- Mastering VMware Horizon 7.8
- Peter von Oven Barry Coombs
- 640字
- 2025-02-18 10:09:52
The benefits of deploying Horizon
By virtualizing your end user desktop estate into a centrally-managed service, you can deliver benefits not only to the IT administrators, but also to the users. Some of these are highlighted as follows:
Security and compliance: No data leaves the data center unless the IT department has specifically configured a policy to allow it. Equally, end users cannot introduce malware or other malicious content. All that gets transmitted to the client devices are the screenshots of the virtual desktop, with keyboard and mouse interactions being sent back to the virtual desktop. It's a bit like having a remote control for your desktop.
Centralized and simplified management: Centralized desktops means centralized management. With desktops being virtualized and hosted in the data center, it is much easier to perform tasks such as updating and patching an operating system or installing new applications en masse, rather than individually. Virtual desktops are created from a single gold or master image that is maintained and updated centrally. You can simply update the image, recreate the virtual desktops with a few mouse clicks, and hey presto – all of your users will get the new updated version. Troubleshooting the environment and user issues become easier, and all without the need for a desk visit. The worse-case scenario is that you just rebuild a new desktop for the end user from scratch or have them log on to a new one.
Scalability, flexibility, and agile working: Having desktops hosted on a virtual platform allows you to scale up and scale down much more easily, without the need to purchase more physical desktops. Time to deployment is much quicker and costs are reduced. Desktops or even complete environments can be spun up quickly and taken down just as easily to accommodate seasonal workers, contractors working on specific projects, or even to deliver DR and business continuity. Costs can further be reduced with end user devices, and they can now take advantage of thin client devices, or even connect using their own personal devices. As resources are now moved to the data center server infrastructure and accessed remotely, end users have access to their virtual desktops wherever they are and no longer need to be in the office, at a desk, or require a PC to access their corporate desktop and applications. They can continue to be productive, even when experiencing bad weather, bad traffic, or other events that usually prevent them from getting into the office.
Mobile and BYOD from anywhere: Virtual desktop clients enable mobile devices, tablets, and non-corporate-owned devices to connect securely to corporate virtual desktops. Following the flexible working theme, users can now choose a device that suits their needs so that they can access their corporate desktop. Whether it be a tablet, a smartphone, or a non-Windows platform, users can still access their corporate desktop securely from remote locations.
Cost savings: Implementing a virtual desktop environment and adopting operational best practices around image, patch, and profile management with centralized application deployment can result in saving operational expenditure (OPEX), compared to traditional desktop management. Capital expenditure (CAPEX) is still required to support the virtual desktop environment and get it up and running. One of the things I hear all the time is that deploying VDI will reduce costs. The point to make here is that yes, it will reduce OPEX, but typically, the CAPEX at the beginning of a VDI project will be higher as you deploy the infrastructure. Having said that, there are cost savings to be made here too, with repurposing endpoints into thin clients, for example. Overall though, these costs will reduce through savings in the ongoing management of the solution, and you will not be caught in the typical three-year desktop-hardware refresh-cycle trap with OS and application updates, which are now deployed centrally to virtual machines.