Virtual desktop infrastructure (often shortened to VDI) is no longer a novelty. It’s a topic that goes back some fifteen years with the first Citrix technologies, which allowed for recycling old workstations that were nearly obsolete, without upgrading them, all while giving users access to the latest technologies. That way, users could access the best software without having a powerful local machine needed to operate them.

The benefits of VDI

There are many benefits to virtual desktop infrastructure:

• Deploying software and operating systems more simply
• Improved desktop security
• Mobility and the possibility to connect remotely to a virtual machine, even when located outside the organization’s premises
• Unrivaled ROI due to simplified deployment and desktop maintenance.

Virtual desktop infrastructure in numbers

According to a study by ZDNet.fr published in October 2012, 80% of desktops in companies are heavy traditional clients, and 11% are virtual desktops, so this is an emerging trend in our organizations.

The main factors leading to this change are: a need for simplification and automatization (42%) and the development of mobility (41%), especially the development of BYOD practices (standing for “Bring Your Own Device”).

The number of virtualized desktops will increase considerably in the upcoming years. For 58% of those questioned, the desktop of tomorrow will especially computers with more mobile access (51%) and virtualized desktops with VDI (48%).

Projects and reflections are already underway in our organizations since 24% of the companies surveyed are already in the deployment phase, and 37% of them are thinking about setting up a virtual desktop infrastructure project.

To no surprise, according to an IDC study carried out on 150 European companies, desktop virtualization could generate savings of €200 to €300 per year per computer.