CTO Blog

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure – Real or Hype?



I think that everyone has come across the term VDI in the past few years, referring to Virtual Desktop Infrastructure or the hosting of the desktop operating system on a server in a Data Centre and allowing users to access it remotely. As a spin off from the success many organisations had from Server Virtualisation, the desktop was seen as the next logical step especially as many organisations spent vast sums of money migrating from NT4 or Windows 2000 to Windows XP.

But what is the reality of implementing VDI?

After the initial hype stirred up by many of the vendors capable of delivering true VDI solutions we have seen a gradual resist in the market place usually brought about as a result of VDI Proof of Concepts either failing entirely or not delivering fully on the expectations of IT or the users.
 

Why does this happen?

There are many reasons VDI does not always deliver but I need to point out now that this is not because it is a bad solution, it has its place in the world of the desktop we just have to work out where it is best suited.

In order to deliver a successful solution their key activity is to move away from cost saving and desktop simplification and to look deeply in to other problems or aspirations the organisation has, and also how the users are consuming the applications they use on a daily basis, cost saving is a long term benefit that will only be truly realised when the next Operating System upgrade occurs. There is also a new dynamic now starting to play a role in the decision making process and that is the one of consumerisation or the ability for the users to bring their own desktop or personal computer devices, in this scenario VDI definitely can play a role but again caution must be observed as it is now about a multitude of devices rather than a classic Microsoft based PC. The explosion of the Tablet stemming from the iPad has meant that the device delivering applications to a user may be a touch screen device and for those of us that have tried it, using a finger to access some applications just does not work.

After working out that VDI is valid we then have to design, build, deploy and manage our solution – simples. Not quite, whilst centralisation should deliver simplification achieving centralisation at scale generates a host of new challenges and that is complicated by the fact that the OS delivered by VDI will not follow the same Gold Image route of the one delivered to the traditional desktop. New thinking is needed to get the most of the solution and new technologies are needed to deliver the thinking. In addition we must not lose sight of users and their experience as this is key to the success of the project, so the protocol type, and network design are critical factors in the architectural design. Another area of architecture that may have a big influence on the design and business case for the project is that of storage and relates to both the amount of storage required and how performant it is. In a PC today hard disks are very large, very fast and very cheap, and the access ratio is 1:1, that is not the case for storage designed to operate in a data centre. Yes, SANs are very fast but that may not be enough when you concentrate large numbers of users together that are used to a 1:1 relationship with storage. Spending time understanding the challenges in this area will aid success for the project.

Another significant area that can impact the business case for VDI is Software Licensing, whilst on the face of centralisation and control should ultimately aid the management of software licenses the numbers, types, and mechanisms by which software vendors support the use of VDI are variable and close attention must be paid to how licenses are procured and deployed in order to achieve a compliant solution.

So why deploy VDI?

Most of our customers start with cost reduction which quickly changes from being the primary deliverable to a secondary one. The primary reason now revolves around flexibility and agility which in their own right can deliver cost savings but are much harder to quantify. Organisations are now seeing the benefit of delivering flexible IT solutions that allow users to work from different locations such as the coffee shop or home or to use different devices such as tablets or Macs. VDI is an enabler for these scenarios, securing the applications and data in the data centre so that information never really exists on the device means that greater flexibility is available, users are happier and the business gets greater levels of productivity from their users. Getting VDI right now for significant numbers of users will deliver huge cost savings when it comes to upgrading the operating system at a later date, there are luminaries in our industry that would suggest Windows 7 is the last major upgrade for many corporates but actually for those that have deployed VDI they will continue to upgrade, however it will not be the major upheaval it is today, it will be more akin to a big patch or service pack.

I have talked a lot about the desktop operating system but actually that is not really the point when it comes to business and the productivity of users, we often get so wrapped up in deploying, securing and managing the OS that we forget that the productivity of the user is determined by the delivery of applications and the capability of those applications. So what would the IT landscape look like if we channeled the same effort in to just application delivery as opposed to OS plus Applications? Whilst many will argue that without the OS the App cannot exist, what if it could? Is that the direction for the future? We have solutions available to us today that allow the delivery of applications only regardless of what "system" or device sits underneath and this model is likely to evolve with time making the OS less relevant, it will gradually become more about a portal or a user workspace with some components delivered by the corporate systems and some consumed by the user from the cloud and some solutions consumed by a corporate from the cloud and delivered to the user, this moves the technical challenge dynamic from one of delivery to one of the integration and management of identity and information to that end the software industry has some way to go to allow that seamless and secure integration and delivery.

blog comments powered by Disqus

Back to CTO Blog