What is VDI?

This article was posted more than 1 year ago. Please keep in mind that the information on this page may be outdated, insecure, or just plain wrong today.

Virtual desktop infrastructure or VDI is a computing model that adds a layer of virtualization between the server and the desktop PCs.

VMware describes Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) as delivering desktops from the data center. In other words, VDI is where enterprise desktop computers are virtualized, moved to the data center, then presented over the LAN or WAN to the end users. Once VDI is used, typically the end user devices are replaced with thin-client devices.  I’ve worked with some thinclient devices such as the HP T5740
While VMware has a VDI product called VDM (Virtual Desktop Manager), VDI is not a product exclusive to VMware. Other VDI vendors include Citrix XenDesktop & Kidaro (now owned by Microsoft).

With VDI, virtual desktops are served by enterprise virtualization servers running products like VMware ESX, Microsoft Hyper-V, and Xen Server. With the addition of the VDI products, these desktops can be dynamically created, pooled & shared, or even accessed from a GUI menu, over a web page.

Here is a nice infographic regarding what it will take for VDI to take off.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_virtualization

#vmware