpoint footprint and the Preventative Security Model dramatically reduce the risk of ransomware attacks.
• Software cost savings: Eliminate the need for an expensive endpoint security stack. Secure the hosted Windows environment and avoid paying twice for endpoint and hosted protection.
• Operational efficiency: Reduce resources required to manage and troubleshoot the security stack, including AV, EDR, XDR, DLP, and backup and recovery.

For some organizations, this approach requires fresh thinking and commitment. For others, where VDI is already proven—such as in healthcare for critical patient information access, retail with POS systems, and finance with traders—it’s a lightbulb moment. The technology is proven; it’s just a matter of looking at new use cases.

The amount of savings varies. For instance, a recent healthcare organization in the US with 40,000 endpoints saved more than $35 million over four years with IGEL. Your mileage may vary of course but let’s find out!

To calculate your potential savings, contact IGEL for a free personalized TCO analysis. The analysis will cover the points above and many more you might not have considered. Or click here to request an evaluation of IGEL for Microsoft AVD.

The post Do Not Postpone Windows 11 – Accelerate to Windows 11 with IGEL appeared first on IGEL.