desktop virtualization

t410 All-in-One offers new twist on headless-style thin client.

Although virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is well recognized, up until now, the technology has over-promised and under-delivered. Many IT departments, lured by better resource utilization and cost savings, have had their fingers burnt as a consequence of adopting a 'lock stock and barrel' approach to VDI projects. For many companies, the project has actually negatively affected users' ability to do their jobs, in turn resulting in outright rejection of the implementation.

As traditional storage environments hinder application performance and increase latency, enterprises are turning to flash storage to improve performance and implement virtual desktop infrastructure. More widespread use of flash storage, though, may require vendors to be flexible with their pricing.

If virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) was a racehorse, it would be one to back. Gartner predicts that hosted virtual desktop (HVD) deployments will reach 15% of professional desktop users by 2014 and Visiongain estimates that the value of the global cloud-based VDI market will reach $11 billion in 2012. But VDI places significant strain upon the WAN due to the amount of data being transferred between the server and the desktop. If the network is unable to provide adequate performance to applications, they are likely to perform poorly, or fail completely.

Aiming to help IT administrators manage security for physical and virtual desktops from a single pane of glass, Symantec joins the ranks of enterprise security providers optimizing their endpoint security offerings for virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI).

When Apple switched to Intel processors, Windows switchers as well as Mac users who needed to run the occasional Windows app rejoiced.

As the Bring Your Own Device trend gains traction, Dell and EMC/Cisco are taking different approaches to desktop virtualization. Generally, Dell aims for PC users in the midmarket, while the EMC/Cisco partnership may work better for enterprises that have to consider the iPad. Both tacks are worth a look, though.

While cloud computing and virtualization, along with a focus on small and midsize businesses, are expected to be major trends at this year's VMworld show, the virtual desktop infrastructure players are looking to make some news this week as well.

Desktop-as-a-Service is an interesting way for IT execs to provide cloud-based Windows desktop sessions, as well as shared resources such as storage. DaaS can help companies roll out new desktops and support Bring Your Own Device policies.

MIT's Sloan School of Management has embraced virtualized desktops as a way to meet user needs and streamline operations, but the IT staff accepts that finding just the right mix of hardware and software is an ongoing challenge.

One of the most significant cost elements with VDI is the centralized storage required for maintaining virtual machines. Hypervisor vendors argue that to get disaster recovery and high availability the additional expense is really a bargain. And in many instances that might be true. But in many cases cost is paramount, complexity is to be avoided and three or four nines of availability may be far down the list of priorities.

The National Air Traffic Service (NATS), which operates air traffic control across the UK and into the Atlantic, is kicking off a large-scale pilot and eventual deployment of desktop virtualization for its 4,500 staff.