Desktop Virtualisation

Advances in virtualisation technology enable IT Departments to host individual desktops inside virtual machines running in the data centre.

Users access these desktops remotely from a PC or a thin client using a remote display protocol. Since applications are managed centrally at the corporate data centre, organisations gain better control over their desktops. Installations, upgrades, patches and backups can be done with more confidence without user intervention.

No Limit

Unlike traditional server-based solutions that are limited in their ability to provide a complete desktop experience or are limited to specific architectures, virtual desktop infrastructure includes full PC environments that are familiar to end users and not limited by hardware or location. As complete desktop environments are encapsulated inside virtual machines and maintained in the corporate data centre, they can be instantly recovered and redeployed.

If one user’s desktop crashes, it will not affect another user’s desktop or application because it’s running in a separate virtual machine. Differing versions of applications can be delivered to different users depending upon company or business imperatives, not restricted by technology.

Offsite and Remote Solutions

Organisations with branch offices, remote workers, or offsite facilities can manage and standardise their desktop environments and applications in the corporate data centre, where backups, upgrades, and complete maintenance can be performed from one central location. Virtual desktop technology is ideal for offsite facilities used for development, call centres, back order processing, or other transaction-based tasks where confidential information and intellectual property can be securely stored and maintained in the corporate data centre.

The desktop of the future is not a single PC

It's a combination of different devices, multiple platforms, legacy and web-based applications, as well as the end user's data and settings. Give your end users a personalised view of their desktop, applications and data while maintaining centralised control and security. Separate the desktop from the underlying hardware and the applications from the operating system to simplify and reduce the costs of desktop management. Provide a Universal Client Solution with VMware View – where desktops follow the user regardless of device or location.

Improve Management & Control with Virtual Desktops

Gain key advantages over traditional client-server and server-based models. Configure, deploy and maintain hardware-independent desktop virtual machines from central locations for simpler management and more efficient desktop provisioning. Enable stronger policy enforcement and tighter data security by encapsulating the desktop operating system, applications, and user data as a set of files in a virtual machine that can be stored centrally.

Most importantly, for end users, VMware desktop virtualisation solutions deliver a familiar desktop experience that does not require application sharing, software modifications or user training.

Remote & Branch Office Solution

Reduce the long-term cost of supporting transactional and fixed-function workers on corporate-owned or third-party PCs and thin clients in branch offices, call centres and other locations while maintaining complete control over corporate information assets.

Secure Mobile Computing

Provide telecommuters, salespeople in the field and other end users outside the corporate firewall with anytime, anywhere access to their own complete, unmodified desktop environment while minimising the risk of a data security breach involving sensitive information.

Unmanaged Desktops

Extend secure temporary access to corporate information assets for consultants, contractors, customers and other third-party stakeholders to improve collaboration and reduce business latency while minimising the risk of data leakage and malicious code intrusion.

OS Migration

Improve datacentre efficiency and security during OS migrations, reduce the cost and complexity of migration, and provide a better user experience.

Application Migration & Updates

Maximise application uptime during migrations and updates using agentless application virtualisation to isolate applications from each other and the OS, thus eliminating interoperability issues.

Software License Compliance

Keep license proliferation in check using standard discovery and audit tools to manage and track the distribution of applications over both physical and virtual systems.

Regulatory Compliance

Accurately track and monitor who’s using what applications and when with existing tools, controls and procedures.

Deliver rich, personalised virtual desktops to any device with all the benefits of centralised enterprise desktop management.

The VMware View portfolio of products lets IT run virtual desktops in the datacentre while giving end users a single view of all their applications and data in a familiar, personalised environment on any device at any location. Get greater flexibility, reliability, efficiency and security managing desktops and applications from the datacentre.

• Lower costs by centralising management, administration and resources
• Increase security by moving data from desktop devices into the datacentre
• Improve business agility with faster provisioning and user flexibility with universal access

Desktop Virtualisation - a summary of the advantages and benefits to your business

Simplified Desktop Management

Deliver desktops to the user and not to a physical device by eliminating the bonds between a desktop image and the physical PC

Deliver, manage and update all of your Windows desktops and applications from a central location

Automated Virtual Desktop Provisioning

Use a single management tool to provision new desktops or groups of desktops

Get an intuitive easy-to-use administrative interface for setting desktop policies

Use a template to provision pools of desktops

Set administrative policies, such as how many virtual machines can be in a pool, or logoff parameters

Advanced Virtual Desktop Image Management

Rapidly create virtual desktops from a master image

Push updates and patches out to any number of virtual desktops in minutes without affecting user settings, data or preferences

Unified Access

Securely access your personalised desktop in a Windows Terminal Server environment or on a Blade PC from a single interface

Remotely access physical PCs

Monitor and audit desktop activity as well as load balance multiple Windows Terminal Servers

Virtual Printing

Print from virtual desktops to local devices without compatibility issues, bandwidth restraints or complicated user setup

Automatically discover, connect and print from a virtual desktop to any local or networked printer that’s defined on the client device

Use universal print drivers to eliminate compatibility issues

Compression delivers high-quality printing with enhanced performance, even over suboptimal network connections

Familiar End-User Experience

Deliver complete, unmodified desktop environment compatible with existing legacy or custom applications

Get improved end-user experience for playing rich multimedia

Print to local printers, USB devices or other peripherals

Let users access their desktops from a wide variety of virtual desktop devices, anytime

Security

Get strong network security to protect sensitive corporate data

Use SSL tunnelling to ensure all connections are completely encrypted

Get full support of RSA SecurID® and the added security of two-factor authentication for tightened access control

Availability and Scalability

Deliver high availability with no single point of failure

Get automatic failover and pervasive, cost-effective protection within your virtualised desktop environment, without the cost or complexity of traditional clustering solutions, with VMware High Availability (HA)

Utilise advanced clustering capabilities on the physical and virtual layers provide enterprise-class scalability

Streamlined Application Management

Separate applications from underlying operating systems for increased compatibility and streamlined application management with VMware ThinApp

Run applications on servers in the datacentre and make them accessible through a shortcut on the virtual desktop further, reducing the size of the desktop image and subsequent storage needs

Run multiple applications or multiple versions of the same applications on users’ virtual desktops without conflict

Ensure all desktops are up to date with the latest application version

Offline Desktop

Run managed virtual desktops locally or in the datacentre through the same administration framework with Offline Desktop, an experimental feature in VMware View 3

Apply and enforce all existing security policies for that virtual desktop

Check the desktop back into the datacentre for resynchronisation as needed

Thin Client Support

Get support for a wide variety of thin client devices.