VMware White Papers

The world of client computing within the enterprise is in the midst of reevaluation. Not only are user needs increasing in diversity and complexity, but the increased capabilities and mobility being made available to them are creating security risks and causing growth in management and support costs for organizations of all sizes.

In response to these growing challenges, CIOs and other IT managers are revisiting their client computing strategies and are increasingly considering a move toward a more centralized client environment. To accomplish this goal, a growing number of organizations are beginning to deploy (or pilot) desktop virtualization solutions such as VMware’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and Assured Computing Environment (ACE).

These technologies leverage virtualization software to separate desktop environments from the underlying hardware on which they run, and in many cases, they are enabling greater levels of security and manageability than was possible within distributed desktop environments. All the while these technologies still maintain, to a large extent, the flexibility of the distributed model.

This IDC white paper considers the concept of desktop virtualization, specifically as made available by VMware’s VDI and ACE. The document also considers the benefits and limitations of these technologies as well as the best use cases for each, exemplified through user case studies.

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