Desktop virtualization is growing in popularity, even though it’s
been around for several years. In June, TechRepublic did a survey to see
who is using virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and the benefits,
both expected and expected.

Download the survey results in the new report Research: Virtual desktop infrastructure benefits, drivers and favored vendors.

For
those curious to learn more about VDI, from a conceptual standpoint, it
isn’t much different than the old dumb terminal/mainframe setup that
was used 30 years ago. Of course, the technology has changed, and it’s
no longer necessary to have a huge computer that fills a room to act as
the backend.

At its very base level, there are usually a few VDI
servers sitting in a data center and these servers act as the brains of
the operation. They generally handle all of the compute resources and
IOPs, while the virtual desktops are deployed to users on either their
laptops or desktops or mobile devices. The virtual desktop acts the same
as if users were working on a computer with local resources. For
example, they can see their Windows 7 screen and interact with it as
they would on any other computer. An important difference here is that
the administrator has more control. The admin can dictate the times
users can access their desktop, load the proper applications, and even
wipe all the data if the end user device is stolen or an employee
leaves.

Because of this flexibility that allows more mobility
among employees, in the past five years, the number of VDI users has
nearly doubled, according to the TechRepublic survey results.

The
survey, which had 255 respondents, broke down the numbers by company
size and geography, to find out exactly who is using VDI and where.

The report covers a range of VDI topics, including:

  • Preferred vendors
  • Benefits of VDI
  • Reasons for using certain vendors
  • Reasons some companies are not using VDI
  • What would make some companies change their minds about VDI
  • Benefits expected but not realized with VDI
  • Future plans to implement VDI

Download the full report Research: Virtual desktop infrastructure benefits, drivers and favored vendors.