Q&A with Jim Curtin of Virtual Bridges - Page 3

VSM: Citrix Synergy is coming up. What should attendees look for at the show and what questions should they ask vendors?

JC: I think the biggest thing to look for is: what’s the latest innovation? We’re at a key inflection point right now, similar to where we were in the late ‘90s. Most organizations have squeezed every last drop of efficiency out of existing investments and are looking for the next “big thing” to catapult their business forward. In parallel, vendors have had more time reflect, regroup and redirect valuable resources toward delivering the “next big thing”. Attendees should take a hard look around and see how this industry is evolving. They no longer have to settle for solutions that have been insufficiently retro-fit to meet their needs or “one-size-fits-all” solutions that satisfy only the lowest common denominator.

Some great questions to consider include:

• Can your VDI vendor scale at the rate you need it to? Can it handle your current servers and desktops and grow with you over the long term?
• Does your VDI vendor require costly network, storage and desktop upgrades?
• Does your VDI vendor offer the same high-quality user experience regardless of location or device, and regardless of whether the user is online, offline or located at a branch?
• Does your vendor provide the option to use both Windows and Linux?
• Does your VDI vendor offer both hosted and on-premises options, and can you manage your VDI solution in the cloud?