Do Citrix and VMWare fail to deliver a complete centralised desktop offering?

Hosting desktops or applications on servers located in the data center, and implementing centralized computing technologies is one of the best ways to cut IT costs while also improving security, reliability, productivity and efficiency. Both Citrix and VMWare have high profiles offering their respective virtualisation solutions that enable centralisation. Yet if you are considering centralisation, do they offer your organisation a focused solution for your needs?

Virtual Desktop Clients as the next Mobile Device ‘Killer App’?

Coming out of this holiday season there will be many who got new, more versatile, mobile devices and will want to use them to access information from work. In the nearly 15 years since the introduction of the two way pager, mobile device manufacturers have been trying to build a platform for business applications to take on messaging as the next “killer application.” Virtual Desktop Clients may be the application that finally steps up to the task.

Hyper-V: Free or Licensed the Choice is Yours

Which is better Hyper-V version deploy for production environments? For a traditional server based virtualization project, it makes financial sense to deploy Datacenter, and this is most likely the case for a hybrid deployment of Server and Desktop devices. However, for raw VDI and Open source deployments, it is obviously more fiscally prudent to utilise the free version which has been available for over a year.

Citrix still at forefront of Mobile Device Access for VDI

Citrix have released an updated version 2 of their Receiver for the iPhone, but if they are to keep ahead of the competition, is delivering VDI access to the all powerful iPhone the best device to grab a CIO’s attention with?

Delivering your "desktop as a service" to laptop users

Indeed a challenge in migrating to a Hosted Virtual Desktop (HVD) solution is what to do with existing devices. Citrix’s High Definition User EXperience (HDX) technologies for example, typically relies on the end device supporting a Microsoft Windows operating system to deliver the best user experience. If that is the case, how will you manage the end device that delivers the user’s HVD? Vendors such as DevonIT, Igel, and 10ZiG would naturally suggest you replace your traditional PC with a Thin Client: vendors such as PanoLogic, Teradici and Wyse would highlight the advantages of Zero Client devices – yet moving away from existing devices is a costly exercise in terms of providing replacement devices. And indeed – still does not address off-line working.

End User Environment Management for VDI

When considering your VDI deployment hosting your workspaces is not the only consideration. Careful consideration needs to be made on the management of the performance, license use and user’s environment to give, not only a good user experience, but a timely return on your investment.