Virtual Desktop

VIRTUAL DESKTOP

Virtualisation hits the desktop Virtualisation is probably the hottest topic in the IT industry redefining the role of the datacentre and the way IT departments design, deploy and use the enterprise IT infrastructure.

April / May 2008 Channel Business Solutions

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VIRTUAL DESKTOP

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then deploying back to the desktop the open source Xen hypervisor ow Virtualisation is coming effectively gives the user the benefits co-developed by Intel, AMD, Cisco, to the desktop, not as of their own desktop environment Dell, Egenera, HP, IBM, Mellanox, many initially thought, without all the hassles of upgrading Network Appliance, Novell, Red Hat, enabling power users to run multiple operating systems, keeping security SGI, Sun, Unisys, Veritas, Voltaire and operating systems on the desktop software up to date, loading new XenSource (now owned by Citrix).

PC, but as the ultimate thin client applications and securing data.

In particular Microsoft with its computing model.

“With VDI the user gets all the plus Hyper-V and Citrix and Novel VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) points of their own desktop without with their Xen based offerings are is the next major wave of innovation the problems of running their own challenging VMware by including where the whole PC desktop, PC. For IT managers VDI has even the hypervisor, the key software including the operating system and more benefits because they can layer that enables Virtualisation by applications, is deployed and run from centrally control the whole desktop separating the operating system from the datacentre and displayed on the environment for their users without the hardware, within their operating device on the desktop. having to manage their PC,” he adds. system. Effectively giving the To understand where VDI fits in At this point it is probably best to hypervisor away for free. the IT architecture it is best to look explain the difference between thin In response VMware has separated at where Virtualisation has taken client computing and VDI. its hypervisor from the ESX server us and why it is now taking a whole Kevin Bland, director of channel new direction. sales at Citrix, is best placed Virtualisation has been around Virtual Desktop Infrastructure to help: “Traditional thin client now for around five years in is the next major wave of technology is based around the X86 server marketplace deploying specific applications to enabling IT managers to get innovation where the whole PC users from centralised servers. the full utilisation of their server desktop, including the operating VDI is about deploying the architectures and consolidate whole user desktop, including multiple servers into smaller and system and applications, is applications, to a PC or thin client more energy efficient server deployed and run from the type device. blade environments. datacentre and displayed on the “The great thing about VDI is It is estimated that more device on the desktop that when the user logs in they get than 70 per cent of enterprises a fresh desktop but tailored to the have deployed some form of environment they are used to. In effect product and is now offering it as a low Virtualisation in their datacentres. they have a new version of the XP or cost stand-alone product but more Many of these have been as pilot Vista operating system every time they importantly it is working with its OEMs sites but there are also many log on. They also get fresh versions of such HP to bundle the hypervisor with major deployments. Virtualisation their applications and then the whole every server. is having such a dramatic effect environment is personalised.

It looks like in the future all servers in the datacentre that enterprises “The Citrix solution for VDI includes will be Virtualised enabled out of box. are completely redefining their IT the Citrix XenServer, XenDesktop So it looks like virtualised servers infrastructure around it. and the Citrix Provisioning server. will be the norm in the future and Virtualisation has so many positive The XenServer creates the virtualised therefore the Virtualisation battle effects that it is almost a ‘no brainer’ environment on the servers with the moves onto new ground and that is all when it comes to deploying it. ability to manage applications and about the desktop.

Higher utilisation of existing server dynamically move environments Chris Whiteley, head of product investments, dynamic allocation of across servers. The XenDesktop strategy at distributor Horizon applications and resources, lower enables the provisioning and explains why this is so important, heat output and energy costs and personalisation of the desktop for “Virtualisation moves to the desktop simpler business continuity resourcing users and the provisioning server because it solves a myriad of issues are just some of the benefits. controls the whole desktop delivery that the IT manager grapples with In fact, Virtualisation, though on the fly.” every day. relatively new, is showing many signs A layered infrastructure is key “In the datacentre server and of a maturing market. for delivering VDI solutions as infrastructure Virtualisation already Until now VMware has dominated Chris Whiteley of Horizon explains, offers huge savings and benefits this market with its ESX product used “Whether the customer is using but when it hits the desktop those by most of the organisations that are VMware or a Citrix, Novell or advantages multiply. By moving deploying Virtualisation. However Microsoft virtualised environment on the desktop operating system and it is now coming under pressure their servers it is important that the applications back to the datacentre, from other major players who are desktop is provisioned and delivered running them on a virtual server and offering real alternatives based on

24 Channel Business Solutions April / May 2008

in the most effective and secure way as possible if it is to be accepted.

“Products like Sun Secure Global Desktop Software provide secure access to virtual desktops from a wide range of popular client devices, including PCs, Solaris OS Workstations, thin clients and mobile devices.

“The important issue as far as the user is concerned is that the virtual desktop performs just as well as if they had their own PC.” This point is picked up by Owen Cole, technical director UK&I for F5, “VDI is not hard to do as can be seen by the number of players in the market. However it is important not only to have performance but to ensure that sessions are kept open no matter whether the network session times out.

“Users will not accept VDI if sessions are lost due to network or communications issues. This

may seem a small issue but it has a massive impact. At F5 we are working with all the VDI vendors to ensure they can access all F5 products through our open APIs and thus lock the VDI session until the user logs out.”

The performance issue of VDI goes a lot deeper than the software and appliance arena and right down to chip level. Virtualisation as a whole has been enabled and accelerated by multi-core processors on blade architectures.

However even these new chip sets are being stretched by VDI. Margaret Lewis, director of commercial solutions at AMD explains, “VDI is the next stage of Virtualisation.

The first stage was about consolidation and server utilisation and the current chip sets are perfectly capable of supporting this.

“VDI however is all about user experience and the client wants a rich

graphics environment. Just because the desktop is running remotely does not justify poor experience,” she says.

“In a virtual world switching applications without a lag is also vital.

As chip vendors we believe there are some areas where we can improve our architectures to support VDI. “In particular we are looking to speed up memory management, optimise I/O handling, improve graphics virtualisation and handle tables and references better. The hardware can get to the memory location faster than software and the hardware should take over the intensive tasks and reduce overheads.

In effect we should be able to make the application feel as though it is local,” she continues.

“Chip design to support VDI is a journey. We will need to pause every so often to review memory and I/O requirements as we learn the usage demands of VDI solutions.”

April / May 2008 Channel Business Solutions

25

VIRTUAL DESKTOP

N

then deploying back to the desktop the open source Xen hypervisor ow Virtualisation is coming effectively gives the user the benefits co-developed by Intel, AMD, Cisco, to the desktop, not as of their own desktop environment Dell, Egenera, HP, IBM, Mellanox, many initially thought, without all the hassles of upgrading Network Appliance, Novell, Red Hat, enabling power users to run multiple operating systems, keeping security SGI, Sun, Unisys, Veritas, Voltaire and operating systems on the desktop software up to date, loading new XenSource (now owned by Citrix).

PC, but as the ultimate thin client applications and securing data.

In particular Microsoft with its computing model.

“With VDI the user gets all the plus Hyper-V and Citrix and Novel VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) points of their own desktop without with their Xen based offerings are is the next major wave of innovation the problems of running their own challenging VMware by including where the whole PC desktop, PC. For IT managers VDI has even the hypervisor, the key software including the operating system and more benefits because they can layer that enables Virtualisation by applications, is deployed and run from centrally control the whole desktop separating the operating system from the datacentre and displayed on the environment for their users without the hardware, within their operating device on the desktop. having to manage their PC,” he adds. system. Effectively giving the To understand where VDI fits in At this point it is probably best to hypervisor away for free. the IT architecture it is best to look explain the difference between thin In response VMware has separated at where Virtualisation has taken client computing and VDI. its hypervisor from the ESX server us and why it is now taking a whole Kevin Bland, director of channel new direction. sales at Citrix, is best placed Virtualisation has been around Virtual Desktop Infrastructure to help: “Traditional thin client now for around five years in is the next major wave of technology is based around the X86 server marketplace deploying specific applications to enabling IT managers to get innovation where the whole PC users from centralised servers. the full utilisation of their server desktop, including the operating VDI is about deploying the architectures and consolidate whole user desktop, including multiple servers into smaller and system and applications, is applications, to a PC or thin client more energy efficient server deployed and run from the type device. blade environments. datacentre and displayed on the “The great thing about VDI is It is estimated that more device on the desktop that when the user logs in they get than 70 per cent of enterprises a fresh desktop but tailored to the have deployed some form of environment they are used to. In effect product and is now offering it as a low Virtualisation in their datacentres. they have a new version of the XP or cost stand-alone product but more Many of these have been as pilot Vista operating system every time they importantly it is working with its OEMs sites but there are also many log on. They also get fresh versions of such HP to bundle the hypervisor with major deployments. Virtualisation their applications and then the whole every server. is having such a dramatic effect environment is personalised.

It looks like in the future all servers in the datacentre that enterprises “The Citrix solution for VDI includes will be Virtualised enabled out of box. are completely redefining their IT the Citrix XenServer, XenDesktop So it looks like virtualised servers infrastructure around it. and the Citrix Provisioning server. will be the norm in the future and Virtualisation has so many positive The XenServer creates the virtualised therefore the Virtualisation battle effects that it is almost a ‘no brainer’ environment on the servers with the moves onto new ground and that is all when it comes to deploying it. ability to manage applications and about the desktop.

Higher utilisation of existing server dynamically move environments Chris Whiteley, head of product investments, dynamic allocation of across servers. The XenDesktop strategy at distributor Horizon applications and resources, lower enables the provisioning and explains why this is so important, heat output and energy costs and personalisation of the desktop for “Virtualisation moves to the desktop simpler business continuity resourcing users and the provisioning server because it solves a myriad of issues are just some of the benefits. controls the whole desktop delivery that the IT manager grapples with In fact, Virtualisation, though on the fly.” every day. relatively new, is showing many signs A layered infrastructure is key “In the datacentre server and of a maturing market. for delivering VDI solutions as infrastructure Virtualisation already Until now VMware has dominated Chris Whiteley of Horizon explains, offers huge savings and benefits this market with its ESX product used “Whether the customer is using but when it hits the desktop those by most of the organisations that are VMware or a Citrix, Novell or advantages multiply. By moving deploying Virtualisation. However Microsoft virtualised environment on the desktop operating system and it is now coming under pressure their servers it is important that the applications back to the datacentre, from other major players who are desktop is provisioned and delivered running them on a virtual server and offering real alternatives based on

24 Channel Business Solutions April / May 2008

in the most effective and secure way as possible if it is to be accepted.

“Products like Sun Secure Global Desktop Software provide secure access to virtual desktops from a wide range of popular client devices, including PCs, Solaris OS Workstations, thin clients and mobile devices.

“The important issue as far as the user is concerned is that the virtual desktop performs just as well as if they had their own PC.” This point is picked up by Owen Cole, technical director UK&I for F5, “VDI is not hard to do as can be seen by the number of players in the market. However it is important not only to have performance but to ensure that sessions are kept open no matter whether the network session times out.

“Users will not accept VDI if sessions are lost due to network or communications issues. This

may seem a small issue but it has a massive impact. At F5 we are working with all the VDI vendors to ensure they can access all F5 products through our open APIs and thus lock the VDI session until the user logs out.”

The performance issue of VDI goes a lot deeper than the software and appliance arena and right down to chip level. Virtualisation as a whole has been enabled and accelerated by multi-core processors on blade architectures.

However even these new chip sets are being stretched by VDI. Margaret Lewis, director of commercial solutions at AMD explains, “VDI is the next stage of Virtualisation.

The first stage was about consolidation and server utilisation and the current chip sets are perfectly capable of supporting this.

“VDI however is all about user experience and the client wants a rich

graphics environment. Just because the desktop is running remotely does not justify poor experience,” she says.

“In a virtual world switching applications without a lag is also vital.

As chip vendors we believe there are some areas where we can improve our architectures to support VDI. “In particular we are looking to speed up memory management, optimise I/O handling, improve graphics virtualisation and handle tables and references better. The hardware can get to the memory location faster than software and the hardware should take over the intensive tasks and reduce overheads.

In effect we should be able to make the application feel as though it is local,” she continues.

“Chip design to support VDI is a journey. We will need to pause every so often to review memory and I/O requirements as we learn the usage demands of VDI solutions.”

April / May 2008 Channel Business Solutions

25

VIRTUAL DESKTOP

Kevin Bland

never leaves the datacentre and that all the traffic from datacentre to desktop device can be encrypted ensures that we won’t see the embarrassing stories in the press of lost data on stolen laptops or Cds,” he adds.

“Additionally, though thin client computing delivers much of what VDI can do as far as the application is concerned, there are many applications which do not work well in thin client mode. With VDI, because the user has their own O/S as well as application delivered to them, there is a lot more flexibility.”

With VDI seeming to be the answer to the IT managers prayers why are they not all rushing headlong into its deployment. David Johnson, UK divisional director at distributor Avnet, gives his viewpoint, “There are lots of proof-of-concepts going on at present because the argument for VDI is so compelling. What is holding it back for the present is the lack of real case studies, the architectural unknowns to support it and the scarcity of skill and experience across the channel.

“Avnet is trying to accelerate its

This whole performance issue is where all vendors are unsure. Matt Piercy, channel director for northern EMEA at VMware explains, “This is an evolving market and we are all learning what the performance issues will be as deployments start to roll out. We are working very closely with the server platform manufacturers to ensure architectural integrity and optimised application delivery.

VMware has a lot of experience deploying thousands of virtual machines very quickly across the datacentre and are confident It looks like in the future all we can support VDI across the servers will be Virtualised largest organisations. We are enabled out of box. also focusing on providing the right management suite so that So it looks like virtualised servers service levels can be monitored will be the norm in the future and and adjusted.” therefore the Virtualisation battle Despite concerns the driving forces behind VDI are substantial moves onto new ground and that as organisations attempt to all about the desktop. deliver IT to support business process change and mobility. adoption by providing facilities where Piercy explains, “The timing for VDI is the channel can come and replicate now as organisations struggle with a customer environments and test whole range of desktop issues from different configurations. We are also application deployment, security of providing technical training and front devices and data as well as upgrading line pre-sales support.” operating systems.

This channel skills issue is also “When you add to this the being addressed by Horizon. Chris deployment of new style applications Whiteley explains, “Horizon has not in places such as hospitals and only training and demonstration manufacturing the VDI approach to facilities to help channel partners desktop delivery really comes into but also blueprints for datacentres its own. supporting VDI. We have already done “Security is one of the driving a great deal of the work with different forces for many deployments. The configurations and can help our fact that the whole desktop and data

26 Channel Business Solutions April / May 2008

partners put forward proposals and provide proof-of-concept trials.”

It is alright for manufacturers and vendors to be bullish about VDI as they have technology to sell, but why and when should the customer adopt it and why should the channel get involved.

“The trigger for many companies adopting VDI coincides with some strategic decision point such as a planned refresh of the desktop,” according to Kevin Bland of Citrix.

“VDI is not a tactical decision it is very strategic. The company needs to understand what they want from it and define this clearly up front.”

“The investment in infrastructure in the datacentre can be huge. In the past IT departments have tended to think in silos when it came to infrastructure. Decisions on servers, storage, networking and security often unrelated.

“When deploying VDI solutions the whole IT infrastructure has to be looked at holistically. The IT department has to look at end-to-end delivery,” he says.

This view begs the question whether VDI is right only for large enterprises. Bland believes, “Every business is an enterprise.

They all have the same challenges it is just a matter of scale. If an organisation has more than 50 desktops or has multiple offices then they are a potential user of VDI. is “The difference is that the larger organisations will have their own IT department to do the strategic planning whereas the mid market and SMB organisations rely heavily on their channel partners.”

Jill Henry marketing manager at Novell has strong views on the adoption of VDI, “The value proposition of Virtualisation and VDI has to be made for each organisation.

Though VDI is a hot topic its adoption will be based on specific benefits to the organisation. It is important to identify the pain points of the organisation and show how VDI addresses those.

“Companies will not adopt VDI because it is the next great thing. It

has to deliver tangible benefits.”

Chris de Silva, managing director at NEC Philips Unified Solutions believes that organisations can justify VDI by combining the move with the adoption of thin client devices at the desktop, quoting the same reasons that Virtualisation has taken hold in the datacentre, cost, energy reduction and manageability, “Replacing expensive PCs with virtual thin client devices delivers a huge range of benefits. Not only do these devices cost a fraction of the price of a PC, they also have a far longer lifespan, with a typical six year warranty. With most devices at least 90% recyclable, disposal costs are far lower as well, creating a significantly reduced lifetime cost of ownership.

“Power consumption is also lower, with thin client devices using at most 30 per cent of the power of the PCs they replace – and that includes the proportion of server power. Indeed, if VDI is added to server virtualisation, organisations can achieve significant reductions in power consumption: the virtual infrastructure is estimated to use 60-70 per cent less power than

Matt Piercy existing physical environments.

This enables the IT department to support strategic targets on reducing CO2 emissions whilst also driving down costs.

“However, the real cost benefit is derived from a transformation in desktop support. Thin client devices can be supported remotely, significantly reducing the time taken to resolve problems. Furthermore, with no local disk, these machines are much more robust: users cannot download and store viruses that could compromise the infrastructure; whilst

vandalism and theft are also reduced.”

Whiteley supports this strategy, “Thin client devices are ideal for VDI. Experience has shown that many thin client devices are still in daily operation after 10 years whereas PCs have a typical replacement period of three years.”

“The energy saving is also substantial with a typical PC consuming 80 Watts compared to a Sun Ray thin client workstation at 17 Watts.”

The whole VDI proposition seems tremendously compelling and there is no doubt that the channel needs to be not just sitting up and taking note but getting started in gaining the skills and experience.

With so many advantages in both the general office environment and in vertical markets there is no doubt that VDI is going to match and probably exceed the explosion of the thin client market started

by Citrix and endorsed by Microsoft.

VDI has many more vendors giving it their backing and that will ensure its success. What the channel needs to do is talk to existing clients and discuss where they are going with their IT deployments and what are their pain points.

As has been pointed out this is not just a major enterprise market. It has the same relevance in the mid market and SMB market.

The difference is that the whole VDI model lends itself to the managed service model. Solution providers who are used to selling on-premises IT solutions and just providing technical support services may have to adopt a new business model based around desktop service provision.

For the larger channel companies VDI represents a major opportunity for consulting services and managed desktop services. Not to forget the huge infrastructure sales that will result from its deployment.

For the channel VDI represents the biggest business opportunity for many years. The difference is that this opportunity is not about skills in one technology area. To be successful in VDI the channel has to look at the end-toend provisioning just like the IT manager.

VDI will definitely spawn many more partnerships and alliances and in some cases mergers and acquisitions.

Channel Business Solutions

27

VIRTUAL DESKTOP

Kevin Bland

never leaves the datacentre and that all the traffic from datacentre to desktop device can be encrypted ensures that we won’t see the embarrassing stories in the press of lost data on stolen laptops or Cds,” he adds.

“Additionally, though thin client computing delivers much of what VDI can do as far as the application is concerned, there are many applications which do not work well in thin client mode. With VDI, because the user has their own O/S as well as application delivered to them, there is a lot more flexibility.”

With VDI seeming to be the answer to the IT managers prayers why are they not all rushing headlong into its deployment. David Johnson, UK divisional director at distributor Avnet, gives his viewpoint, “There are lots of proof-of-concepts going on at present because the argument for VDI is so compelling. What is holding it back for the present is the lack of real case studies, the architectural unknowns to support it and the scarcity of skill and experience across the channel.

“Avnet is trying to accelerate its

This whole performance issue is where all vendors are unsure. Matt Piercy, channel director for northern EMEA at VMware explains, “This is an evolving market and we are all learning what the performance issues will be as deployments start to roll out. We are working very closely with the server platform manufacturers to ensure architectural integrity and optimised application delivery.

VMware has a lot of experience deploying thousands of virtual machines very quickly across the datacentre and are confident It looks like in the future all we can support VDI across the servers will be Virtualised largest organisations. We are enabled out of box. also focusing on providing the right management suite so that So it looks like virtualised servers service levels can be monitored will be the norm in the future and and adjusted.” therefore the Virtualisation battle Despite concerns the driving forces behind VDI are substantial moves onto new ground and that as organisations attempt to all about the desktop. deliver IT to support business process change and mobility. adoption by providing facilities where Piercy explains, “The timing for VDI is the channel can come and replicate now as organisations struggle with a customer environments and test whole range of desktop issues from different configurations. We are also application deployment, security of providing technical training and front devices and data as well as upgrading line pre-sales support.” operating systems.

This channel skills issue is also “When you add to this the being addressed by Horizon. Chris deployment of new style applications Whiteley explains, “Horizon has not in places such as hospitals and only training and demonstration manufacturing the VDI approach to facilities to help channel partners desktop delivery really comes into but also blueprints for datacentres its own. supporting VDI. We have already done “Security is one of the driving a great deal of the work with different forces for many deployments. The configurations and can help our fact that the whole desktop and data

26 Channel Business Solutions April / May 2008

partners put forward proposals and provide proof-of-concept trials.”

It is alright for manufacturers and vendors to be bullish about VDI as they have technology to sell, but why and when should the customer adopt it and why should the channel get involved.

“The trigger for many companies adopting VDI coincides with some strategic decision point such as a planned refresh of the desktop,” according to Kevin Bland of Citrix.

“VDI is not a tactical decision it is very strategic. The company needs to understand what they want from it and define this clearly up front.”

“The investment in infrastructure in the datacentre can be huge. In the past IT departments have tended to think in silos when it came to infrastructure. Decisions on servers, storage, networking and security often unrelated.

“When deploying VDI solutions the whole IT infrastructure has to be looked at holistically. The IT department has to look at end-to-end delivery,” he says.

This view begs the question whether VDI is right only for large enterprises. Bland believes, “Every business is an enterprise.

They all have the same challenges it is just a matter of scale. If an organisation has more than 50 desktops or has multiple offices then they are a potential user of VDI. is “The difference is that the larger organisations will have their own IT department to do the strategic planning whereas the mid market and SMB organisations rely heavily on their channel partners.”

Jill Henry marketing manager at Novell has strong views on the adoption of VDI, “The value proposition of Virtualisation and VDI has to be made for each organisation.

Though VDI is a hot topic its adoption will be based on specific benefits to the organisation. It is important to identify the pain points of the organisation and show how VDI addresses those.

“Companies will not adopt VDI because it is the next great thing. It

has to deliver tangible benefits.”

Chris de Silva, managing director at NEC Philips Unified Solutions believes that organisations can justify VDI by combining the move with the adoption of thin client devices at the desktop, quoting the same reasons that Virtualisation has taken hold in the datacentre, cost, energy reduction and manageability, “Replacing expensive PCs with virtual thin client devices delivers a huge range of benefits. Not only do these devices cost a fraction of the price of a PC, they also have a far longer lifespan, with a typical six year warranty. With most devices at least 90% recyclable, disposal costs are far lower as well, creating a significantly reduced lifetime cost of ownership.

“Power consumption is also lower, with thin client devices using at most 30 per cent of the power of the PCs they replace – and that includes the proportion of server power. Indeed, if VDI is added to server virtualisation, organisations can achieve significant reductions in power consumption: the virtual infrastructure is estimated to use 60-70 per cent less power than

Matt Piercy existing physical environments.

This enables the IT department to support strategic targets on reducing CO2 emissions whilst also driving down costs.

“However, the real cost benefit is derived from a transformation in desktop support. Thin client devices can be supported remotely, significantly reducing the time taken to resolve problems. Furthermore, with no local disk, these machines are much more robust: users cannot download and store viruses that could compromise the infrastructure; whilst

vandalism and theft are also reduced.”

Whiteley supports this strategy, “Thin client devices are ideal for VDI. Experience has shown that many thin client devices are still in daily operation after 10 years whereas PCs have a typical replacement period of three years.”

“The energy saving is also substantial with a typical PC consuming 80 Watts compared to a Sun Ray thin client workstation at 17 Watts.”

The whole VDI proposition seems tremendously compelling and there is no doubt that the channel needs to be not just sitting up and taking note but getting started in gaining the skills and experience.

With so many advantages in both the general office environment and in vertical markets there is no doubt that VDI is going to match and probably exceed the explosion of the thin client market started

by Citrix and endorsed by Microsoft.

VDI has many more vendors giving it their backing and that will ensure its success. What the channel needs to do is talk to existing clients and discuss where they are going with their IT deployments and what are their pain points.

As has been pointed out this is not just a major enterprise market. It has the same relevance in the mid market and SMB market.

The difference is that the whole VDI model lends itself to the managed service model. Solution providers who are used to selling on-premises IT solutions and just providing technical support services may have to adopt a new business model based around desktop service provision.

For the larger channel companies VDI represents a major opportunity for consulting services and managed desktop services. Not to forget the huge infrastructure sales that will result from its deployment.

For the channel VDI represents the biggest business opportunity for many years. The difference is that this opportunity is not about skills in one technology area. To be successful in VDI the channel has to look at the end-toend provisioning just like the IT manager.

VDI will definitely spawn many more partnerships and alliances and in some cases mergers and acquisitions.

Channel Business Solutions

27