Essential Guide

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Editor's note

From what you have for dinner to where you live, life is full of choices both big and small. VDI planning is the same way.

When thinking about VDI considerations, IT has to decide whether it will host the back-end infrastructure in house or trust a service provider. Then, it has to figure out whether persistent or nonpersistent desktops are the best fit. After that, there's the question of what endpoints users will work with to access their virtual desktops. The decision-making process can be daunting.

This guide takes the pressure off by bringing the key details of VDI planning into one place, including information on Remote display protocols and thin clients. 

1What thin clients can IT choose from?

Of all the VDI planning considerations for IT, the endpoints from which users access their virtual desktops is one of the most critical because user experience is so important. The market is flush with thin clients -- computer endpoints stripped of many of the components of a full-fledged PC -- for IT to choose from. Google Chromebooks, Raspberry Pis, Dell Wyse thin clients and more all bring something a little different to the table.

2How to get virtual desktops to users

VDI planning is all for naught if IT doesn't have the right remote display protocol to actually transmit the virtual desktops to users. The major players in the VDI market, including Citrix and VMware, offer up remote display protocols. Citrix has HDX and VMware offers Blast Extreme. But the market also has some open source options and third-party players to keep an eye on.