Despite this popularity, for IT professionals, Windows 10 brings some of the baggage of its predecessors – painful migrations, time-consuming end-point management, and patches. Even with improvements to minimise these issues, Windows 10 can still cause headaches as IT administrators attempt to migrate their endpoint devices without impacting users.
VDI is a technology which has matured at a time when IT professionals are looking for a new way to simplify upgrades and patches, reduce downtime and become more agile to respond faster to the rapidly changing IT landscape while providing a better experience for everyone.
A range of advancements in VDI are making virtual computing a reality for organisations who need a way to provide a good user experience, reduce costs and simplify their end user computing strategy. As a result, VDI and Windows can work very effectively together – here’s why:
1. Reduced storage requirements
Over the last few years VDI solutions have become less expensive and easier to manage by IT generalists. Most VDI solutions no longer require huge storage systems, complicated infrastructures or deeply experienced IT teams to administer them.
Historically, storage platforms presented the largest barrier to VDI adoption. Many of these solutions required large and expensive storage infrastructures that took a lot of time to setup, deploy and administer. That’s because past storage systems were built to address capacity over performance, which resulted in a poor user experience and added complexities. VDI shook up traditional storage architecture by pioneering the need for both capacity and performance.
Software Defined Storage (SDS) solutions are also altering storage systems the same way that server virtualisation changed server hardware. SDS enables administrators to pool and abstract physical storage to apply data services at the software level for increased performance and significant data reduction.
These two advancements dramatically reduced the amount of required storage, making virtual desktops less expensive than traditional PCs. As a result, VDI makes it easier to deliver a seamless Windows 10 environment a smaller footprint and an environment that is simple to setup, maintain, and support. In addition, Windows 10 users on VDI get a superior experience over a PC due to the faster SDS and server computing performance.
2. Easier management and scaling through hyper-convergence
Software defined computing is paving the way for the introduction of hyper-converged computing, which is ideal for VDI deployments, especially in Windows 10. This approach allows administrators to replace complex infrastructures of mixed hardware by consolidating all of their compute, storage, and networking into servers that are easier to manage. Hyper-converged solutions remove the guesswork of scaling and sizing VDI with a more modular and predictable architecture that is easy to support and maintain.
The simplicity of hyper-converged solutions and the efficiency of SDS make VDI the optimal platform for delivering Windows 10.
3. Simplified updates and deployment
With every operating system upgrade, all hardware and software assets must be tested and validated. If any part of the configuration isn’t compatible with the operating system, the whole migration can come to a screeching halt. This also means that productivity comes to a halt as the desktop PC or notebook is taken out of commission to fix the upgrade issue.
In contrast, the combination of VDI and cloud-based apps creates a modern virtual workspace that enables users to be productive on any device from any location.
4. Elimination of end point management
The amount of time to migrate to Windows 10 is significantly reduced in virtualised settings by eliminating the management of endpoint devices. With VDI, there’s no need to create images for different machines. Virtualisation also reduces application testing times with a standardised infrastructure platform. If an application doesn’t work on Windows 10, it can be virtualised on the supported operating system and seamlessly delivered to a Windows 10 environment.
5. Relief from painful patch management
Microsoft recently announced that it is eliminating the well-known “Patch Tuesday” model, which IT organisations have built their maintenance models around, in favour of constantly sending a stream of patches to endpoints. In honor of its one-year milestone, Microsoft just unveiled its anniversary update for IT to install.
Organisations with modern workspaces will be able to respond quickly and easily to these kinds of updates with fewer testing cycles to bring technology innovations. Once the Windows 10 environment is virtualised, ongoing support is greatly simplified. Administrators can centrally apply updates, patches and changes on the same platform for greater consistency and more quickly.
By building a VDI environment with Windows 10, you can centrally deliver all of your desktops, applications and entire infrastructure.
VDI provides organisations a new era of sophisticated and secure end user computing that enables administrators to respond faster to the demands of their users. VDI has finally arrived just in time for businesses to deliver a Windows 10 environment that’s not only the best experience for their users, but also their IT organisation, and all for a cost that’s less than a PC.
