VDI can be a great solution to some aches and pains of a modern business. New technologies are allowing administrators to centralize workloads, control content, and optimize entire user experiences. Still, it’s very important to know when to work with VDI and when to incorporate other virtualization technologies. Consider this - if there is no real use-case for a company to go with, than why choose the technology?
When planning a new project or looking at existing environments - take the time and evaluate the various options available in the realm of virtualized technologies. When it comes to VDI, these are always great use-cases:
- Removing aging desktops and enabling thin or even zero client technology.
- Extremely fast on-boarding and off-boarding of entire user-groups.
- Creating dedicated workspace environments for specific employees or teams.
- Creating secure desktop environments for personnel.
- Allowing the delivery of a desktop experience via the cloud.
- Pushing full desktops to mobile devices and mobile users.
- Incorporating key applications into a virtual desktop environment.
- Creating entire call centers or operation environments with VDI.
Although the examples above illustrate great scenarios for a solid VDI deployment, simpler solutions to various use-cases exist as well.
If an environment requires a subset of users to access only a few applications existing in the cloud or remote data center, there may not be any need to deliver full desktops. Using published application technologies can save time and money by utilizing only the space and storage required for those selected private cloud applications.
Much like VDI (but without the desktop portion), published applications allow users to connect to their assigned apps remotely, from home, airports, Internet cafes, smart phones, and other devices outside of the corporate networks. When configured properly, the end-user experiences a seamless environment where the applications appear as if they were installed and running on locally on their machines. They can still log into a single platform and access all of their required resources. However, the key difference is that since they are accessing only applications through the cloud, there is no assigned desktop solution.
Depending on the research done and the challenges of a corporation, one technology may be better than the other. The decision must be made after careful planning and consideration for the growth of the datacenter. While many will argue that publishing a few applications is a much simpler and easier solution to deploy, the ROI when using a VDI may be higher in the long run. Since every environment is unique, it’s recommended to run a pilot or proof-of-concepts to come to a more concrete answer – whether VDI is the right solution.
That said, there will always be specific scenarios where VDI is absolutely the right choice. We’re seeing an increased number of users requiring their own set of resources. That’s why running an application on a shared server may not be best. Furthermore, there are other reasons to be looking into VDI as well. Consider this:
-VDI economics have changed over the past 12-24 months where costs have come down.
-Resource utilization has become a lot better with VDI.
-There are more validated designs around VDI technologies.
-New types of all-flash systems are revolutionizing how virtual desktops are being delivered.
As mentioned earlier, understanding your applications, your users, and your specific business use-cases will help define which virtualization technology is best for your business. Remember, new data center technologies are allowing for greater levels of consolidation and resource controls. Today, we’re capable of achieving greater levels of density than ever before. This is why the economics around virtual ecosystem technologies is now fitting into many more business use-cases. If your organization is still working with legacy applications or is experiencing complexity within your IT infrastructure, working with VDI and virtualization technologies may help simplify your environment.
This content is underwritten by HPE, NVIDIA and VMWare.
