Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

Virtual desktop infrastructure enables enterprises to host desktops as virtual machines in their data center using virtualization. Users, consultants, offshore developers or even your own people in the headquarters location gain access to their own personal desktop to provide better overall operations. VDI is especially useful to companies deploying solutions for disaster recovery, outsourcing, a thin client enterprise desktop architecture, or even alternative workspaces.  

The biggest challenge to deploying virtualized desktops has been their need to interact directly with end users. Because the user interface needs to be applicable to employees in a wide range of roles, VDI involves a broader collection of tools, including technology to deliver the virtualized desktop as well as to create, host, and manage virtual machines.

And with server virtualization becoming the norm in data centers, VDI looks to be the next major technology go to mainstream. Companies that have already adopted a server virtualization strategy are likely candidates to look into desktop virtualization.

There are many business drivers for VDI, including manageability, security, and improved resource utilization. Desktop manageability can be easily enhanced with a move to centrally deployed application, eliminating locally installed updates and patches (and memory upgrades) and taking the operating system management out of the hands of the end user. Plug-and-go clients help desktop users become nomadic within their enterprise.

Security is another important driver. With VDI, enterprises move sensitive applications and data off desktop systems and into the data center, where it is less susceptible to theft and sabotage and easier to control from an access management and audit trail perspective.

Depending on the deployment, the virtual desktop infrastructure may involve a user's laptop or desktop hosting that user's virtual machine, or a central, back-end computer may host users' VMs and provide a mechanism for users to connect to their virtualized computers. Because disk images are just files, it's also possible to create a hybrid system in which a centralized server hosts employees' VMs when they're in the office, but each user can also run his or her own system on a laptop while traveling.

When desktops are centrally hosted, users often access them through a barebones thin client. Virtual desktop infrastructures can optionally include a connection brokerage layer that authenticates connections and dynamically assign users to VMs. This enables companies to provision VMs and maintain enough for peak usage instead of total usage. VM provisioning can be helpful in environments like call centers, where employees work (and thus use VMs) in shifts rather than all at once.

Finally, there can be significant cost advantages in deploying VDI. One of the main benefits of centrally hosted VDI is reduced hardware sophistication (hence cost). Rather than buying fully- functional computers for each employee, most of which will be underutilized most of the time, you can plan for overall usage on the server that hosts employees’ desktop image and share a common SAN attached to their host server. Savings come in infrastructure cost as well as power, floorspace, and HVAC for storage CPU power and RAM. Of course, the easier management also has cost impact on staffing requirements.