Atlantis Software Virtual Appliance Slashes VDI Storage Costs, Boosts Desktop Performance
Intelligently optimizes how Windows XP and Windows 7 interact with shared VDI storage.
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Atlantis Computing, a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) storage and performance optimization solutions provider, has shipped Atlantis ILIO 2.0, a software virtual appliance that complements VMware and Citrix virtual desktop deployments to cut the cost of storage normally required and make it possible for IT organizations to use anti-virus agents in virtual desktop images.
Previously available as a hardware appliance, Atlantis ILIO 2.0 can be installed on any hardware server to drive the cost of a virtual desktop to below that of a physical PC while making the experience better than a PC. Atlantis ILIO can cut VDI CAPEX up to 75 percent by using up to 20 times less storage. It also enables more storage options, including the use of lower cost SAN, NAS, or local disks.
Atlantis ILIO 2.0 installs in minutes and ships with an automated configuration wizard. It can be deployed by Citrix and VMware channel partners into existing Citrix XenDesktop and VMware View VDI deployments to either support more users on the same infrastructure or address current scalability and performance issues.
VDI lowers desktop costs, gives users mobility between devices, and makes organizations more agile. However, VDI adoption has been slowed by high deployment costs associated with storage and poor user acceptance typically linked to desktop performance.
Reducing VDI Storage, Boosting Performance
The largest expense in VDI deployments is storage, which can consume up to 80 percent of an enterprise’s total VDI budget. The root cause of VDI storage problems is that conventional SAN and NAS storage were not designed to handle the tremendous IO traffic generated by thousands of virtual desktops running Windows XP or 7, and can consequently only deliver the throughput needed to support VDI by increasing the number of storage disks and controllers well beyond the storage capacity required.
Atlantis ILIO’s software intelligently optimizes how Windows XP and Windows 7 interact with shared VDI storage. It processes all VDI traffic locally at the Windows NTFS protocol level -- within the same server or rack-- to dramatically reduce the amount of IO traffic going to storage and eliminate the huge burden normally placed on a storage array by hundreds or thousands of virtual desktops.
Atlantis ILIO also de-duplicates in line all VDI images before they reach storage. It effectively eliminates the need to store up to 90 percent of Windows image components, further reducing the amount of storage required for a successful VDI deployment.
Atlantis ILIO software IO processing enables the deployment of VDI with much less storage and offers IT organizations a wider choice of storage options, including lower-tier storage and locally attached drives to further drive costs down.
VDI User Experience
Replacing the dedicated hard drive of a physical PC with a shared storage infrastructure can create significant performance problems for VDI users if the virtual desktops do not have access to very large amounts of storage. That, in turn, can lead to user dissatisfaction and put the entire VDI project at risk.
Atlantis ILIO addresses the virtual desktop performance problem without investing in additional storage infrastructure. It eliminates the storage bottleneck by effectively delivering locally in software within the server or the rack a very large amount of IOPS to boost all aspects of virtual desktop performance, including boot time, logons, profile loading, applications and productivity tasks, as well as virtualized applications such as Microsoft App-V, VMware ThinApp and Symantec SVS.
Atlantis ILIO 2.0 is generally available to all its channel partners with pricing starting at $150 per desktop. For more information, visit www.atlantiscomputing.com.