Virtual Client Computing revenue will break $1 billion mark in 2016 in EMEA

The study assesses the different approaches to desktop virtualization, as well as market drivers and inhibitors, and shows that growth is expected to be driven mainly by the centralized virtual desktop (CVD) category, which is also referred to as virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), while other areas such as application and user state virtualization and virtual user sessions will only see moderate growth.

"Following the advances in datacenter infrastructure virtualization, it is more than logical to bring their efficiency and flexibility to desktops and applications by introducing a VCC solution," said Andreas Olah, research analyst, IDC EMEA Datacenter Infrastructure Group. "Cloud service providers are also expected to take a greater chunk of the VDI market with their hosted DaaS and WaaS solutions, which bring the benefits of client and desktop virtualization to small enterprises in the same way cloud computing has changed the way IT infrastructure resources are consumed."

While major European markets and the Middle East are expected to catch up rapidly with the more mature markets over the next five years, adoption in southern Europe and in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is expected to remain low in comparison despite some progress.

"Despite a few larger VDI projects, the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa are still lagging behind Western Europe," said Mohamed Hefny, senior research analyst, Systems and Infrastructure Solutions, IDC CEMA. "There are more urgent infrastructure challenges — for example, hospital funds would be directed to critically needed medical equipment and analytics capabilities, rather than virtualized infrastructure."

IDC recommends that organizations of all sizes evaluate the introduction of VDI in view of pressure from end users, competitors, the changing IT landscape, and increasing workforce mobility, as well as the trend toward bring-your-own-device (BYOD). However, it is crucial to avoid major pitfalls in the form of set-up and organizational costs spiraling out of control and disruption caused by the inability to deal with increasing complexities that desktop virtualization may create. VDI in itself does not necessarily enable mobility, and a constant reliable connection between mobile devices and a datacenter is required to avoid latency and downtime issues.