Today’s workforce is changing the concept of where work is done. Thanks to laptops, smartphones and thin client devices, mobile workers are empowered to work where, when and however they choose. As a result, telecommuting and ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) programs are on the rise.  IT organizations are scrambling to meet the onslaught of new devices and the always-on expectation of the mobile workforce while preserving corporate security.  The balancing act becomes even more delicate when put in the context of flat IT budgets and IT staff.  As a result, virtual desktop projects often become embroiled in budget reviews and ROI analysis with conventional infrastructure technologies.

Bring Your Own Desktop – the promise of virtualization

According to Gartner, 80 percent of businesses will support a workforce using tablets within the next year and by 2014, 90 percent of organizations will enable corporate applications on personal devices. The rapid mobilization of today’s workforce explodes the traditional concept of a single corporate PC where the PC actually resides on a desktop.  Most users want to access corporate applications from not just one, but many mobile devices that move with them and that probably reside in their hands or at a Starbucks table more than on a desktop provided and secured by IT.  Bring Your Own Desktop (BYOD) programs are being adopted by firms that want to give employees choice where support for BYOD equipment is shifted from IT to the Apple Genius Bar.

The promise of virtual desktops is that IT will provide affordable, secure access to central applications from any mobile device with performance as good as a local PC.  This promise is predicated on the availability of a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution that combines the performance and security of central IT with cost economics of a PC.  Too often, VDI carries the cost and complexity of traditional IT systems so that VDI projects get stymied in a failed ROI.  Or cheaper but less robust solutions are rejected because of performance or security concerns. With more than three quarters of organizations recently surveyed by ESG expressing interest in deploying integrated computing platforms, it’s apparent that a new breed of VDI is required to enable this new breed of “non-desktop” desktops.

Lucky benefactors, from finance to education

Highly regulated sectors such as financial services were the first vertical markets to adopt virtual desktops because the inherent financial and security risks allowed the use of costly conventional storage, servers and networks VDI backend support.  Budgets were available, trained corporate IT support staff was at the ready, and financial market risks justified the purchase of conventional siloed SAN/NAS storage, blade servers and could manage both fibre channel and Ethernet networks.

Recently, more cost-effective verticals, such as education, state and local government and healthcare users are embracing virtual desktops, BYOD initiatives and PC refresh cycles.  The Boulder Valley School District in Colorado, for example, launched its One to One initiative.  In place of traditional computer labs, the School District encourages students to bring their own laptops and personal devices to school for use as collaborative learning tools.  Student and staff productivity and satisfaction is boosted because users are happier working on a preferred device.  The IT support staff benefits by outsourcing the cost of devices, eliminating monthly service fees, and streamlining the number of desktop environments that are supported.

Current VDI trends – cost-effectiveness

Cost-sensitive markets require cost-effective solutions and the virtual desktop market is no exception.  There is a new wave of plug-and-play converged VDI appliances that meet the cost and management needs of small and medium businesses with less than 1,000 employees.  Imagine putting 100 virtual desktops on line in 60 minutes.  Or adding 100 more virtual desktops in an hour.  Imagine a system where failover is comprehended for server, storage and network resources with no manual user configuration.  Or where load-balancing to manage boot storms and new usage patterns is automatic.  These are the new standards for performance, usability and manageability that the world of VDI appliances offers.

New VDI appliances are bringing the benefits of virtual desktops within reach of cost-sensitive markets and users.  It is now possible to provide secure access to mobile workers and simultaneously meet the performance, security and cost targets of corporate IT. For organizations struggling to support more mobile access, start a BYOD program or cope with PC refreshes, this is the year to look at VDI appliances to realize the benefits of desktops that no longer sit on top of a desk.

About the Author:

Lee Caswell is a Founder of Pivot3 and a marketing executive in the virtualization, storage, and digital video markets. Prior to founding Pivot3, Lee was EVP Marketing and Business Development at VMware and held a series of senior management roles at Adaptec (ADPT) ending as VP and General Manager of Adaptec’s $350M Storage Solutions Group.  Prior to Adaptec, Lee was VP Sales and Marketing at Parallax Graphics which introduced the first real-time video capture products for the video surveillance market. He spent the first five years of his career in management programs at GE.