Essential Guide

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Editor's note

Cost is perhaps the greatest barrier standing between organizations and VDI. Scaling up and down, licensing and managing the back-end infrastructure may come to mind, but these concerns boil down to money.

VDI cost is more than simply what an organization pays for infrastructure hardware and software. It also includes the labor that goes into deploying and managing VDI, as well as the lost productivity that comes with training and supporting end users in the transition to virtual desktops.

But the market is becoming more buyer-friendly as hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) and thin clients become more common and advanced. Vendors and service providers understand that the way to attract new customers is through VDI cost savings, so they are focused on making VDI more accessible for cash-strapped organizations.

Through deployment strategies, improved hardware, management choices and more, IT departments that once couldn't hope to deploy their own VDI can develop and manage it in-house.

1VDI cost savings through thin clients

IT can save big on upfront costs with VDI if it turns to thin clients -- endpoints with minimal local hardware or functionality that host virtual desktops. Thin clients are cheap because they only run basic tasks but can still host virtual desktops. Thin client vendors cut away any nonessential hardware components and enable the VDI to do all the work. Of course, such machines have their drawbacks, including limited functionality, but IT pros that use thin clients in the right situations will find the devices can deliver without breaking the bank.

2Get the most out of licensing and deployment spending

IT pros face numerous cost pitfalls when they plan a virtual desktop deployment. Many organizations require Microsoft Office 365, so IT pros must understand their licensing options. In addition, IT pros must decide how much customization their end users require and how much storage the entire organization needs. But vendors such as Citrix and Microsoft offer licensing by user, which can help simplify the process and cut costs for smaller organizations.

3Troubleshoot and manage VDI using root cause analysis

Once IT pros deploy VDI, they must have a way to monitor and problem-solve at every level. Root cause analysis tools enable IT to identify performance inefficiencies through comprehensive monitoring of the infrastructure, including servers, hypervisors and user endpoints. IT pros can use these tools to cut down the time they need to troubleshoot and solve each VDI issue. This added efficiency saves IT labor time, which saves money in the long run.