Three recent signs that desktop virtualisation is ready for take-off

27 Jun 2012

Slow to get started, the market for virtual desktop infrastructures (VDIs) is now gathering pace.

Recent market moves by virtual desktop vendors suggest they are preparing for a surge in demand among end-user companies that increasingly need to provide desktop services to a wide range of static and mobile computing devices. Here’s a quick rundown of the evidence:

2 April 2012: Dell buys Wyse

Dell’s acquisition of Wyse, a vendor of thin-client PCs and related management software, “enhances our portfolio in the critical area of cloud computing and further supports our efforts to help our customers innovate end-to-end IT solutions from the edge to the core of the cloud,” according to David Johnson, the company’s senior vice president of corporate strategy. Wyse’s technology is designed to enable IT teams to establish centrally managed client infrastructures, and in March, the company introduced its T10 “zero client” platform, which gives multiple end users access to Microsoft Remote Desktop Services through monitor and keyboard-only configurations. Wyse has also been extending its offerings to support tablets and smartphones.

9 May 2012: Citrix announces Project Avalon, buys Virtual Computer

“It was not easy, but we did it,” wrote Sheng Liang, head of Citrix’s CloudStack product line in a company blog post announcing Project Avalon, which it says “enables enterprises to transform some of their most important workloads, Windows desktop and Windows applications, to run on a cloud infrastructure.” Project Avalon draws on the company’s XenDesktop and CloudStack technologies to enable IT teams to shift desktops and related apps into public clouds, allowing them to tap into capacity on an on-demand basis. Around the same time, the company also announced its acquisition of Virtual Computer, which it says will improve its XenClient hypervisor, which delivers desktop virtualisation without a network connection.

22 May 2012: VMware buys Wanova

The virtualisation company’s acquisition of Wanova, a desktop-as-a-service cloud provider, provides a significant boost to its existing virtual desktop capabilities. Wanova’s cloud-based platform claims to simplify the management of desktop images while providing better continuity of desktop services. VMware plans to integrate its VMware View enterprise virtual desktop infrastructure with Wanova’s Mirage distribution software to enable IT teams to automatically synchronise PC image updates to all types of endpoints – physical, virtual, tethered desktops or remote laptops (both PC and Mac). According to VMware’s Jeff Jennings, vice president of its enterprise desktop unit, the deal has the potential to “redefine the desktop virtualisation landscape.”

Things certainly seem to be hotting up in VDI. At the time of writing, for example, virtualisation specialist Quest Software (which recently upgraded its User Workspace Management portfolio for end-user computing) is the focus of a fierce bidding war between would-be buyers. The value of the most recent bid, from an undisclosed bidder: a cool $2.32 billion.

IT market research company IDC expects to see boom times for vendors in this space. “The total market for desktop virtualisation solutions should continue to see strong growth globally, with the larger revenue and margin opportunities coming from the data centre infrastructure, cloud and service offerings that are tied to thin client and desktop virtualisation technology sales,” says IDC analyst Matt Eastwood in a recent research note. He expects enterprise spending on virtual desktops and related technologies to top $15 billion by 2015. Perhaps now, at last, VDI’s time has come.