The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/27607
V irtual desktop implementation (VDI) is driving a seismic shift in the way IT operates, with interest nearly reaching the saturation point in just a few short years. In 2009, the Goldman Sachs IT spending survey reported a 40 percent response rate for companies who had deployed or would be deploying desktop virtualization, but for the 2011 survey, that number jumped to 85 percent. What explains this upsurge in interest? There are a number of reasons. In most corporate or large firm IT departments, in order for new technology or methodologies to be adopted, costs will eventually need to be reduced or gains be made, or there has to be a significant pain that will be resolved; in other words, something that will allow us to do our business better. Why the Virtualized Desktop? Virtualizing the desktop does bring gains, but its main attraction is in its ability to lower costs and reduce issues. Virtualization reduces the costs associated with the administrative efforts of software distribution, which includes everything from the operating system (OS) to the Microsoft Office suite and third party applications. It also eliminates the ongoing pain caused by operational updates, security patching and application patching. Happier Users, Happier Support Coming from a published application environment (using Citrix’s XenApp as a published application model), we’ve found the user experience is much better going to a virtual desktop. For our users, it’s almost like going back to the way it was before we gave them published applications. They find it’s more intuitive to have this encompassing solution, which is similar to a Windows desktop — they can put shortcuts on the desktop, click the start button and generally have a more familiar look and feel. And our user survey bears this finding, showing that the end user experience is superior to a traditional published application approach. Depending on how your IT department is organized, VDI “Virtualization reduces the costs associated with the administrative efforts of software distribution.” Another benefit of virtualizing the desktop is the ability to reduce configuration management pain. This fits into a separate bucket — it’s not really a security patch and it’s not really a new functional patch provided by a vendor, but rather it deals more with changes in your business. Maybe there’s been a merger, or you’ve brought on a new office, and you have changes to make in your software stack or client-side OS. Virtual desktops help eliminate that configuration pain. Perhaps equally important as a benefit is the fact that it’s a more secure solution. Data doesn’t leave the data center, so whether you’re using Citrix, VMware or one of the core virtual desktop products, the data is hosted on a server that’s either in a private cloud form or public cloud form. What this means is that there’s no data residing locally. Data stays secure in the data center and users get a screenshot — wirelessly or over the wire — to wherever they are. From an IT perspective, it’s nice because you don’t have to worry about users leaving information behind when they change devices, if a mobile device gets lost or stolen, or even in the event of an office break-in. can redirect the local support costs associated with your branch and remote offices into other areas, allowing IT staff in those offices to do new project work (e.g., Windows 7 application testing) that would normally be reserved for IT staff in the main office. What’s redirected is mostly project work because with VDI there’s nothing running locally, per se, on the PCs or thin client terminals. Thus, there’s not as much troubleshooting related to applications or the operating system. And while there’s still physical PC and printer support, things are more centralized and a lot of the old paths can be redirected. Considerations Before Committing While our experience has been extremely positive, that doesn’t mean that implementing the virtual desktop is without its obstacles. But, with a bit of preparation, VDI is something any firm with the desire can take on. Before taking the plunge, consider these areas: • Storage. People always ask what the performance is like and how to configure for VDI. The answer is it depends. What we always tell people is that your workload is going to drive your storage requirements, or IOPS (input/output operations per second). Workload is your corporate image: what OS are you running, what does your productivity suite look like with Office and all the third party apps, how many IE tabs does the typical user have open, is part of their job to use video/ flash, high-definition or anything that requires a high-end user experience? Take that information and, combined with the vendor white papers (which are very good at predicting what your workload is going to look like from your baseline IOPS or storage), get a rough idea how to architect your storage. Peer to Peer the quarterly magazine of ILTA 59