Top 5 reasons to consider VDI in 2011

If you’re considering implementing a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) in your environment in 2011, you’re not alone. The current install base of VDI deployments is still relatively small, but double-digit growth figures are expected as desktop virtualization technology matures and the market continues to transition from niche to mainstream.

According to Gartner, the worldwide hosted virtual desktop market will accelerate through 2013 to reach 49 million units, up from around 500,000 units in 2009. Revenue is predicted to grow from about $1.5 billion in 2009 to $65.7 billion in 2013, a number that is equal to more than 40 percent of the worldwide professional PC market. That’s a pretty big undertaking.

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Organizations are anticipating the flexibility, efficiency, and other benefits VDI will bring, enabling administrators to manage desktops from a central location and providing end-users the ability to access their environments remotely from any location. But if the VDI market is going to live up to Gartner’s expectations, these organizations will have to start kicking things into high gear. So what are the five key reasons to consider a VDI initiative in 2011?

1. Windows 7 migration Let’s face it, Microsoft Windows 7 isn’t perfect, but it’s a significant improvement over Vista and XP, and the entire world has been waiting for something new to move to. This pent-up demand is driving organizations of all sizes to invest in moving to Windows 7. But the migration can prove to be very expensive — new hardware, new training, compatibility testing with legacy applications, side-by-side environments during a transition period, and so on — and some organizations just can’t afford the move using traditional methods. In these challenging economic times, companies are looking for the most cost-efficient way to make the move. No one wants to be that person who has to explain to their boss why they just spent twice as much as a competitor because they didn’t take the time to look at modern virtualization solution alternatives.

Jim Curtin, president and CEO of Virtual Bridges, is no stranger to VDI or the Windows 7 migration process. Curtin has spoken to many of his customers who are going up against this very challenge, and he offered the following thoughts: “Virtualization can save on buying new desktops, it can allow you to run in parallel on existing machines, it can allow you to enable users with the check of a box -– and it can do it at a fraction of the budget. But you need to be sure and use a Gen2 solution, or you might not get the savings you are expecting… and that wouldn’t make your boss happy either.”

2. Workforce mobility Mobility and accessibility are major driving forces today; people everywhere are on the go and convenience is key. When you separate the software (OS, applications, and data) from the PC hardware, the hardware becomes an access device capable of connecting you to that software. It’s not just PCs anymore — any device can seemingly access your information or your desktop.

“We are seeing a fundamental and profound shift in technology where the desktop now lives in a data center (or ‘the cloud‘) instead of on the machine on your desktop,” said Curtin. “This desktop now appears on pretty much any device with connectivity to the Internet. A virtual desktop, accessible from iPads, phones, thin clients, laptops, home computers, work computers, kiosks, business centers… anywhere.”

Dave Bartoletti, a senior analyst with the Taneja Group, agreed this was a major driving factor, adding, “The workspace of the future will look a lot more like a smartphone/tablet than the traditional PC, with applications driving infrastructure choices. Rather than virtualizing a Windows environment for each user, more and more companies are looking to deliver some applications via secure browser or service provider (in an SaaS model) and others via a hosted Windows desktop — the good news is you can mix and match these solutions with technology from many major players and new, innovative startups.”

3. VDI is more affordable now than ever and complexity has decreased Like every technology adoption phenomenon, it is the second generation where things really take off. Early VDI solutions helped put a spotlight on many of the challenges that needed to be addressed. This opened the door for faster, perhaps more nimble and more purpose-built innovators to step in with second-generation solutions that are taking the cost and complexity out of VDI while offering benefits such as integrated offline VDI, branch VDI, the ability to transcend on-premise and cloud, and the ability to unify endpoint management. Providing these additional components and bringing the price down is what companies need in order to be able to execute on the VDI vision that pundits have been predicting.

“When the solution is traditional server-hosted VDI, I’m particularly excited about the incredible reduction in storage costs enabled by View 4 and optimized by vendors such as Dell with its XVS hybrid array,” said Bartoletti. “Placing a single golden desktop image on high-IOPS SSD drives helps overcome the performance limitations that have plagued VDI projects to date, while slashing storage capacity and management costs in the process.”

Bartoletti added, “The storage vendors (not only Dell, but NetApp and a host of smaller players) are bringing the cost of VDI storage down to levels that can compete with traditional desktops faster than I anticipated. This will upend many ROI calculations that have held VDI back, and open up new use cases for it beyond call centers and shared-terminal environments.”

4. Growing data security concerns There’s no question that security is one of the top concerns in today’s IT environments. Data is an organization’s secret sauce, and if that information is lost, corrupted, or stolen, a company’s competitive position can be quickly compromised. With virtualization, the OS, apps, and data are separated from the physical device and centralized on servers. This leads to simplified management and better utilization — but organizations also experience better security because data now resides in protected rooms.

With VDI, sensitive data is protected on a server rather than sitting on unprotected desktops or worse yet roaming around public spaces like the backseat of a cab, in a coffee shop, or an airport. This is as powerful a motivator for moving to VDI as the cost reduction benefits.

5. Centralized support for desktops for simpler management VDI provides users with a complete, unmodified virtual desktop that behaves just like a standard PC. Administrators can deploy new desktops in minutes rather than days or weeks using automatic desktop provisioning, giving users their own personalized desktop environment without the need for application sharing or end-user retraining. Administrators can manage these deployed virtual desktops from any location and perform upgrades, patches, and desktop maintenance without requiring an in-person visit. Because of that, they can respond more quickly to business needs.

“With virtualization, so many things will change overnight that within a few short years, you’ll wonder how you ever did things in the past,” said Curtin. “Like, how did we ever live productively without cell phones? How did we ever find out stuff before Google? Soon, we may ask similar questions when we look back on the PC era.”

Are these reasons compelling enough to start a VDI initiative in your organization? Are there other reasons why you might be considering VDI? Or do you find yourself waiting for some other key reason to throw your support behind Gartner’s numbers?

This article, “Top 5 reasons to consider VDI in 2011,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in virtualization and cloud computing at InfoWorld.com. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.