Hosting the Desktop Part 3: Planning Your Deployment
Posted on 31.Mar 2010 by Ray Heffer in Citrix, VDI, VMware, VirtualisationA few weeks ago I was reading about a recent VDI implementation that Lancashire Police had recently undertaken, where they deployed 4000 virtual desktops to address compliance issues. Their first step was to gain control of the desktop first, gaining an understanding of the applications used, and any bespoke or specialist applications being used. It is often the case that applications are installed that the IT department knows nothing about.
Hosting the Desktop Part 2: Virtual Desktop Licensing
Posted on 24.Mar 2010 by Ray Heffer in VDI, VMware, Virtualisation
It was announced last week that Microsoft have updated their VECD licensing model for VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure). These changes are welcome news as you no longer require a VECD for SA license, because under the new changes Software Assurance (SA) now incorporates virtual desktop access rights. In addition to that you can now benefit from roaming usage rights that allows non-corporate home computers to connect to a virtual desktop.
Hosting the Desktop Part 1: VMware View or Citrix XenDesktop?
Posted on 08.Mar 2010 by Ray Heffer in Citrix, VDI, VMware, Virtualisation
Since VMware View was released in November 2009 and Citrix XenDesktop 4 in the same month, you could be mistaken that this is a game of tennis at Wimbledon with all the hype about each product. I first started working with desktop virtualisation in a VDI sense (not terminal server based) when VMware VDM 2.0 beta was released in 2007 (now VMware View), and for a moment VMware seemed to be ahead of the game. Prior to that, I had to put up with Citrix Desktop Broker which was made end-of-life a short while after its release. Then Citrix released XenDesktop 2.0, and with desktop provisioning making storage issues a thing of the past thanks to Citrix Provisioning Server (formerly an Ardence product), the ball seemed to be firmly back in Citrix’s court.
