Virtual desktops ripe for deployment, hindered by cost

Desktop virtualization, with its promises of improved security, manageability and flexibility, may be on the verge of huge adoption, some experts are predicting.

But as with many new technologies, there is a catch. ROI is one of the main selling points, but desktop virtualization requires significant upfront costs and it can easily take three or four years to realize financial rewards.

"I see huge interest right now, for many reasons," says Forrester analyst Natalie Lambert. "But the challenge is that desktop virtualization is a very costly endeavor. I don't care what people tell you otherwise, they're wrong."

What is desktop virtualization and why should you consider it? Find out in our FAQ.

Gartner's latest numbers released this month predict that hosted virtual desktop revenue will quadruple this year, going from $74.1 million worldwide in 2008 to nearly $300 million in 2009.

Meanwhile, a survey of 340 IT managers found that 41% are already investing in desktop virtualization, and that the technology is a "critical priority" for 22%, according to IDG Research Services Group.

Respondents were virtualizing 6% of desktops at the time of the survey, and expected to virtualize one-third by 2010. But the survey was conducted in April 2008, so recent economic changes could affect those numbers.

"Is [desktop virtualization] going to break out in 2009? I don't see any reason it would," IDC analyst Michael Rose says. "Frankly, the current economic environment environment is going to be a significant barrier for adoption of virtual desktops in the data center."

True ubiquity could take another five years, given current financial problems and the nature of PC refresh cycles, he says.

Nonetheless some early adopters are reporting success, with users embracing the notion of being able to access desktops from multiple locations and multiple devices.

"[Virtualizing desktops] is going to save us $250,000 per year that we were spending on desktop refreshes. There were some upfront costs, but we figure there will be a two-year ROI," says Dustin Fennell, CIO of Scottsdale Community College in Arizona.

Additionally, vendors such as VMware and Citrix are working on new ways of providing virtual desktops, which they believe will spur greater adoption.

How it works

In virtualized desktop environments, the operating system, applications and associated data are abstracted from the user's PC. Broadly speaking, there are two types of desktop virtualization. Local desktop virtualization runs the entire desktop environment in a protected "bubble" on the user's PC. Hosted desktop virtualization stores the users' desktops in the data center, requiring users to access their desktop images through a network connection.

Within these categories are several sub-types.

In the hosted desktop virtualization realm, enterprises can store virtual desktops on a standard server accessed by multiple users simultaneously, or a PC blade architecture in which each blade typically serves just one user at a time. Users can connect to their desktops using thin clients, laptops or regular desktops, but hosted desktops usually preclude any sort of offline access.