3494: The Fastest Way to Recover Endpoint Devices During an IT Outage

Nov 21, 2025

In this discussion, James Millington, Vice President of Product Marketing at IGEL, dives deep into the overlooked realm of endpoint recovery. He contrasts the robust resilience of data centers with the vulnerability of endpoints during outages, highlighting a common organizational blind spot. James unveils IGEL's innovative dual-boot solution that allows rapid access restoration, sharing enlightening anecdotes from clients realizing their weak recovery strategies. His insights emphasize the critical need for synchronized crisis response in modern IT infrastructures.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Endpoints Are The Missing Link In Resilience

Organizations invest heavily in data center resilience but routinely neglect endpoint recovery until it's too late.
James Millington argues endpoint access is the gating factor for coordinating any crisis response and must be planned for.

ADVICE

Add A Resilient IGEL Partition To Devices

Deploy IGEL's dual-boot partition alongside Windows using existing Windows deployment tools to avoid device decommissioning.
Do this so users can reboot compromised hardware into a secure IGEL OS and regain access within minutes.

INSIGHT

Analysts Saw Endpoint Recovery As 'Too Difficult'

Analysts also hadn't identified a practical endpoint-focused recovery solution and called the problem 'too difficult.'
This gap explains why IGEL's BCDR capability drew strong interest from analysts and customers.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Why do entire organisations invest millions building resilient data centres yet leave their endpoints exposed to outages that can last days? That question kept coming back to me during my conversation with James Millington of IGEL at the Now and Next event, because it highlights a gap that most IT leaders still underestimate.

James walked me through the reality he sees every day. Companies have high availability strategies for their servers, cloud platforms, and networks, yet the devices workers rely on remain the weakest point. When ransomware or system failure hits, the response often involves scrambling for spare laptops, calling suppliers, and hoping inventory exists. As James pointed out in our chat, many firms quietly rely on a handful of unused machines sitting in a cupboard. That approach might have worked a decade ago, but today's threat landscape exposes every delay.

Our discussion centred on IGEL's dual boot approach, a fresh way to recover access within minutes by placing IGEL OS alongside Windows on the same device. Instead of waiting hours or even weeks to rebuild machines, organisations can simply switch to a secure environment that restores access to cloud apps, collaboration tools, and virtual desktops. James shared stories of analysts admitting no comparable solution exists, and of customers having light bulb moments as they calculated the true cost of endpoint recovery. The theme running underneath it all was simple. You cannot coordinate your crisis response unless your people have a working device in their hands. Everything else depends on that.

This episode also reflects a wider shift in how organisations think about resilience. Leaders are beginning to question old assumptions about failover, preparation, and what it takes to keep people productive when attacks or outages strike. The conversations I heard throughout Now and Next showed that businesses are realising the endpoint is no longer a peripheral concern. It is the gateway to every service that keeps a company running. When that gateway fails, everything slows.

James also shared lighter moments from his journey. His career began as a DJ, something he has circled back to at IGEL events, and it was fascinating hearing how skills from that era still show up in his approach to communication and timing. It reminded me how varied experiences shape the leaders driving today's conversations around security, SaaS evolution, Zero Trust, and the growing overlap between IT and operational technology.

So here is my question for you. As cyber risks rise and downtime becomes harder to tolerate, how ready do you feel for the disruption that begins at the endpoint? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Tech Talks Daily is Sponsored by NordLayer:

Get the exclusive Black Friday offer: 28% off NordLayer yearly plans with the coupon code: techdaily-28. Valid until December 10th, 2025. Try it risk-free with a 14-day money-back guarantee.