VDI -- The Red Hot Discussion

I've never seen anything like this in the industry.  VMware is going from strength to strength in a way that's hard for many of us to fully comprehend.

Just when you thought the server-oriented ESX party was raging, over the last 6-12 months the VDI discussion has become extremely interesting, especially to larger organizations who are seeing the potential to save money, deliver better user experiences, improve security and so on.

As a result, a number of vendors are being drawn into extremely interesting conversations around VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure), including EMC.

I thought I'd offer up a few thoughts on this, based on what I'm hearing from people.

IT Gets It

If you've been around the industry for any length of time, periodically the thin client discussion comes around.   Please, set aside your cynicism for just a moment -- this time it's different.

Previously, it's been an IT-driven thing.  All the benefits accrued to IT, and few (if any) to the knowledge workers who had to use the stuff.  There were some nasty compromises that limited thin-client effectiveness.

With VDI, users get clear benefits. 

It's a full experience with no compromises - an XP Pro desktop is an XP Pro desktop -- it's very hard to detect any meaningul differences.  They get the ability to potentially work on any device (home, office, etc.) and get a full and consistent desktop experience -- no schlepping files around, etc.

And, from what I've heard, the performance is exceptional.  Most PC applications are I/O bound these days -- how much time do you wait watching the disk light on your desktop, or waiting to access a network file, mail server or database?

Now compare that with the ability to run on a multi-core server processor, with plenty of RAM, with all data coming over a very fast storage network, and all that gets squirted out is the presentation layer over the network -- and, well, it's an entirely different performance paradigm.

Now, add to that the ability to do the same thing at home, or a borrowed laptop in the office, with no need to back things up, configure things, wait for IT to set me up, etc.

I've talked to a few large companies that have done pilots, and now they've created a "good" problem for themselves -- everyone wants the VDI experience.

I, as a user, want to live in this world.

And, in my mind, that's a key difference -- there's a big win for IT (insert long list of reasons here) -- and there's a big win for the user -- once they experience what VDI can do.

Some VDI Goodness From the VMware Website

Someone sent me the following three white papers off the VMware website.  I found them so good that I wanted to share with you.

One is a standard "success story" at Fidelity.

One is an extremely interesting "nameless study" by Forrester on the ROI associated with a large scale VDI deployment.  Looks like Fidelity to me, but I'm not naming names.  More on this later.

And, finally, a wonderful discussion with Server Centric Consulting that digs into some of the infrastructure issues associated with successful VDI deployments, some of which might surprise you.

Maybe you're ahead of me, and had seen these before.  If not, go take a look.

The Forrester Study

I find this interesting in two regards -- not only what they did, but how they did it.

By exposing their methodology to readers, it's rather straightforward for most shops to modify their model and run the numbers for your environment.  Not perfect, but extremely useful.

The best reading for me was the "intangibles" section -- certain aspects of an ROI model can be quantified, but other aspects can't be, even though they're perhaps just as important.  A great discussion towards the end of the paper that I found very enlightening.

What I really liked was their disclosure regarding their relationship with VMware.  Yes, VMware sponsored the study, but they were very clear as to where the lines were drawn.

Personally, I'd like to encourage far more of this kind of independent study, and far less of the other kind, which I find very disappointing.

A key read for anyone considering justifying VDI in their shop.

The Server Centric Consulting Interview

A lot of good material here, including a blow-by-blow discussion of VDI concepts, how it all works, etc.  Great discussions around connection brokers, and related components of the required infrastructure.

Being a storage guy, I found a couple of excerpts fascinating, including their rather skeptical take on the value snapshots and data-deplication in many of these environments, and a surprising endorsement of FC SANs for high-density VDI implementations. 

Whether you agree with them or not, it's worth a leisurely read, if nothing else but to understand their logic.

So, Where Is EMC with VDI?

All over it, so to speak.  Unlike other vendors, we don't want to make this a noisy marketing campaign, preferring a more consultative engagement at this stage in the game.

The reasons are clear.  Depending on circumstances, VDI can be very important to you, or something to wait on, or both.  We're still in a "fast learning cycle" on our larger deployments -- we've learned a lot, but we continue to learn more, so declaring victory-and-repeatability on this particular topic is a bit premature.  The technology components continue to evolve very quickly.  New best practices are coming in regularly.

And, ultimately, every customer situation is very different.

But, make no mistake, a lot of larger IT shops are pursuing this with vigor.  And, I'd like to think we bring a lot to the table, in addition to our fortunate relationship with VMware itself.

• optimized storage infrastructures: tiering, space-saving snaps, archiving, etc.
• optimized backup and recovery, whether as a service (Mozy) or a product (Avamar), or both
• service delivery management via Smarts (hint: you'll look at the network a bit differently in a VDI environment)
• enhanced security with the RSA portfolio
• proven solutions for server-side applications like Exchange, SQLserver, SAP, Oracle, filesystems et. al. in a VMWare environment (not only cost-effective, etc. but potentially wicked fast from an end user perspective if you think about it).
• and a particularly interesting approach to the "boot storm" challenge that's occasionally been seen

Not to mention a good professional services capabilities to help with the analysis, justification, design, implementation and management of the resulting environment.

The Potential Is There For A Win-Win-Win

We talk about wins, and win-win.  This one is shaping up to be a win-win-win.

IT wins by saving money on an expensive part of their landscape.

Users win by getting a better experience that's more consistent across more devices.

And the business wins by getting a more productive, more secure and more flexible environment that supports their knowledge workers better than ever before.

My only coaching here? 

Don't over-optimize the environment for cost savings.  I've talked to more than a few IT organizations that were trying to get the very last pennies out of cost savings, at the expense of an improved user experience.

If you don't want to worry about adoption, why not just back off on the over-cost-optimization, and leave some goodies for the users?  A great, cost-optimized solution that no one wants to use won't deliver the benefits you're thinking about ...

Please, take process and policy change issues seriously.  Go take a hard look at everything you do for desktop users.  Not only will most of the processes be significantly different (improved!), much of it will be done by a server-oriented team, and not a desktop-oriented team. 

And, surprisingly, many of the policies around desktop usage might be re-thought at the same time.  Like access from outside the firewall, for example.  Or supporting consultants and other business partners using internal applications.  A lot can potentially change here -- and for the good.

Quite humbly, I've never seen anything like this before ...

Comments

[Jeanne Johnson]

Hey Chuck: Thanks very much for the positive comments. We write these things and wonder if anyone really sees them. I have to credit VMware for being brave enough to allow us to say what we think no matter whether it is positive or negative - and endorse the free thinking consultative approach. We think this is the most exciting time in IT we've seen - and we very much look forward to more.