Virtualization of the desktop

The next big thing I’ve been hearing and reading about is the virtualization of the desktop. Using thin clients, and putting the users actual desktop experience on a large server in the datacenter. The technology is fantastic, and I’m hearing that their is a significantly high ratio of users to servers, so you might get 20+ users on one server in the datacenter.

Trouble is, 20 users, on what kind of server? Let’s say its a DL585G2, standard of the shelf box, for say £20k (keep maths easy) with the bits, the san, memory etc, well to the business users, £20k is £20k whether it’s spent on desktops or servers, and my IT keep complaining about datacenter space, so for the typical large enterprise it’s not yet the way to go for the time being.

For example, say you’ve got 3000 people, that’s 150 DL585G2’s with a couple spare just in case, that’s a significant enough cost, and enough datacenter space, not to mention that ever expensive storage. The desktop infrastructure is paid for, it works all be it not that well, but it’s relatively cheap, yes in the long term the desktop faces challenges, possibly an uncertain future in the organization anyway, but it’s here to stay for the time being, making it work for your business therefore is the objective.

It’s mainly the following, my pcs are paid for.  they’re ‘the cost of doing business’, the £1 million a year or whatever the cost is for your business, switching to a thin client, say it’s £100, plus £90 for a monitor, plus the £1k for the hosting of the virtual desktop per user, a desktop is only £300 one off, the monitor is included or a maximum of £100, that’s it, there’s the support cost, but I have to pay some sort of support cost anyway.

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