the verdict is in on desktop...

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The Verdict is in on Desktop Virtualization

An Excerpt from the Impact Research Report

To download the complete report, please return to the registration page.

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This Impact Research report also includes the following tools:

Desktop Virtualization Appropriateness Assessment Tool

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure TCO Calculator

Plus four unique desktop virtualization case studies.

Table of Contents

Part One: A New Desktop Delivery Takes Flight

• Understanding Virtualization on the Desktop

• Desktop Virtualization Adoption

• The Future of Desktop Virtualization

Part Two: Assessing Organizational Appropriateness

• Key Desktop Virtualization Drivers

• Desktop Virtualization Appropriateness

• Challenges of Desktop Virtualization

Part Three: Key Implementation Considerations

• Success in Desktop Virtualization

• Project Planning & Piloting

• Server Considerations

• Network & Broker Connection

• Access Devices

• Communication Strategy

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Excerpt



Table of Contents: Charts and Graphs

Report Participant Profile Organizations by industry

Organizations by FTE

Planning on implementing/implementers by FTE

Part One 1.11a Desktop Implementations Q1 2009

1.11b Projected desktop virtualization adoption

1.12 Deployment by user type

Part Two 2.5 Reduced desktop support costs

2.6 Total hardware acquisition savings over cost of refresh

2.9 Desktop virtualization adoption

Report Contents

Part Three

3.5 Satisfaction in desktop virtualization implementation

3.6 Total cost of virtual desktops is less than for traditional desktops

3.7 Desktop virtualization project success rate

3.8 Desktop virtualization implementation challenges

3.10 Important activities identified by DV implementers

3.16 Vendors evaluated and selected for desktop virtualization

3.21 Planned % of DVI deployment using thin clients

3.22 Thin client hardware vendor selection

Excerpt





Research Methodology

This report is based on results from 204 surveyed IT

managers and in-depth interviews with 30 IT leaders.

All major industry segments, sizes of organizations, and

revenue brackets were represented.

Organizations at all stages of implementation or

consideration of desktop virtualization were represented.

Organizations by FTE

251-500

(13%)

501-1000

(20%)

1001-5000

(28%)

5000+

(13%)

1-100

(10%)

101-250

(16%)

Planning on Implementing

& Implementers by FTE

251 - 500

(17%)501 - 1000

(17%)

1001 - 5000

(22%)

5000+

(13%)

1 - 100

(14%)

101 - 250

(17%)

Deployments/Plans by Industry

Education

(6%)

Primary

Industry

(5%)

Trans/Utilities/

Comms

(13%)

Manufacturing

(18%)

Wholesale/

Retail

(4%)

Government

(11%)

Healthcare

(14%)

Financial

Services

(15%)

Business

Services

(14%)

Excerpt





Part One: A New Desktop Delivery Takes FlightVirtualization is all about layers of abstraction

Virtualization inserts a layer of abstraction between

system layers. The system layer above interacts

with an abstraction rather than something “real”.

Excerpt: Key Definitions for Desktop Virtualization

A desktop computer is comprised of four system layers:

Physical

Machine

The processor, memory, and storage that sits

on the desk.

Operating

System

Typically Microsoft Windows but could also

be a desktop Linux variant or the Mac OS.

Applications

Such as an e-mail client, word processor,

spreadsheet, or enterprise application client

(example: client side application for a CRM

system).

Presentation

The user interface including what is

presented on the desktop monitor and

interacted with via input devices (keyboard,

mouse).

Presentation Layer





Part One: A New Desktop Delivery Takes Flight Different abstractions for different kinds of virtualization

Presentation Layer

Presentation Virtualization

In traditional remote access of server based applications, (Citrix

Presentation Server, Microsoft Terminal Services) only

presentation layer virtualization is used.

Presentation virtualization is also used for remote access of

workstation hardware such as a blade PC in the data center.

Application Virtualization

In application virtualization, an application can be downloaded

and run locally without special configuration of either the

application or the client PC or its OS. The application interacts

with an abstraction layer between it and the OS and machine

layers.

Examples of application virtualization solutions include VMware

View (ThinView), Citrix XenApp, and Microsoft App-V.

Desktop Virtualization

Desktop Virtualization uses both a Machine Virtualization layer

for hosting PC VMs on a server and presentation virtualization

for remote access of those virtual machines from the desktop.

Excerpt: Key Definitions for Desktop Virtualization





Part Two: Assessing Organizational Appropriateness Desktop virtualization can reduce desk-side support costs by as much as 40%

Reducing desk side support can reduce total IT spending by 5%.

• Workstation management and desk side support takes up to 12% of IT expenses.

• Over 40% of implementers reduced desk side support costs by as much as 16-40%.

Excerpt: Why Virtualize Desktops?

Traditional Desktop Model

Distributed PCs impose asset maintenance and support costs. Deployment and configuration of the hardware, as well as management of application and OS configurations and trouble shooting, typically happen at the desk side.

Virtual Desktop Model

With desktop virtualization, a new desktop – and new or upgraded application stacks – can be delivered to the end user without a need to individually deploy or configure new desktop hardware at the desk side.

Reduced Deskside Support Costs

No Savings at All

5%

Soft Savings

27%

Midrange Savings

(5-15%)

27%

High savings

(16-40%)

41%





Part Two: Assessing Organizational Appropriateness Gain significant productivity, security and cost avoidance benefits.

Excerpt: Why Virtualize Desktops?

Improve Productivity & Security

Centrally deploy and manage desktop operating systems and applications. With virtualized desktop computing, applications and desktops OSs are managed in centralized processing and storage.

Secure access. Application and user data remains secure behind the central firewall. This is particularly useful for user desktops accessed from remote locations.

Defer Costs

Gain hardware independence. With desktop virtualization a new desktop –and new or upgraded application stacks – can be delivered to the end user without a need to deploy or configure new desktop hardware. Application deployment is more efficient as there is less need for multiple configurations to mitigate conflicts with variable hardware and software.

Extend refresh cycles. Virtualizing the desktop can prolong the life of existing desktop hardware. New hardware deployments need not be the latest and greatest in performance and in some cases can be thin client hardware.

“There are some big security gains if we can get both the applications and the desktops themselves consolidated into our data center. Being a financial institution, we like the idea of there not really being a C drive and there not really being data stored on that computer.”

IT Director, Financial Services





The majority of stakeholders achieved satisfactory success with their desktop

virtualization implementation.

Ideally end users should see a slight improvement in performance of their desktops

or no change at all.

Part Three: Key Implementation ConsiderationsMajority of stakeholders satisfied with desktop virtualization implementation

Challenges of Desktop Virtualization

Excerpt: Success of Desktop Virtualization

“Overall I would rate

the implementation

successful. The

most pleasing thing

to me is that

customers are

happy. When they

are happy, I am

happy.”

IT Director, State

Government

Success in DV Implementation

9%

14%

18%

23%

27%

64%

73%

68%

64%

50%

27%

14%

14%

14%

18%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100

%

End users very satisfied with project

Business management very satisfied with project

IT operations very satisfied with project

IT management very satisfied with project

Total cost of DV is less than for traditional desktops

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree





Server and Virtualization

Part Three: Key Implementation Considerations Server considerations: provision generously

Server requirements will include a virtualization hypervisor

(e.g. VMware ESX, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix XenServer).

Multicore and multiprocessor (two or more) servers are

best. Plan for five or six VMs per processor core. Mileage

will vary greatly depending on VM usage.

Don’t skimp on memory. At least 512 MB of RAM allocated

per active virtual PC. For example, 16 VMs on a host at

512 MB each would require 8 Gigabytes of memory.

Storage (e.g. DAS or SAN) is also a critical consideration.

However total storage impact is being mitigated by

changes in DV software.

Plan 5 to 6 VMs per Processor Core

The number of VMs that will run on a server will vary greatly depending on applications and workload. VMware, for example, estimates up to 42 “light duty” VMs can be hosted on a dual processor dual core system (10.5 per core). Info-Tech finds that for planning, a more conservative estimate of 5 or 6 per core is more realistic.

Using a dual processor dual core server, a 6 per core estimate yields a VM density of 24 VMs on the server.

6 VMs X 4 Cores = 24 Desktops

The majority of DV evaluators and implementers are leveraging previous experience in server

virtualization for virtual desktops.

1

Server Considerations





Included Assessment Tool: Is Desktop Virtualization Right for You (Right Now)?

Based on 15 factors specific to your enterprise, we’ll help you effectively calculate whether or not VDI is appropriate for your environment…

And identify the key driving factors to help you decide.

This tool is included when you download the complete Impact Research report.

Sample: Tool included with Report





Included TCO Tool:

Calculate the cost per desktop to compare a virtualization solution

to standard deployment

Use the “Desktop Virtualization TCO Tool” to calculate a TCO for

your organization. Included with the

full report.

TCO Methodology

Rationale

Use Info-Tech’s VDI TCO tool to gain a

deeper understanding of the costs

involved in a virtual desktop

implementation.

Assumptions

Only variable needed to get an instant

snapshot based on default assumptions

is number of desktops being virtualized.

While default assumptions are pre-

entered, all variables can be adjusted to

user environment.

Cautions

The tool is not meant to provide

definitive guidance on which VDI

vendor to deploy.

Assumptions are based on industry

standards and will differ greatly on a

case by case basis.

Conservative estimates of vendors

analyzed are not significantly different.

Screen Shot of Info-Tech’s TCO Tool:

Sample: Tool included with Report





Sample Case Study: How Our Consultants Used Virtualization to Resolve Peripheral Device Issues and Prove ROI

Desktop Virtualization Status: Implemented

Industry Government Total planned VDs 200

Employees 300Current number of

VDs20

IT Staff 5 Revenue $25M

Main Drivers for VDI

Consolidate spread out desktop infrastructure

Provide high performance users (without local

processing needs) with a flexible full desktop.

Vendor VMware VDI

Vendor Selection Criteria Previous experience with VMware Server virtualization

OUTCOME OVERALL EXPERIENCE

Top Benefits Centralized management.

Improved performance for users.Started with a focus on the higher performance users and piloted

for 6 months to work out issues. Acknowledged high performance

users with GPU processing would not be suited for initial

deployment. The key success enabler for the organization was

the relationship with their consultant and support from VMware.

Peripheral device support issues were resolved by consultant.

Consultant designed an objective ROI/TCO tool for the client to

get budget approval.

Top

Challenges

Supporting peripheral devices was

very difficult due to specialized

environment.

Gaining a true understanding of costs

involved. ROI and TCO calculators

from vendors had obvious biases.

“We're very happy with

the VDI environment. We

have drank the VMware

Kool-Aid and we're

certainly on side with that

product. Working with the

consultant, as well as

with VMware, has just

been a fantastic

relationship and they've

done a wonderful job.”

Sample Case Study





Implementing Virtual Desktops can be a Substantial Resource Saver…

Is the Time Right for You?

Based on our investigations, most IT leaders are

satisfied with their deployment – but each case is

unique and assessment must be taken seriously to

ensure success.

Download the complete Impact Research report to get

the complete details, including the case studies,

assessment and TCO tools, plus:

• Complete list of VDI challenges

• Proof of how much you can save

• 17+ charts and graphs outlining common deployment

issues, successes and stats

Get the complete report here:Return to Registration Page


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