VDI stories on BrianMadden.com

Ah VDI... You are what this site is all about, right? VDI, which originally stood for "Virtual Desktop Infrastructure," was a term originally invented by VMware in the mid-2000s. VDI officially describes a type of desktop virtualization where a desktop runs as a virtual machine in a datacenter, and then the user connects via a thin client or remote desktop software on a laptop to the virtual desktop via some kind of remote display protocol (RDP, HDX, PC-over-IP, etc.).

Unfortunately in today's world, a lot of people use the term "VDI" interchangeably with "desktop virtualization." But actually VDI is only one type of desktop virtualization. (Other types of desktop virtualization include Microsoft Remote Desktop, Client Hypervisors, and OS Streaming.) Some people have tried to lessen the confusion by not using the term "VDI" at all. (For example, Gartner calls it "hosted virtual desktops, or "HVD.") But the sad reality is that many people continue to use the term "VDI" and "desktop virtualization" interchangeably.

But not us! We agree with Gartner in this case. All of our articles about VDI are only about the specific flavor of desktop virtualization where the user's desktop is running as a virtual machine on a hypervisor in a datacenter. For some textbook definitions, check out remote desktop connection broker, host-based virtual machine, and desktop virtualization at SearchVirtualDesktop.com.

Announcing the second edition of The VDI Delusion: "The New VDI Reality"

Big news from BriForum 2013 London, which kicks off today! It’s been a little over a year since Gabe, Jack, and I published the first edition of our book, The VDI Delusion . While we're incredibly proud of that book, in hindsight we're not sure...

by Brian Madden on May 16, 2013 : 2 comments , 2,880 views
VDI is still about trade-offs. The difference is that in 2013, you can pick which ones.

Blog posting on BrianMadden.com might be a bit light this week as we scramble to put the final touches on our BriForum 2013 London conference which takes place this Thursday and Friday in London. (If you haven't registered yet and like to attend, you...

by Brian Madden on May 14, 2013 : 4 comments , 3,156 views
The return of the Start menu? Word is spreading that Microsoft is set to give in on Windows 8 and stop shoving tablet features down the throat of desktops

Word that Windows 8 isn't selling well is probably only surprising to the people that have bought Windows 8 devices so far, because in enterprises around the world the OS has barely gotten any attention other than by the same tortured souls that tried...

by Gabe Knuth on May 09, 2013 : 10 comments , 3,432 views
Despite rumors to the contrary, Dell vWorkspace is alive and well with version 8. Here's a look at some of the new features.

A few weeks ago, vWorkspace 8 was released, and while we used to be notified of such releases, things have apparently changed since Dell acquired Quest. I'm sure some of this has to do with Jon Roll's departure from the company to fill the CTO position...

by Gabe Knuth on May 03, 2013 : 2 comments , 4,259 views
Could VMCS Shadowing (a.k.a. nested VMs) from Intel's new Haswell processors be what Bromium needs to work in VMs?

Over the last few months, details have been trickling out about Intel's latest processor family, Haswell. Just this week, pricing information was leaked for desktop and mobile processors, and we've also seen feature charts and some benchmarks on pre-release...

by Gabe Knuth on April 26, 2013 : 3 comments , 5,281 views
Will single app desktop VMs replace RDSH / Terminal Server in the future?

I've been writing about the future of the Windows desktop quite a bit recently. My belief is that as the world moves to devices and tablets and web apps and cloud whatever, the lowly Windows desktop application will be reduced to middleware , only used...

by Brian Madden on April 22, 2013 : 9 comments , 4,599 views
I thought we weren't supposed to use Windows 7 x64 with VDI. If that's the case, why are so many doing it?

Last week, Project VRC released the results of their State of the Industry Survey , and upon reading it I discovered several interesting things ( which I wrote about last week ). Besides the fact that significantly more people are doing non-persistent...

by Gabe Knuth on March 20, 2013 : 7 comments , 10,917 views
2013 is the year that two of the biggest showstoppers to VDI adoption are finally solved. Here's how.

I've made a lot of predictions in the past that have been wrong, most notably that by 2010 all the technical components would be in place for wholesale VDI adoption . (Though in my defense in those days we used the term "VDI" to describe all types of...

by Brian Madden on March 18, 2013 : 9 comments , 12,897 views
Project VRC's State of the Industry survey results: 32% of VDI is stateless, and over 50% of companies don't use third party UEM. These results and more!

Last year, Project VRC invited people around the world complete an extensive survey that asked them to describe their desktop virtualization environment. 662 people took part in the survey, and since it closed, Project VRC has been busy making sense of...

by Gabe Knuth on March 14, 2013 : 7 comments , 9,774 views
VDI Smackdown: Head-to-head analysis of Citrix XenDesktop, Citrix VIAB, Dell vWorkspace, Microsoft Windows8/Server2012 and VMware View 5.2 + more

Are you looking for an independent overview of desktop virtualization solutions and curious about the different strategy questions? Do you want detailed information about the features and functions each desktop virtualization vendor is offering!? If so...

by Ruben Spruijt on March 10, 2013 : 0 comments , 10,209 views
VMware launches Horizon Suite, but it still has a ways to go to meet expectations. Here's our complete analysis:

Today, VMware is launching Horizon Suite , which we first learned about at VMworld last fall. Coming out of VMworld, I remember having the impression that despite being let down in the past by announcements that were never seen through to releases, VMware...

by Gabe Knuth on February 20, 2013 : 5 comments , 11,164 views
Asking Citrix for answers about the XenDesktop VDA is like a “Who’s on First” Abbot & Costello routine.

Practically everyone knows about the classic skit from Abbott and Costello titled " Who's on First? " The skit is a hilarious exchange between the two men where Costello is merely trying to understand who the correct player is in each field...

by Shawn Bass on February 04, 2013 : 3 comments , 6,589 views
Project VRC: Antivirus impact and best practices on VDI

Jeroen and I are pleased to announce the release of the long awaited 'Phase V' whitepaper which gives unbiased and independent insights in the impact and best practices of various antivirus solutions on VDI. We truly believe we have interesting...

by Ruben Spruijt on January 15, 2013 : 6 comments , 8,959 views
Do you have design principles for VDI? How does VDI fit into your broader infrastructure strategy? - Part 1 of 2

In October I wrote a post highlighting that the CapEx Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) focus is drowning out OpEx considerations and asked the question why bother with VDI? This generated some robust comments which essentially argued the following...

by Harry Labana on November 29, 2012 : 4 comments , 6,142 views
Is there a reason to move to Windows 8 in the enterprise? Maybe a few, but probably not enough...

I've been all over the US this year speaking about desktop virtualization and the future of Windows, and part of that discussion is what, if anything, should people do with Windows 8. I maintain now, as I did before the launch, that Windows 8 should be...

by Gabe Knuth on November 27, 2012 : 9 comments , 6,719 views
Citrix Excalibur, a look at the new management interface, and the end of XenApp? A video from Citrix Synergy Barcelona

One of the first videos we shot from the show floor at Citrix Synergy last week was that of Excalibur, which is the first release coming out of Project Avalon. Announced during the keynote, Excalibur is the unification of XenDesktop and XenApp functionality...

by Gabe Knuth on October 24, 2012 : 6 comments , 13,275 views
CRN claims Apple is working with VMware to use View to bring the desktop iWork to iPads. WTF!?!

The title pretty much sums it up. In a news story from yesterday, CRN is reporting that Apple is working with VMware to use VMware View-based technology to deliver Apple's desktop office suite called "iWork" from the Apple-owned cloud to be an office...

by Brian Madden on October 23, 2012 : 6 comments , 7,527 views
Gabe's Citrix Synergy Barcelona keynote wrap-up: Merging XenApp and XenDesktop, Mobility, and more. Plus, GTM with Kinect?

Yesterday, Citrix made us laugh, made us cry, and, occasionally, made us groan in awkward agony during the opening keynote of Citrix Synergy Barcelona 2012. The highlight of the show, for me, was Excalibur, which answers years of wishing for a combined...

by Gabe Knuth on October 18, 2012 : 3 comments , 6,399 views
Gabe Knuth, Jack Madden, and Shawn Bass for a live podcast from Citrix Synergy Barcelona

While Brian is jetting about Asia, Gabe, Jack, and Justin are on the scene at Citrix Synergy in Barcelona. We did a live podcast to wrap up the announcements from Mark Templeton's opening keynote, and Shawn Bass was here to help us distill the information...

by Gabe Knuth on October 16, 2012 : 0 comments , 4,218 views
Why even consider VDI? The "CapEx versus OpEx" see-saw

Before I begin, I want to thank Brian and Gabe for inviting me to blog on Brianmadden.com and especially Gabe for nudging me that I should stop procrastinating and get on with it. Thanks guys! For years now the debate over PC vs. VDI has raged on. I’ve...

by Harry Labana on October 11, 2012 : 12 comments , 6,630 views

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next > ... Last »

Most Viewed VDI Posts

Most Commented VDI Posts

VDI Videos

VDI stories on BrianMadden.com