The Benefits of Using an Appliance to Simplify and Accelerate Desktop Virtualization Initiatives

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1 Brought to you by The Benefits of Using an Appliance to Simplify and Accelerate Desktop Virtualization Initiatives Desktop has become an important technology that helps organizations support an increasingly mobile and diverse workforce in an era when security and compliance challenges are more complex than ever, and gaps in protection can be devastating. Desktop gives IT departments greater control over where data is stored and how it is accessed through user devices, including company-owned devices and those supported by bring-your-own-device (BYOD) programs. It also allows the IT team to effectively ensure consistent policy management and protection across the organization. In certain industries, such as healthcare, education, finance and government, Intel x86-based desktop has been absolutely critical in advancing security and data compliance initiatives and driving new levels of innovation, cost efficiencies, mobility and data protection. However, despite the many benefits of desktop, there have been fits and starts in its deployment, particularly among organizations of about 100 to 5,000 employees. One of the main reasons deployments have lagged in companies of this size is that building and scaling a desktop initiative has traditionally been a complex and costly endeavor.

2 Many small to midsize organizations simply haven t had the in-house expertise to either get started or to expand beyond a pilot program. Another challenge has been in evaluating the real costs of desktop. Some early adopters ran into problems because they underestimated costs, underprovisioned their deployments or busted their budgets by overprovisioning infrastructure resources. costs and complexity, it is time to look again. If you have never considered desktop for any reason, it is time to take a close look. Why the urgency now? One reason, as we discuss throughout this paper, is that the cost and complexity issues surrounding desktop deployments have been addressed with innovative new technology solutions. The market forces that have driven companies to embrace desktop in the first place have continued to accelerate and create enormous challenges for IT departments. The good news is that the leading vendors of desktop technologies have recognized these challenges and partnered together to develop solutions that significantly simplify deployments and streamline scalability. For example, Dell, Citrix, and Intel now offer turnkey desktop appliances that are preconfigured, prevalidated and highly automated, giving small to midsize organizations a much simpler, faster and safer path to a successful desktop deployment. In this white paper, we discuss the benefits of desktop for small to midsize organizations and describe how IT teams can leverage an appliance model to efficiently deliver those benefits. We also examine the key features to look for in desktop so you can drive simplicity and cost efficiencies, while also enhancing user mobility and addressing security and compliance needs. Finally, we look at how the Dell Appliance for Wyse Citrix can help organizations of any size derive significant value through desktop. Taking another look at desktop If your organization looked at desktop several years ago or perhaps even tried a pilot project and backed off because of concerns about But perhaps of equal importance, the market forces that have driven companies to embrace desktop in the first place have continued to accelerate and create enormous challenges for IT departments. The centralized approach enabled by desktop is now a proven and successful model for enabling IT teams to address these market forces. In fact, research estimates that the market for desktop will grow at a compound annual rate of more than 32% through What are the market forces that are spurring this growing demand for desktop? User mobility and BYOD: Enabling a mobile workforce has become a critical success factor in running any business. A major part of maximizing workforce productivity is supporting BYOD initiatives. Desktop enables the IT department to centrally control and house the data and applications used on all devices, and ensure that those apps and data are protected no matter where users are located and no matter what device they are using. Security: The increase in mobility along with the growing use of social networking, cloud computing and 1 Global VDI Market , TechNavio, Dec. 17,

3 collaborative Internet applications create huge security challenges. This is particularly true for small and midsize organizations in markets such as healthcare, education and government. These organizations tend to be prime targets for malicious activities because of the value of their data. Desktop enables IT to protect data and applications in the data center and to eliminate exposure on user devices, whether companyissued or BYOD. Compliance: Organizations in areas such as healthcare, finance and government face strict compliance requirements in how they secure, protect, store and access data. Desktop enables organizations to manage data in a consistent manner across all user devices and provides a centralized platform for ensuring compliance and responding to audit requests. Management complexity and control: One of today s biggest challenges for IT departments is managing complexity. Businesses of all types and sizes require IT to be more agile, cost efficient and service oriented than ever before. Desktop simplifies the processes of provisioning, supporting and securing enduser devices through centralized control. Desktop also makes it much simpler to onboard users, enabling the IT team to easily and quickly provide new users with the applications and security protections they require, regardless of the devices they are using. Advantages of an appliance for desktop deployment While the potential benefits of desktop have been understood for years, many small and midsize businesses have resisted taking the plunge or backed off after doing pilots usually because of concerns centered on costs and complexity. Building the right infrastructure for desktop has often been a trial-and-error process, with IT teams struggling to figure out the right amount of storage, server capacity and network bandwidth to support the desired environment. Some early adopters underestimated the amount of resources required and had to increase their budgets or they suffered user backlash because they delivered a subpar user experience. The appliance model eliminates those challenges completely. In fact, using an appliance to deploy desktop makes it much simpler to manage and secure your users and devices than traditional deployment models. It also makes it much easier to predict costs for your initial deployment and to budget accurately to grow your environment. The appliance model helps to reduce costs because the infrastructure has been properly sized and specified to meet the specific needs of desktop. For example, with the Dell Appliance for Wyse - Citrix powered by Intel Xeon processors Citrix, small and midsize organizations can deploy the entire infrastructure for a desktop deployment starting at $435 per user for shared sessions and $533 per user for nonpersistent desktop. These prices include all data center hardware, software and licenses, but exclude endpoints. Cost and complexity were viewed as reasons to be concerned about deploying desktop in the past. However, with the appliance model, they become part of the business case for why a small to midsize business should actually embrace desktop The cost and complexity issues surrounding desktop deployments have been addressed with innovative new technology solutions. 3

4 Using an appliance to deploy desktop makes it much simpler to manage and secure your users and devices than traditional deployment models.. Other benefits of the appliance model are: Accelerated time to value: With the right appliance, you can be up and running easily and quickly, usually within minutes or hours rather than days or weeks. Users become productive much faster and your IT team is not wasting time doing multiple purchase orders, piecing together infrastructure elements, and doing complex installations, tuning, provisioning and testing. Deployment flexibility: An appliance allows you to get a pilot project up and running easily and quickly in as little as two hours without impacting existing infrastructure. You can start with a single application for a pilot or targeted workgroup and then simply add appliances as the deployment expands. Simplicity no need for specialized talent: In the past, it may have seemed like you needed someone with a PhD in desktop to make it all work. With an appliance, you can easily install and deploy your virtual desktops in about 37 steps instead of 375 without a wizard and a couple of hours, leveraging the Delldeveloped Quick Start Tool, which we discuss in greater detail further down. Reduced risk: With an appliance, you are using an on-premises solution that gives you maximum control over your deployment. You don t have to worry about using public cloud services. This means you maintain control over regulatory compliance and data privacy, lessening your concerns about lost laptops or other data breaches. What to look for in a desktop appliance A desktop appliance is a relatively new solution that brings significant value to the market, particularly for small to midsize businesses. Here are the fundamentals you can expect out of your solution: A pre-configured and pre-validated package with everything you need for a successful deployment, including data center hardware, hypervisor, desktop software and licenses. A complete solution that is simple to install and highly automated so you can accelerate time to value. An easily scalable, integrated package so you can grow your solution as your requirements change, with flexible deployment options that allow you to start with a small pilot or deploy a large configuration using the same simple and automated tools. A cost-efficient solution so you not only save money on CAPEX and OPEX, but you also improve your ability to predict and manage costs, even as you scale. Working with Dell, Citrix and Intel Dell, Citrix and Intel jointly created the Dell Appliance for Wyse Citrix as an all-in-one solution that enables organizations to cost-efficiently deploy desktop. It is designed so simply that a generalized IT person can deploy the entire solution stack in a short amount of time. Organizations have the flexibility to start small with 50 or so users but can also use the appliance model to support as many as 5,000 users quickly and easily. 4

5 The Dell Appliance for Wyse Citrix is a single-sku turnkey solution that comes pre-installed with Microsoft Windows 2012R2 and Hyper-V on the Dell PowerEdge R730 server platform powered by Intel Xeon processors. The solution comes with the required management software, such as Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2012R2, Microsoft SQL, Citrix XenDesktop ISO and the base Windows 2012R2 VHD image to be used for each management virtual machine (VM). One of the critical added values that differentiates the Dell Appliance for Wyse Citrix from other desktop solutions is the free Quick Start Tool, mentioned earlier. The Quick Start Tool is a wizard that significantly simplifies and automates deployments. IT generalists can have an accurately sized infrastructure up and running in less than two hours with the first appliance. The Quick Start Tool walks them through the appliance configuration in a series of steps and at the end configures the appliance automatically. The Quick Start Tool not only saves considerable time and resources during the initial deployment, it also simplifies and accelerates the processes involved in growing the desktop environment. Say you have had a successful pilot or initial implementation and you want to expand your infrastructure. There is no need to rip and replace existing infrastructure. With the Dell Appliance for Wyse Citrix and the Quick Start Tool, you simply add more nodes to the existing environment. Using the Citrix management console, you can further customize desktop resources to serve the needs of individual users or groups. Conclusion The availability of automated, simpleto-deploy, comprehensive preintegrated appliances promises to be an important step in the evolution of desktop, particularly for small and midsize organizations. The biggest challenges formerly associated with desktop costs and complexity are not only eliminated, but their elimination becomes a strong reason to embrace desktop. With the right appliance, organizations can reduce the burden involved in managing and securing desktops, which is particularly important in today s era of increased mobility and BYOD. At the same time, IT can leverage desktop to reduce and control costs while improving data protection and compliance. If you ve looked at desktop in the past and were scared off by the cost or complexity, it is time to look again; if you haven t looked at it before, now is the time. Desktop can provide significant value to your business, and innovative appliance models result in successful deployments and effortless scalability. Market leaders Dell, Citrix and Intel have joined forces to create the Dell Appliance for Wyse Citrix, a new, simplified and highly automated model for desktop. You can lower costs and reduce complexity, while enhancing user mobility, security and compliance. For more information on how Dell, Citrix and Intel can help your organization leverage the benefits of desktop, please visit us at: dell-appliance-for-wyse-citrix/pd Intel Inside. Powerful Productivity Outside. The appliance model helps to reduce costs because the infrastructure has been properly sized and specified to meet the specific needs of desktop. 5 Ultrabook, Celeron, Celeron Inside, Core Inside, Intel, Intel Logo, Intel Atom, Intel Atom Inside, Intel Core, Intel Inside, Intel Inside Logo, Intel vpro, Itanium, Itanium Inside, Pentium, Pentium Inside, vpro Inside, Xeon, Xeon Phi, and Xeon Inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S.