Virtualization adoption reaches new heights

Organizations worldwide are harnessing the power of virtualization to cut costs in their physical asset expenditure, deliver high-performance applications to remote users and reduce the level of labor required to support aging end-point computers. It's for these reasons that technologies such as virtual desktop deployments are gaining such traction across both public and private sectors. Adoption is reaching new heights for the hardware, software and policies related to virtualization, and IT decision-makers must get ahead of these trends to realize cost savings and performance gains.

Different label, same growth
As with any burgeoning IT development, virtualization solutions have been the subject of much scrutiny with regard to their various labels, definitions and use cases. According to a recent article from Microscope, however, the underlying advancements are becoming widely due to the success experienced with datacenter virtualization. The source explained that virtual client computing, research firm IDC's chosen name for virtual desktop environments, will exceed $1 billion in revenue across Europe, the Middle East and Africa within the next year or so.

IDC researchers reportedly pointed out that VDI, no matter how it is labeled by adopters, offers an ideal approach to IT in the modern business environment, allowing decision-makers to leverage tech assets on a more strategic, granular level. With an added layer of control via the virtual machine hypervisor, administrators gain complete command over their desktop utilization and the distribution of particular applications and resources. The source noted that this compelling value proposition is driving the growth of VDI and cloud solutions, as well as an expanding diversity of dedicated apps.

"Following the advances in data center infrastructure virtualization, it is more than logical to bring their efficiency and flexibility to desktops and applications by introducing a VCC solution," Andreas Olah, research analyst at the IDC EMEA Datacenter Infrastructure Group, told the source. "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."

Mobile makes VDI worthwhile
As a recent article from the Register explained, the deployment and management of mobile devices is a continuous challenge for IT departments worldwide, and one that virtual architectures address directly with dynamic virtual instances. Decision-makers not only have the power to deliver full-featured workstation images to their mobile users, but also maintain visibility and security over the entire network, reducing issues such as shadow IT and jailbroken devices. With more end users tapping into sensitive resources with their personal smartphones and laptops, control is more critical than ever.

"This aspect of MDM for BYOD is particularly important as large vendors now allow a single user to install their product on a set number of devices," said Martin Thompson, asset management analyst and owner of The ITAM Review, according to the source. "Mobile devices count as an asset, so an organization needs to have visibility on how many instances of the software a single user has installed."

Even if an organization feels confident in its network's ability to support a growing digital operation, the role of enterprise mobility in the modern business environment proves that VDI is becoming a must-have solution. Leveraging the assistance and expertise of a proven virtualization service provider is the first step toward achieving the data center performance, precision and flexibility that every IT administrator idealizes. As operations become increasingly reliant on digital assets, it's a no-brainer to adopt virtualization technologies and start to reap the various benefits today.