By: David Stafford, director of new markets & technology, End User Computing, VMware
“Overcoming barriers to start or barriers to scale.” This is the answer I hear most often when I speak to our customers and partners about why they haven’t realized the numerous benefits of virtual desktops.
Haven’t we been here before? It wasn’t long ago that IT departments were ready to usher in a new era of on-line collaboration; they would begin the process of designing and deploying a dedicated infrastructure for other end-user services like web conferencing. It didn’t take long before the economics and elasticity of consuming services such as these in a secure, multi-tenant, self-service, cloud model made on-premises deployments a thing of the past.
Why does deploying a virtual desktop in the cloud need to be any different? While there has been plenty of demand, providing and consuming Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) has taken traditional Server virtualization to a cloud orientation more quickly than moving from traditional Desktop virtualization (VDI) to Desktops as a Service (DaaS). Challenges such as client OS licensing, delivering a great user experience and ensuring the security and performance of a multi-tenant infrastructure were often considered to be too difficult to overcome.
VMware and our partners are solving these challenges today
VMware has made numerous technical innovations which help address the lowering both the CapEx and OpEx side of the VDI cost equation. We’ve also effectively partnered in areas such the analysis of user workloads and use cases to make starting virtual desktop projects simpler and more succesful. It’s time to do it again! This time, to deliver Desktops as a Service! At VMworld 2012, we are pleased to be partnering with our service provider partners and technology partners by leveraging some of the best features in VMware View to help make Desktops as a Service a reality today.
Being shown publicly for the first time as a technology preview, VMware View Agent Connect is one great example of how we are helping to solve one of the biggest challenges of DaaS. View Agent Connect has been built specifically to help enable our service providers to realize the user experience benefits of VMware View and vSphere such as 3D graphics, PCoIP and broad peripheral support for VMware View Clients. With View Agent Connect, DaaS providers can offer a rich, PC like experience to users anywhere.
Our partner, Desktone is the first to integrate this technology into their platform. Combining the cloud-scale performance and reliability of VMware vSphere and the dynamic VMware View user experience made possible with PCoIP together with Desktone’s purpose-built DaaS platform, service providers are able to rapidly accelerate their time to market with a DaaS offering.
DaaS Delivered with Dell
What about those wishing to consume DaaS today? – Dell’s DVS Simplified DaaS is bringing the VMware and Desktone solution to the doorstep of our customers. Given Dell’s recent expansion of the desktop virtualization solution to include Dell Wyse endpoints, the View user experience including PCoIP can also be realized on a broad range of both zero and thin-client devices. Visit the Dell and Dell Wyse exhibits #1523 at VMworld to explore the Dell DVS Simplified DaaS solution demo in more detail.
As for us, look for more news about VMware solutions for DaaS early next year. Also, be sure to come learn even more about Desktops as a Service in the session, “EUC1357 : Dispelling the Myths of Desktops as a Service with VMware View” at VMworld US 2012 on Monday at 2pm and again Wednesday at 8:30am.
