3 compelling reasons to consider desktop virtualization

3 Compelling Reasons to Consider Desktop VirtualizationFind out how you can revolutionize the end-user computing experience.

IntroductionEnd-user computing is changing. Gone are the days when IT provided a single, locked-down, corporate desktop to each user to primarily run Windows applications. Today, end-users expect to:

• Move between endpoint devices throughout the day (desktops, laptops, tablets and cell phones)

• Stay connected to their professional and personal networks via mobile electronic devices

• Access their data and applications from any device

In this mobile user- and device-centric environment, IT must protect and control user access to data while managing applications and devices for all users. A single device, with a single operating system per user, is a model of the past.

An important step in an organizations’ end-user computing journey is to deliver virtual desktops to any device, together with all the benefits of centralized desktop management. This eBook looks at 3 compelling reasons for you to consider a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) for your organization. It highlights the benefits that our customers are experiencing using VMware solutions, giving their end-users access to corporate data and applications from any device, without sacrificing IT control.

* Measuring the Business Value of VMware Horizon View, IDC, December 2013

IDC found a 305% median five-year return on investment (ROI) with a VMware Horizon implementation.*

Return on investment

Organizations deploying VMware Horizon realized annual savings of $665 per supported end user.*

Annual savings per end user

Optimized labor cost for centralized virtual desktops is 58% less than that for traditional PCs, saving $458 annually.*

Labor costs

305%

$665

58%

The VDI Business Case

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Reasons to Consider a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

Reason 1: Make desktop management easier and quicker

Although the capital expenditure (CAPEX) required for traditional personal computers and storage has decreased over time, the operational cost (OPEX) of managing individual physical desktop computers has increased because of rising labor costs and the escalating complexity of desktop maintenance. The operational cost of personal computing is a major expenditure for IT departments, and this is also the area where implementation of VMware virtual desktops can reduce the total cost of desktop ownership.

Current ChallengesDeploying a desktop computer for each user involves ordering, receiving, tagging, checking the computer, and then configuring applications and corporate settings. In addition, testing and securing the desktop computer adds to deployment time. After the user receives the desktop computer, more time is spent in initial setup and support until the new computer is fully productive for the user.

Solution BenefitsThere’s a significant time difference between configuring and deploying a physical desktop and deploying a virtual desktop. For example, it can take only a few minutes to deploy a virtual desktop to a user with Horizon. The process of copying a virtual image and assigning it to a user is much faster and more foolproof than setting up an individual physical desktop. In addition, you can repurpose legacy hardware to access the virtual desktop image. This extends the useful life of the hardware, reduces the initial cost of desktop virtualization, and results in a user device that is simpler to maintain than a physical desktop.

Time saved in deploying a desktop to a user with Horizon

Time Spent Deploying a Traditional Physical PC per User per Year *

Time Spent per User per Year with Horizon Implementation *

Percent Reduction in Labor Costs *

1.5 hours 0.4 hours 73%


Procure

Deploy

Retire

Secure

Image

Test

Manage PCs

Managing the Personal Computer Lifecycle Stages

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Customer Snapshots

Norman Regional Health System

Improved patient treatment with high-performance desktop experience

As a growing multi-campus hospital, the organization wanted everything about their newest hospital to be technologically advanced, including the desktop environment. They wanted a solution that offered centralized management and scalability that would also be easy to deploy and backup. That’s why they chose Horizon.

As everything was managed from one central location, it was possible to deploy new desktops in minutes, instead of hours and doctors had easier access to the patient information they needed, even from home. The end result was a consistent, high-performance desktop experience, which provided hospital staff with easier access to applications and medical information for more effective treatment.

“With View Composer, we can create new desktops on the fly. If we have a Wyse terminal ready to go, it takes us about 15 minutes to create a new desktop, whereas before, it was taking us two to three hours to load a desktop image. That makes IT much more responsive to the overall needs of the organization.”John Meharg, Director of Health Information Technology, Norman Regional Health System, Oklahoma

City of Cockburn

Reduced costs and risks with centralized desktop management

The local authority, which manages a district in the outer southern suburbs of Western Australia, wanted to improve desktop management and technical support, while reducing costs and its environmental impact. They achieved this by deploying Horizon.

Now, the city can roll out new applications and upgrades to users, just by applying them once to a master image in the data center. By implementing a standard operating environment, the City of Cockburn also prevents users from downloading new software, introducing malware into the corporate network and copying data onto external devices. As well as the more consistent desktop experience, the cost of providing desktop service to users has also fallen by 90%. In addition, the cost of servicing user moves, adds and changes, hardware configuration, and operating system and application patching has been reduced by more than 60%.

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Delivering virtual desktops to any device with Horizon


Reason 2: Enable access to desktops, applications and data on any device

Today’s workforce is no longer tethered to traditional stationary desktops. New devices have proliferated in companies of all sizes. Workers are increasingly mobile, and according to a 2012 survey by Mobilsafe, more than 60% of enterprise firms and 85% of small and mid-size organizations are looking to initiate Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programs. The attraction of BYOD is easy to understand. Smartphones and tablets offer an unprecedented level of flexibility, and when employees buy their own devices, the company can save on hardware and IT support costs.

Current ChallengesEnd-users are demanding the freedom and flexibility to access their data and applications from a range of devices and locations. End-users embrace these trends. IT departments – faced with tight budgets – struggle with how to best support and manage these new devices, while protecting corporate data as it is accessed across networks and locations.

Solution BenefitsBy virtualizing desktops with Horizon, organizations can now have unparalleled desktop and application access across devices and locations. And because Horizon ties desktop environments to user identities instead of devices, end-users are free to access their personal desktop, data and applications from virtually any location using any qualified device – including corporate and personally owned PCs, thin clients, zero clients, iPads and other tablets. The user’s familiar desktop appears across devices and locations with everything in the right place; with all authorized applications, files and data available.

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Customer Snapshot

Foley & Lardner

Desktop as a service greatly simplifies device management

When law firm Foley & Lardner LLP had to respond to staff reductions, IT also had to re-think its approach to end-user computing. In particular, there were too many ‘tech touches’ – with IT staff spending too much time manually provisioning, repairing and decommissioning end-user devices. Today, the company leverages Horizon to offer desktops as a service, with IT centrally managing a fleet of virtualized desktops. The result is they have reduced provisioning times from four hours to ten minutes, system uptime and availability has significantly improved and the new architecture supports BYOD mobile computing. Since end-users are buying and setting up the devices, and not IT, mobile device costs have dropped by 22%. The Horizon infrastructure also provides better protection for client data, which is critical for a law firm.

“If you think about mobility today , it’s really changed from just a few years ago. Wherever we are now is ubiquitous computing in a post-PC era. The PC and the Laptop used to be King of the Mountain and it really isn’t anymore with the consumerization of IT and BYOD.”Doug Cadell, CIO, Foley & Lardner, Wisconsin

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Reason 3: Simplify the security and compliance of corporate desktops

As frequent news reports attest, lost laptop computers and compromised desktop PCs can endanger sensitive corporate or personal data all too easily. With the ever-increasing mobility of desktop environments and a higher percentage of users working on laptops, data security at the endpoint is becoming an increasing concern. Both unauthorized access to data in the data center and data loss through theft or loss of the desktop device must be prevented.

Current ChallengesTo prevent unauthorized access to internal data through laptops, organizations often implement disk-based encryption solutions that can be costly and difficult to scale.

Also, with an increasingly mobile and remote workforce, laptops and other devices can be easily lost or stolen. Employees may also copy data to USB flash drives and remove data from the company site. In addition, USB flash drives can introduce viruses, which can corrupt data. If a security breach or leak occurs in an organization, the productivity lost and the cost to fix the breach are significant.

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Solution BenefitsThe immediate improvement that a virtual desktop solution offers for data security is that you store all data in virtual machines that are hosted in your corporate data center. You protect access to this data by data center-level security mechanisms, such as firewalls, DMZs, web proxies and VPNs. When users have thin clients at their desks, they no longer store data locally, reducing the risk of data leaving the organization. This enables IT to meet expectations about security and compliance without limiting end-user access to data.

A virtual desktop solution also allows you to restrict USB device connectivity, helping mitigate concerns of data leaks as well as the introduction of malicious software.

In a recent study, IDC found that customers using physical PCs had on an average 24 security incidents per year, with approximate resolution time of 4 hours. While, customers using virtual desktops experienced only 4 security incidents per year and they were resolved in a few minutes. The lower frequency of incidents and shorter resolution time resulted in lower costs.*

“Security is very important. Being in healthcare, we want to make sure that we have no information whatsoever residing on the local machine. With VMware, our Security Department gets to manage security in the way they need to, and at the same time,our policies are kept… in place, and also our responsibilities with HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] and the federal regulations are completely in compliance as well.”Greg Wolverton, CIO, ARcare healthcare, Arkansas

Time Saved in Security Administration with Horizon

Time lost due to security incidents in Physical Implementation *

Time lost due to security incidents with Horizon Implementation*

Percent Reduction in Labor Costs *

3.350 hours 0.004 hours 100%


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Customer Snapshots

ExecuJet Aviation Group

Flying high with more secure information

Faced with an aging desktop infrastructure, the private aviation company headquartered in Switzerland wanted a modern, secure desktop environment that would consolidate device management. They also wanted to make sensitive information more secure by moving it off endpoint devices and into the data center. This would prevent critical information from being lost or stolen and ensure that data was backed up and retrievable. Through Horizon, ExecuJet has moved from standard PCs and laptops to thin or zero client machines, as well as supporting tablets and smartphones. This has substantially increased productivity, improved business processes and led to greater user engagement.

“With VMware Horizon View, we can provide our clients with a secure, safe, quick, hassle-free environment, a virtual environment that is an upgrade to what they have now.”Pieter Steyn, IT Operations and Infrastructure, ExecuJet South Africa

Children’s Hospital Central California

Virtual desktop infrastructure aids security and compliance

Through its Advanced Clinical Systems (ACS) program, all nursing documentation was centralized and a new system was introduced in which clinical staff could choose the device, from PC to tablet, with which they accessed patient data. To enable this, IT decided to deploy virtual desktops using Horizon. There are now some 450 Horizon virtual desktops available to physicians, nurses and other medical staff. As a strongly-regulated industry, the hospital has particularly welcomed how Horizon helps protect patient information. Ordinarily, if a laptop or mobile device is stolen or lost, so is the data on it. With Horizon, no hospital or patient data resides on any specific device, so if an individual item is lost or misplaced, there’s no impact on applications or information.

“With View, there will never be any patient data on any device. From a security perspective, VMware Horizon View is an excellent solution for us.”Kirk Larson, VP and CIO, Children’s Hospital Central California

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ConclusionNow that you’re up to speed on the reasons why you should consider desktop virtualization, when is the right time to take the next step? Many organizations find that instead of refreshing obsolete physical computers with new desktop computers, they can instead divert funds to a VDI. Legacy hardware can be repurposed as client devices, or you can purchase less expensive thin clients. The remaining funds can be devoted to a virtual desktop implementation.

As you move forward, consider how VMware desktop virtualization solutions satisfy the needs of both IT and end-users, allowing you to:

•Make desktop management easier and quicker

•Enable access to desktops, applications and data on any device

•Simplify the security and compliance of corporate desktops

Built on the industry-leading virtualization platform, VMware vSphere®, Horizon enables you to deliver virtual desktops to any device with all the benefits of centralized enterprise desktop management. You can deploy desktop instances rapidly from secure data centers to facilitate high availability and disaster recovery, protect the integrity of enterprise information and remove data from local devices that are susceptible to theft or loss.

In addition to reduced operational costs, companies that have implemented desktop virtualization with VMware are seeing added benefits, such as ensuring business continuity, simplifying IT management, reallocating IT resources to higher priority tasks and improving business responsiveness. We encourage you to explore how VMware can help you realize these benefits today by visiting vmware.com/go/Horizon.

For access to free VMware Horizon (with View) bootcamp training, please visit: https://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/horizon/horizon-6-bootcamp.

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http://www.vmware.com/products/horizon-view

https://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/horizon/horizon-6-bootcamp

