Managed desktops are the perfect complement to managed services. It is a logical extension to reducing costs through a managed environment while increasing productivity by enabling the desktop to be accessed anywhere.

Gartner Group predicts that by 2013, 40% of professional PC’s will be managed under a hosted virtual desktop model of some kind. The next few years will be a time of monumental transition as companies of all sizes begin to deploy Desktop-as-a-Managed-Service to reduce equipment and labor costs.

Desktop Virtualization is just like Server Virtualization, but Better

Recently, we published an article on server virtualization and its benefits. Similar to server virtualization, desktop virtualization is the concept of removing a workstation’s desktop environment from the physical machine. Complete desktop environments are hosted as virtual desktops on servers located in a centralized server or datacenter. Users connect to these virtual desktops using either inexpensive thin clients or repurposed PCs.

When users work from their remote desktop client, all of the programs, applications, processes, and data are kept and run centrally, allowing users to access their desktops on any capable device, such as a personal computer, notebook computer, Smartphone or thin client. Users may be in different geographic areas, but all can be connected to their personalized, familiar desktop via the central machine by a local area network, wide area network, or the public Internet.

Shared Resources from  a Centrally Located Server

Managed virtual desktops allow multiple users on a network to maintain individual desktops on a single, centrally located server. Sharing the resources of a server offers advantages over the traditional model, in which every computer operates as a completely self contained unit with its own operating system, programs and peripherals.

Overall hardware expenses may be reduced as resources can be shared and allocated to users on an as-needed basis. This model also makes it easier to backup all data in the data center.
Other potential advantages include:

• Provisioning a desktop is significantly faster and less expensive
• Reduced downtime with server or client hardware failures
• Application deployment is faster and less expensive
• Desktop image management
• Longer refresh cycle for client desktop infrastructure
• Secure remote access to the enterprise desktop environment
• Excellent user experience and Multi-media capabilities
• Data security and compliance

Limitations of desktop virtualization include:

• Potential security risks if the network is not properly managed
• Some loss of user autonomy
• Challenges in setting up and maintaining drivers for printers and other peripherals
• Difficulty in running certain complex applications such as multimedia
• Increased downtime in the event of network failures
• Complexity and high costs of VDI deployment

Desktops as a Managed Service

With Hosted Virtual Desktops or Desktop-as-a-Managed Service, the common denominator is that virtualization promises to revolutionize desktop management for companies of all sizes.  With the need to reduce costs and increase efficiency and become more green organizations will take advantage of the deployment advantages inherent in virtualization. The “Cloud” whether public or private, promises to offer hosting of not only applications and services, but also desktops.

This article was contributed by VTECH. They are a managed services provider in Naples (Southwest Florida).