What do you think are the main ingredients to any successful desktop virtualization project? Is it application integration methodology? Is it hardware? What about the IT team? Based on my experience, the top requirements really boils down to a few core items, all of which I’ve discussed many times in previous blog postings (applications, standards, and executive buy-in to name a few).
Before we get into the seven requirements, we must understand the point of desktop virtualization. Desktop virtualization is not about virtualizing the desktop. Virtualizing the desktop is easy. Desktop virtualization is about enabling IT to be more flexible and agile. If done properly, desktop virtualization can allow IT to deliver new operating systems, patches, security fixes and applications without requiring months or years of effort.
What does this mean for the business? It means that users will be more focused on their job instead of trying to deal with IT. How many of you, when you think of your IT team, can feel your stress level increase? You’re sitting there watching your logon script take 10 minutes to execute and you know the person who wrote that bloated pile of garbage is sitting in their cube playing World of Warcraft.
So you now take matters into your own hands. You remove your computer from the domain. You install your own applications. You manage your desktop as if it were your own. This means you are no longer in sync with the rest of the organization. This is one of the reasons why it takes IT so long to do anything. If IT changes their practices and processes and utilizes technology that can deliver a pristine desktop environment to you every day, you might be less likely to go rouge. But in order to do this, the virtual desktop implementation must follow a few important requirements if things will change for the better. These items are what I like to call the Seven Requirements for Desktop Virtualization Success.
Read it. Understand it. Let’s discuss it. Did I miss anything? Do you think other items are more important than the ones discussed? Let’s make sure virtual desktops are the solution to this ever growing problem of desktop delivery.
Daniel - Lead Architect
i think i really like your blog. keep posting good articel dude..!
Great site. We’ve recently been asked to centralize all branch data to head office. We are currently trialing a XenDesktop/XenApp solution which is going ok for users based in head office but we’re getting ourselves stuck in a riddle within a maze trying to understand the most appropriate end point for our remote users - particularly laptop users. You’re document is nice but sounds like it is written by the marketing department and aimed at non-technical IT decision makers. Page 13 Gives us a breakdown of the 6 different citrix solutions but at such a high level it is meaningless without divining a bit more from Pg 14′s constraints. Where can I find more detailed information about this stuff? I’m in Australia and the next course I can find is interstate and in two months!
Thanks
Luke