But those figures are misleading, says Phil Magnuszewski, director of data center technologies at Carousel, because they don’t take into consideration the many benefits that desktop virtualization delivers. When you add up the soft dollars associated with these benefits, the cost equation quickly tips in desktop virtualization’s favor.
The benefits of desktop virtualization fall into four main categories, as follows:
Desktop Virtualization Eases Management
With desktop virtualization, IT creates a single “golden” image of the OS on a server in the data center. Each user takes advantage of the same golden image. So, in effect, IT manages only a single image, not hundreds or thousands. It’s also a simple matter to create multiple such images for different groups, each outfitted with all the apps that users in that group need.
Improved Security with Desktop Virtualization
What’s more, as malware gets ever more insidious, it can be difficult to ensure that any given desktop is not infected. With desktop virtualization, the slate is wiped clean every time a user logs on; even if a user does pick up a virus from a web site or via email, it’ll be gone the next day.
Business Continuity
True Mobility
While it may be difficult to assign a hard dollar cost to these various benefits, the soft cost benefits associated with desktop virtualization should be immediately obvious – and probably well worth any added expense vs. traditional desktops.
To learn more about how desktop virtualization can benefit your organization, contact Carousel.
