By Chris Ward
Senior Solutions Architect
GreenPages Technology Solutions

It's 2008. Thin is in. And as the year progresses, we're going to see more organizations send their desktops to the datacenter. With a centrally managed and hosted VDI environment, IT administrators can increase control and simplify management while giving users what they want: a completely updated, secure, personalized, and complete desktop experience.

The Benefits of Desktop Virtualization
The primary advantage of VDI is isolation, and one of the best use cases for VDI is when you cannot use a terminal services or a Citrix type of solution due to application incompatibilities. In a VDI environment, each user has a dedicated Windows XP virtual machine which eliminates virtually all application compatibility issues and provides isolation from virtual machine or application errors. You get improved manageability of desktop images (optionally shared) updated, patched, backed–up, and restored—as well as improved network and user access control and security. Additionally, with workstations running on robust server hardware in the datacenter, you get increased fault tolerance and simplified disaster recovery designs.

Cost Considerations
VDI can be expensive in terms of upfront capital expenditures, but can offer a low TCO and high ROI over a 3–5 year period. TCO for a VDI project needs to be calculated differently than a classic server consolidation project because the goals are different. In a server consolidation project, you're measuring hard costs like power consumption, cooling costs, physical footprint, and data center rack space.

When considering the ROI and TCO of a VDI deployment, you must consider the management and maintenance costs associated with classic desktop PCs in addition to the hardware and licensing costs associated with deploying VDI. When all of the proper metrics are used, you will almost always see compelling ROI and TCO with a VDI deployment.

Industry Updates
	Security and Control on the Chip for Notebook PCs
	WatchGuard Leads Security Industry with "Green" Network Initiative
	Hitachi Boosts Midrange Storage Systems with Integrated Multi-Protocol Connectivity
	The HP BladeSystem approach to simplify infrastructure
	Extend VI3 to the Desktop with a free VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Starter Kit

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Tech Trends 2008!
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HIMSS08
GreenPages will be attending HIMSS08 February 24 -28 in Orlando, FL.
HIMSS08 is where healthcare IT professionals, physicians, nurses, HIT executives, pharmacists and vendors from around the world come together for a week that will forever change the face of healthcare IT.
Visit us at booth #6282.

For more information on HIMSS08 please visit www.himss.org

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For more information, contact Tina Saltmarsh tsaltmarsh
@greenpages.com,
800-989-2989 x 1306.

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