TheInfoPro

Written by Peter ffoulkes, Research Director for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

Originally published as a ThursdayTIP to the respondent network of TheInfoPro. Would you like to receive all of the ThursdayTIPs the minute they are released on a complimentary basis? Then join TheInfoPro’s respondent network.

TheInfoPro’s research specific to desktop virtualization shows a transition from pilot projects to production deployments in 2011 and 2012. The question is, which vendors will emerge as the leaders in production environments? The latest data shows Citrix and VMware in a near tie for top vendor in use. Despite the fact that Citrix wins on technical grounds, VMware’s dominance in the server space is providing a halo effect for the company’s desktop work for in pilot or in plan, where VMware is the leading vendor.

Overall, Citrix received very high customer ratings. Its pedigree in terminal services serves it well, especially for competitive positioning, features/functions and technical support. VMware’s ratings are for the most part average. Its brand/reputation rating is strong, as is competitive positioning. Value for money is where VMware rates poorly, which could have been an artifact of the difficulty companies have in negotiating their server virtualization licenses, and is unlikely to have been made better by VMware’s recent misstep with vSphere 5 licensing (Thursday’s Server TIP, Aug. 11).

On the hardware front, another battle is looming between Hewlett-Packard and Dell (Thursday’s Server TIP, Aug. 25). When the uncertainty about HP’s desktop business is taken into account alongside the company’s poor customer ratings for desktop virtualization, HP may have handed Dell a much bigger advantage than it planned.

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It is TIP’s position that the business case for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) has been scaled back relative to previous years.

The primary reasons are:

1. the priority to roll out Windows 7, which many feel will be the last monolithic desktop upgrade;
2. understanding the increased infrastructure costs needed to support VDI, especially storage; and
3. increases in adoption of application virtualization.

These factors will potentially mitigate the need for a significant VDI rollout as companies look to adopt a blended approach that includes application virtualization and web services.  VMware (VMW) and Citrix (CTXS) are in a two-horse race for VDI; however, it is not shaping up to be a market as pervasive as that for server virtualization. The move to application virtualization benefits Citrix and its legacy terminal services business; however, VMware and Microsoft (MSFT) are the lead vendors for companies planning to implement the technology in 2011.

• As we end 2010, 77% of respondents have less than 5% of their desktops virtualized. While the numbers improve for 2011, 55% will have less than 10% virtualized, with 28% having between 11% and 20% virtualized.
• When looking at the averages of different types of desktops installed, companies anticipate 5% of their environment to be virtualized client images in 2011.
• Spending on VDI was not meaningful in 2010, with the bulk spending less than $100,000. The plans to increase spending in 2011 are based on a low comparable.
• Application virtualization is a technology that has been moving to the mainstream for some time, and now 57% of the sample have it in use, compared to 46% that are using VDI. Our research shows that the value/risk perception for application virtualization has improved in the past year relative to VDI, with more than 75% of the sample planning to use the technology by the end of 2011.

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By: Dave Simpson – Storage Blog
14 December 2009 | INFOSTOR | Original Article

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By: Desire Anthow
08 December 2009 | IT Pro Portal | Original Article

A recent study encompassing the ongoing trends in the virtualisation sphere has claimed that VMware, in spite of its dominant position, is gradually losing grounds to rival players, including Microsoft, Citrix, as well as Red Hat. …

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By: Jeffrey Burt
07 December 2009 | eWeek | Original Article

A study by TheInfoPro shows that while VMware is still the dominant virtualization technology in the data center, IT professionals are increasingly willing to consider alternatives …

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