Data Solutions’ O’Haire also noted that there is there is a high demand for delivering unified communications (UC) solutions to virtual desktop users, adding that this makes the choice of VDI product even more important “as not all fully support this.” He added too that the delivery of “professional 2D and 3D graphics applications” are high on the priority list for certain industries such as construction, manufacturing and healthcare.
Currently popular
Of the solutions that are currently popular with clients, David Waldron, channel partner manager for CloudStrong agreed with many of his industry counterparts in noting that at present virtual desktop providers are “typically made up of four main players” — Microsoft, Citrix, VMware and Amazon. “When considering a virtual desktop solution, there are a couple of things you need to examine. First is the hypervisor, which supplies the software platform that runs the virtual machines. The other is the cloud service provider that supplies and mans the cloud running said hypervisor,” said Waldron.
“It can be argued that Microsoft and remote desktop services-based virtual desktops allow for a more unified solution as it is built on the one technology stack,” said Waldron. “On the other hand it can be similarly argued that the Citrix and its HDX protocol and VMware’s [Horizon] View and PC over IP (PCoIP) protocol can deliver a better experience for graphic intense applications. However,” he added, “what percentage of Irish SMEs actually require intense graphic applications as opposed to standard applications such as Sage and QuickBooks? This is what an SME needs to consider when looking at all their options.”
For VDI, a different and more expensive skill set is required from an administration perspective. This is not easy to find in abundance in the current market where skilled IT staff are hard to find and labour costs are still high for skilled staff, Lorcan Cunningham, Savenet Solutions
O’Brien said he is seeing “two clear approaches” from clients when choosing their VDI solution. “Centralising of the OS image, with a small footprint of compute at the desktop endpoint, and centralising both the OS and compute, with delivery to any end-point device.” The Triangle IT director added that both solutions “offer enhanced control, manageability and cost savings. It’s never one size fits all, so a flexible approach, tailored to the users business needs drives the delivery options.”
Trilogy Technologies’ solutions director Rob Paddon said that his experience of late is that customers are looking primarily at either Citrix or VMware as their likely platform options. The choice, he said, is based on a number of factors. “We have implemented both Citrix and VMware virtual end-user computing environments very successfully with different customers and both platforms have strengths and weaknesses,” he said.
Datapac’s O’Connor said that in her experience the most popular options in the Irish market at present are Citrix XenDesktop and VMware Horizon View. Both, she said, allow end-users to access corporate resources from any device. “This provides the IT department with the flexibility to allow users use their own devices while at the same time keeping corporate data secure,” she said.
While she added that both of the systems highlighted have “slightly different features, compatibilities, advantages and disadvantages”, it will really depend on each customer’s “environment, goals and resources” as to which one they should invest in.
Next up
Looking to where investment may lie over the rest of 2015 and into next year, O’Brien said he is “clearly” seeing a convergence of traditional VDI and mobile device management (MDM) into a single enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution for customers, “delivering secure access to data and a mix of applications, across multiple platforms.” This, he said, provides a real opportunity for businesses to leverage mobility in their organisation, delivering innovation and value to customers.
Datapac’s O’Connor said with a surge in interest around public clouds, “the VDI market will continue to integrate with the public cloud offerings.”
“Currently most organisations deploy their VDI infrastructure on private clouds, there is likely to be a move to the public cloud as confidence grows. The main benefits of this will be that the corporation will no longer have to maintain their own desktop infrastructure. Easy-to-maintain thin clients will be deployed instead, or users will be allowed to use their own devices.”
There are two clear approaches from clients in VDI solution. Centralising of the OS image, with a small footprint of compute at the desktop endpoint, and centralising both the OS and compute, with delivery to any end-point device. Both solutions offer enhanced control, manageability and cost savings, Richard O’Brien, Triangle
Elsewhere, the market is shifting towards desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) according to Savenet’s Cunningham. Allowing customers to get the benefit of VDI, but doing so in a way that “is much simpler to implement,” Cunningham said that “by removing the infrastructure costs, management costs and licensing headaches from the business and changing it to a flexible OpEx model, it then becomes a viable cost-saving solution.”
New level
“The solution really moves to a new level,” said Cunningham, “when you move your servers to the cloud with the desktops for reduced latency on client server applications and add in Office 365 for email and collaboration. Add in a cloud phone system and you have a thoroughly flexible solution that can scale up and down with your business needs.”
DaaS was also high on the list of market movers in the coming year for McHugh of Comsys, adding that this will also be a period in which “device agnostic” bring your own device (BYOD) will “become simplified”. McHugh said that he also felt “push button” instant desktops will be a growth area.
For Trilogy’s Paddon a “general move” towards hyper-converged infrastructure will mean that VDI will “start being seen as a mainstream component of a fully virtual architecture”. He also said that “it will be a while” before most organisations migrate fully from their existing environments, there will though “be a general movement in this direction that will persuade organisations to factor in virtual end user computing as part of their general strategy.”
However, for O’Haire, the next year to 18 months will represent a period when desktop virtualisation market will merge into part of an overall software defined workplace market. “Mobile workers need more than access to Windows desktops and applications to be fully productive,” he said. “To take full advantage of modern tablets and smart phones, organisations need to securely deliver corporate data and native mobile applications as well in order to create a truly mobility-transformed business.”
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