The Xen of virtualisation

May/June Edition, 2008: Microsoft and Citrix are jointly marketing a new platform for delivery of virtualised Windows desktops.

XenDesktop is a new delivery solution that allows companies to host desktops on a virtual machine infrastructure in the data centre, then deliver them to end users over the network using a virtual?delivery protocol.

By separating applications from the desktop OS and provisioning them independently at runtime from new master images, end users get a fresh new desktop at each login that is promised to be fast, secure, personalised and free from the corruption and conflicts that plague traditional desktop solutions.

By managing desktops and applications separately and combining them only at runtime, XenDesktop?also allows IT to maintain a single?master Windows desktop OS image for all users rather than trying to maintain separate fully-loaded desktop VMs in the datacenter for each employee with applications hard coded into each one. This approach reduces storage costs and simplifies desktop lifecycle management for IT administrators.

According to industry estimates, managing a typical end-user desktop can now cost over $US5,000 a year per employee, an investment level that is coming under increasing scrutiny in many companies around the world. Unfortunately, this extraordinarily high level of investment still cannot keep?pace with the rapid increase in?application conflicts and corruptions that degrade user performance,?reduce employee productivity and increase the risk of data loss and?security exposure.

“Desktop virtualisation has shown some promise in addressing key challenges with traditional desktop deployment. However, the limitations of existing technologies do not yet sufficiently address the myriad amount of challenges associated with a server-based desktop infrastructure,” said Michael Rose, associate research?analyst, IDC.

XenDesktop costs $US75 per concurrent user.

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