Businesses Take Another Look at Virtual Desktops
More Companies Test Alternative to PCs as Software Develops; by Predictions of RevolutionHaven't Materialized
By
As companies look for new ways to squeeze costs out of their technology budgets, some are deciding that the next PC they purchase need not be a PC
at all.
at all.
Instead, they are rolling out virtual desktops—a set-up consisting of a screen, keyboard and small connector box that ties into a powerful server in the computer room that has all the software, storage and processing capabilities that each desktop user needs.
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Wyse Technology | |
| Wyse Technology virtual desktops are installed across the campus of Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, Scotland. |
Maryland Auto Insurance Fund, an insurance company in Annapolis, Md., says it plans to replace at least two-thirds of its 600 user desktops within 18 months with virtual PCs.
Cindy Warkentin, the company's chief information officer, estimates that the move will save costs by allowing the company to replace fewer PCs every year.
The virtual PCs also allow her IT staff to centrally install software updates in a few minutes instead of working for several hours over the weekend.
The so-called thin-client revolution has been touted before, but has so far failed to arrive. At last count about 633 million desktop PCs were humming in offices around the globe, according to technology watchers at Gartner.
Gartner and other analysts say improved virtualization software for the desktop, the rising cost of maintaining PCs and demands for more security and regulatory accountability are all making conditions ripe for virtual PCs.
Gartner says the number of virtual desktops doubled in the last year to about 600,000. It predicts that over the next five years, 15% of current PCs will be replaced by virtual desktops.
Virtual desktops, which cost from $200 to $1,000 per user, lower the cost of operating and supporting PC networks by eliminating most deskside visits by technicians, while reducing viruses and security violations, vendors and analysts say.
They also help companies restrain unruly users who install rogue programs on their office computers, copy sensitive corporate information to thumb drives or prodigiously print out emails.
"This is the hottest trend out there among our customers," says Brian Gammage, a Gartner analyst.
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Wyse Technology | |
| Virtual desktops from Wyse Technology, which use a box to connect to servers, replaced PCs at Wheldon School and Sports College in England. |
Makers of virtualization software, such as VMware Inc., Citrix Systems Inc. and
Wyse Technology Co., have also worked on ways to reduce delays that prevented videos and complex graphics from displaying reliably on thin clients in the past.
Wyse Technology Co., have also worked on ways to reduce delays that prevented videos and complex graphics from displaying reliably on thin clients in the past.
Many companies postponed their normal replacement of their desktop PCs this year because of tight recession-year budgets and reluctance to buy Microsoft Corp.'s Vista operating system, which would have required more-powerful machines. But the upcoming Windows 7 is getting good reviews, leading some to consider replacing their current hardware.
"Windows 7 and the PC refresh cycle are two big reasons CIOs are evaluating virtual desktops today," says Sumit Dhawan, vice president of Citrix.
Most of them are doing pilot tests with 1,000 or fewer users, but Citrix says earlier this year one customer that it declined to name signed up to install 230,000 virtual desktops.
Vendors say customers won't save much initially buying thin clients instead of PCs because they still have to buy just as many software licenses and need to spend more for servers and storage. The biggest savings for most companies come in ongoing operating costs.
International Business Machines Corp., whose service arm installs virtual networks for customers, estimates customers get at least 95% savings in the cost of desktop-technology support because technicians need to be sent out less frequently.
Thin clients don't have a hard drive, which is a common source of trouble, and because most problems can be solved at the server site. IBM also says desktop virtualization can mean a 40% drop in electricity use.
One cost-conscious user, the Pike County School System in Kentucky, kept its old PCs in a recent tech realignment that IBM worked on, but it turned off their hard drives and ran them as virtual PCs.
source : djreprints.com
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