---
# source: src/content/solutions/en/igel.md
# route:  /en/solutions/igel/
title: IGEL OS
tags: [modern-workplace, endpoint-security]
vendors: [igel]
summary: A read-only Linux as the endpoint operating system. Turns existing hardware into a managed access point and extends how long it stays useful.
photoNeed: "An IGEL endpoint in place: a UD Pocket in a laptop, or a thin client at a working desk"
stub: false
draft: false
kind: vendor
addon: false
vendorName: IGEL OS
status: current
practice: >
  Draft, not yet reviewed. The reason IGEL gets adopted here is almost never security, it is the procurement cycle: laptops that have become too slow for Windows will serve as access points for years. The security argument convinces people afterwards, but it rarely opens the door.
practiceReview: true
---

## What it is

IGEL OS is a lean Linux that runs on the endpoint and stores nothing permanently. After
every restart the machine is back in its defined state. Configuration comes from a central
management server rather than from the device.

## What it is for

Workplaces whose real environment runs somewhere else: virtual desktops, published
applications, web applications. The device becomes an access point and stops being a
computer that needs maintaining.

The second use case is extending life. Hardware too weak for a current Windows is still
perfectly adequate for this.

## What to watch

Anything that has to run locally will not run here. Peripherals are the usual obstacle,
particularly specialist equipment in labs, on production lines and in medical practices.
That inventory belongs at the start of the project, not in the pilot.