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 for data center optimization efforts. It's for these reasons that technologies such as virtual desktop deployments are gaining such traction in a number of different sectors both public and private. 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.
Different label, same growth
As with any burgeoning IT development, virtualization methodologies 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 embraced by data center coordinators the world over. 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 server 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 developers, 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
While the United States Postal Service may not be responsible for safeguarding highly confidential materials such as those protected by Homeland Security or the Defense Department, it must still combat intrusive efforts from cybercriminals after its financial and employee records. According to the Christian Science Monitor, the organization recently found itself in crisis mode as an external attack led to the exposure of over 800,000 personal credentials held within its networks.
"It is an unfortunate fact of life these days that every organization connected to the Internet is a constant target for cyber intrusion activity," said Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe in a statement. "The United States Postal Service is no different. Fortunately, we have seen no evidence of malicious use of the compromised data and we are taking steps to help our employees protect against any potential misuse of their data."
The attack, which reportedly began in January and wasn't fully controlled until August, reiterates the harsh truth once again: Cyber security is an ongoing battle that must be fought on all fronts.
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