VDI

Freakonomics: How H1N1 boosts desktop virtualization adoption

Desktop virtualization vendors are spinning their wheels trying to get enterprises to adopt the technology, but it turns out, all they really needed was a good pandemic.

I met with some of VMware Inc.’s desktop virtualization reps yesterday to discuss the next version of VMware View (4.0), which is due out next week, and learned there is a correlation between desktop virtualization adoption rates and the 2009 H1N1 flu (formerly known as Swine Flu).   

Though he couldn’t share specific numbers, Raj Mallempati, the desktop virtualization marketing manager, said VMware’s VDI adoption rates increased in direct correlation with H1N1 flu. In fact, he said VMware sold a VDI license in Australia for the first time when H1N1 started alarming people there this summer.

“It makes you think, did VMware invent swine flu?” Mallempati joked.

They saw the same spike in desktop virtualization adoption when the SARS virus hit a few years ago, he said.

VMware claims to have around 1.5 million VMware View license holders so far, which is between 6-7% of the company’s revenue, according to a VMware rep.

While these correlations could be coincidental, deploying desktop virtualization certainly makes sense for corporations that don’t want to lose productivity every time a deadly virus pops up (gotta love capitalism). With VDI, employees who don’t want to come into work because they are afraid of the sneezer in the next cubuicle can access their desktops from home. Or if they are sick, they can still work from their quarantine and not infect everyone else in the office.

So, although I haven’t seen any marketing campaigns fear-mongering customers into buying desktop virtualization as a way to avoid H1N1, it wouldn’t surprise me.

VMworld Europe kicks off with Partner Day: Cloud interoperability, VDI, vSphere

After much anticipation, VMworld 2009 in Cannes has finally begun. After talking about it for days, seeing lots of blogs from people planning to visit VMworld, we’re finally on the go.

Andy Hunt, Vice President for the EMEA Partner Organization from VMware kicked off partner day today, which traditionally is the opening day for VMworld. He welcomed us all and thanked us for coming to VMworld despite that poor economic climate. He was very happy to see about 1,500 visitors at partner day, and was happy to announce that there should be about 5,000 visitors at VMworld in total.

Next to take the stage was CEO of VMware Paul Maritz. Maritz explained that VMware has a budget of $515 billion dollars for research and development (R&D) and that the team of engineers in VMware’s R&D department is larger than any team he has ever worked with while working for Microsoft.

This may sound like a typical blanket statement, but keep in mind that Maritz has worked with Microsoft for 14 years where, amongst other functions, he has been Vice President of the Platform Strategy and Developer Group where he oversaw the development and marketing of System Software Products (including Windows 95, Windows NT and Windows 2000).

Maritz also showed us that in today’s world, IT departments use 70% of their budget to just keep the lights on –  a mere 30% is used for research and competitive development. VMware sees potential to move that 70% around, and is focusing on ways to reduce typical running costs so that more money is available for R&D.

The three biggest VMware initiatives at the moment are:

1. Foundation for the cloud. This is an area where the Virtual Data Center OS (VDC-OS) will play a big role. VDC-OS will be about service and policy (namely availability, security and scalability) on one side and about aggregation (with products like vCompute, vStorage, vNetwork) on the other side. VDC-OS should become the new software mainframe.
2. Choice and cloud federation. This is all about vCloud working on and with standards to provide high interoperability between in-house and external clouds.
3. Desktop as a service. The key is to provision to users, not to provision devices. Depending on the type of worker, users could get a virtual desktop or a client-side hypervisor.

Maritz also announced the new name for VDC-OS. It’s officially vSphere. The name didn’t really come as a surprise because rumors have been humming for a few weeks now, but finally all those people under a non-disclosure agreement can shout it out loud:  VSphere is here! (But not entirely, the name may be official but the product isn’t here just yet.)

Three more announcements Maritz made:

1. Collaboration with Teradici. On the desktop side, VMware has announced the collaboration with Teradici to improve the VDI protocol. Tomorrow, VMware will announce the VMware Client Hypervisor.
2. VCenter Server Heartbeat. Maritz announced a new vCenter Server add on called vCenter Heartbeat. Through vCenter Heartbeat it will be possible to make your vCenter fully redundant. VCenter Heartbeat is to be expected in mid March.
3. Additional security. VMware vShield zones will make it possible to deliver security and compliance to the internal cloud.

As a consultant, these are all products that I expect to see at customer’s sites very soon, and I welcome the product announcements.

These releases should give VMware a new boost in the battle for the data center. Bring it on!

Considering Sun Ray server software for VMware VDI platforms?

Planning a virtual desktop infrastructure implementation is an incredible task on many accounts. Many administrators that are familiar with server-based virtualization are sharpening their skillsets in regards to planning a VDI implementation.

A virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution is a collection of three main components: the user device, the broker software, and the back-end hypervisor. The Sun Ray series of devices are among the more refined products in the space, check out this SearchServerVirtualization tip for more on their features, pricing, and capabilities. For administrators who prefer to use an ESX hypervisor for their VDI, the Sun Ray server software can fill this void. Sun Ray server software runs on Sun Solaris and connects the devices to a VMware View broker. While this configuration does add another component compared to a native VMware View solution, there are benefits to using the Sun Ray devices. Sun Ray devices are a mature product line that allows any Sun Ray to connect to Sun Ray server software to be provided a connection. This helps with utilizing existing resources as well as interoperating with mixed versions of their current equipment, which includes three separate models. The architecture using Sun Ray connectors to VMware is shown in the figure below:

Test drive Sun Ray devices and software

Setting up a Sun Ray server software installation is not overwhelming. In fact, Sun makes it quite easy by working to simplify the process and break down the steps for administrators considering Sun Ray software. In this Sun blog post, it is broken down to a few steps that any virtualization administrator can tackle.

Each component requires thorough planning

Like many administrators, I prefer to seek a VDI solution that has ESX for the hypervisor. This is simply due to the memory overcommit technology and the new linked clone technology of VMware View. These two pieces make the hypervisor selection quite easy in my opinion. Selecting the device, and any broker accompaniments are important to delivering a robust VDI installation.