Q&A with Barry Phillips of Wanova

VSM: Desktop Virtualization has a lot of buzz with many organizations giving it a try. What’s driving the interest?

BP: Many organizations have a VDI implementation or project in place solely because of the success they have had with server virtualization. However, Desktop Virtualization has a completely different value proposition than server virtualization. Server virtualization is all about CAPEX reduction while Desktop Virtualization is all about OPEX reduction. There are three dollars of OPEX spent for every PC acquisition dollar spent.

The whole value proposition of Desktop Virtualization is the ability to centralize desktop image management in the data center. IT manages one copy of Windows and one copy of each application centrally instead of managing thousands of copies of Windows and applications on each PC.

Desktop Virtualization is really just a better way of doing desktop management.

VSM: But why do we hear more about VDI than Desktop Virtualization?

BP: Unfortunately, VDI became a synonym for DV when really VDI is an evolution of server virtualization (in the case of VMware) or application virtualization (in the case of Citrix) to host Windows centrally on a virtual machine (VM). With the extensive channel reach of these large vendors, an established customer baseand initial DV projects run by customer server or application virtualization teams, you can see why VDI has really captured the initial mindshare.

VSM: So, VDI is different than or a part of Desktop Virtualization?

BP: VDI is a part of DV and is great for a specific use case: users on a high speed LAN that have relatively static images and are using thin client devices. Examples would be call center agents, bank tellers or even physicians in a hospital that roam from room to room while their desktop follows them.

However, for the users of the 410M PCs shipped in 2010 (as compared to 6M thin clients shipped in 2010), VDI is simply the wrong tool for the job. Users want the same or better PC experience as the PC they are used to. They want to use multimedia apps, they will need to operate over a WAN type of connection or disconnected from the network completely, and they want to install their own apps. This is especially the case as PCs become more and more powerful for essentially the same price. 

VSM: There seems to be quite a few organizations trialing VDI, but not many have end-to-end deployments. Why is that?

BP: There are competing priorities in these organizations. IT wants to reduce operational expenses by centralizing the image management of desktops and not control the hardware. This enables IT to act as an internal service provider and supply a desktop as a service (DaaS) offering to the organization.

While centralization enables IT to reduce operational expenses, it cannot come at the expense of the users. Simply put, if the user experience is not better than or equal to the experience they have today, the solution will never succeed outside of pilot mode.

More and more information is being delivered via video, as video chat and smartphones are becoming more prevalent. Users have a plethora of personal and work applications which may include design and graphical applications that simply do not work well in a VDI environment. Working over a low speed network connection or disconnected from the network is becoming more common and introduces greater challenges in creating a working VDI environment.