VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) is one of several approaches to desktop virtualization. Often, the term ‘remote desktop’ is used interchangeably with ‘desktop virtualization.’ I think that’s a better name because it gets to the heart of the real user benefit. In most organizations today, both users and their management are clamoring for the ability to work remotely — and buzzwords like BYOD, mobility, telework and “any where, any time, any device” have begun to dominate their conversations with IT.
But if the Achilles heel of in-house VDI is its complexity, and that’s solved by DaaS, then why don’t all organizations move to DaaS?
The Challenge of DaaS
It turns out that DaaS, as well, has an Achilles heel (or two) of its own. The major drawback of DaaS is that it often results in a degraded user experience due to network latency. A second drawback for many organizations, including and in particular Federal agencies, is that traditional DaaS CSPs require you to adapt your security policies to fit around their solution. Right. Not so great.
“So how can I get remote desktops for my users without the struggle of implementing VDI in-house, but with a better user experience than DaaS?” It’s possible that this is the most obvious solution ever: Hire a service provider to build your own VDI/private DaaS for you, on your site, and manage it for you. Obvious, yes, but non-existent until we invented just such a service; we call it On-Premises DaaS.
How On-Premises DaaS Delivers
You’ve got control (like in-house VDI), but without the headaches, because it’s delivered as a service (like DaaS). The key to our On-Premises DaaS is that it is in-house VDI with all of its benefits (control over security/compliance and exceptional user experience), but delivered as a service. That is, we design the system with and for you, and manage (and are present during) both installation and ongoing operation. We are involved in your change management procedures, help optimize your virtual desktop environment, and provide level 2/3 support to your help desk. We maintain the DaaS hardware and software while you maintain responsibility for all of your applications.
It’s fast. It’s way faster than DaaS and even faster than most VDI, thanks to our proprietary architecture. In terms of performance, our On-Premises DaaS solution uses a proprietary memory-based architecture optimized for VDI. It allocates 4-6 times the processor allocation of typical VDI architectures; it also provides a whopping 150 IOPS of storage performance per virtual desktop (five times the performance of traditional VDI).
It just makes sense, financially. On-Premises DaaS is more economical than the alternatives. Of course, because this all sounds too good to be true, it must be cost prohibitive. But, because On-Premises DaaS is managed through an SLA and priced on a per-desktop basis, large upfront costs (typical of VDI deployment) are eliminated. In fact, one recent government study estimated that On-Premises DaaS resulted in a 28% cost savings over five years compared to the deploying VDI in-house; 32% when compared to the cost of maintaining physical PCs and laptops. And because those savings were incurred in year one, the initiative was funded entirely out of existing funds.
Final Thoughts
Because On-Premises DaaS incorporates the best features of both in-house VDI and DaaS, it is for many organizations perhaps the best solution to desktop virtualization. Let’s have a conversation to find out if it could be right for yours.
