The past few years have seen an increase in the amount of businesses embracing and moving towards a remote workforce, but the current impact of COVID-19 has sped up the process, moving most or all employees across industries to work remotely in the span of a few days. The need to implement a remote working environment has also led to a surge in reliance on technology that has been around for a long time, but has only recently gained popularity: VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure).
What is Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)?
Definition: VDI is a technology that uses virtual machines to provide and manage virtual desktops and is made up of three primary components: a virtualization platform, a connection broker, and a profile management solution.
- A virtualization platform consisting of computing hardware and a hypervisor
- A connection broker that connects users to virtual desktops
- A profile management solution that allows users to have their unique information persist in a virtual desktop environment.
Ideal for mobile or remote workstations, VDI provides significant benefits to user desktop management, offering increased security, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) flexibility, and better image management.
History of VDI
Despite the increasing demand for VDI technology, it hasn’t always had a great track record, as many organizations found it too costly and complex to implement and use. Previous issues included external bandwidth problems for a large number of users, difficulties ensuring networks are secure, and navigating the constant changes to Windows virtual machine licensing.
Virtual desktop infrastructure was further complicated by the introduction of and the desire to incorporate tablets and smartphones. However, new players and modern components like Scale Computing HyperCore, Leostream VDI connection brokering and Parallels Remote Access Server (Parallels RAS) mean VDI is now better suited for mobile and remote working environments, providing a solution that is easier to manage, more affordable and secure, and which has the ability to consolidate both the hardware and software into a single computing system for greater efficiency.
The Future of VDI
Scale Computing has streamlined the infrastructure for the mid-market and distributed enterprise and has opened up access to those who previously believed it to be unaffordable or unrealistic. Scale Computing HyperCore automates infrastructure management so that a solution can be deployed quickly, managed easily, and allow for future growth with seamless scale-out. By pairing SC//HyperCore virtualization with VDI solutions or remote desktop solutions, users get a simple, all-in-one solution that provides rapid deployment, ease of management, and high availability at affordable prices.
Leostream supports Windows and Linux and specializes in providing desktops with on-demand and improved security without the licensing fees associated with full VDI stack solutions. By running SC//HyperCore and Leostream to underpin its VDI solutions, Paris Community Hospital in Illinois saw an improvement in the performance and overall efficiency of the hospital’s IT infrastructure.
Parallels RAS works with both VDI and remote desktop sessions for connection management and is integrated with RDSH for application publishing. Parallels RAS users also see more BYOD connectivity to desktops and applications on nearly any operating system. When combined with SC//HyperCore, Parallels RAS enables administrators to rapidly provision and manage virtual machine (VM) thin clones centrally from Parallels RAS Console to make virtual desktop infrastructure solutions faster, more affordable, and easier to use.
Now that organizations have the ability to select and pair connection broker and profile management solutions, they can build modern, robust solutions that meet the needs of their users. SC//HyperCore provides an affordable solution that is scalable and removes the complexity from VDI. Our experts can provide you with more information by calling us at 877-722-5359 or emailing us at info@scalecomputing.com.
More information can also be found in our white paper, Introduction to Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.