More

    Dell Partners with Citrix to Deliver VDI as an Appliance

    Slide Show

    10 Surprising Ways Automation Can Simplify IT

    At the Citrix Summit 2016 conference today, Dell announced that it is working with Citrix to bring a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) appliance to market capable of now supporting up to 5,000 users on a platform that fits in a 2u rack.

    At the same time, Dell announced that it is adding support for Microsoft Lync and Skype for Business to thin clients running version 8.2 of the Dell Wyse ThinOS operating system.

    Dan O’Farrell, senior director of product marketing for Dell Cloud Client-Computing, says while IT organizations have always liked the management flexibility enabled by thin client computing, the cost of setting up, deploying and managing VDI has always been a challenge. By working with Citrix to create a VDI appliance running Citrix XenDesktop, it is now much simpler for IT organizations to deploy and manage a VDI environment, says O’Farrell.

    In addition, O’Farrell notes that because it’s configured as an appliance, acquiring a VDI platform is now much simpler because the Citrix XenDesktop software comes embedded on the appliance versus requiring IT organizations to make two separate purchases.

    As a result of having an appliance, O’Farrell says Dell also expects that more IT organizations are going to be willing to pilot a VDI environment because the risks in terms of time and effort associated with deploying VDI have been substantially reduced.

    In general, O’Farrell says many organizations looking to support mobile devices are taking a second look at thin client computing because running all the applications on an appliance reduces the attack surface they need to secure. In addition, all those mobile computing devices have complicated change management inside most IT organizations. O’Farrell says running everything on an appliance makes it a lot simpler to manage those changes.

    Of course, there’s still a lot of resistance to VDI, given existing perceptions about the total cost of ownership associated with accessing applications over a network. But as networks get faster and servers become more robust, the economics of VDI will only continue improve.

    Mike Vizard
    Mike Vizard
    Michael Vizard is a seasoned IT journalist, with nearly 30 years of experience writing and editing about enterprise IT issues. He is a contributor to publications including Programmableweb, IT Business Edge, CIOinsight and UBM Tech. He formerly was editorial director for Ziff-Davis Enterprise, where he launched the company’s custom content division, and has also served as editor in chief for CRN and InfoWorld. He also has held editorial positions at PC Week, Computerworld and Digital Review.

    Get the Free Newsletter!

    Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends, and analysis.

    Latest Articles