Jason Langone - VMware View 5 Desktop Virtualization Solutions

On August 12, 1981, IBM released the IBM Personal Computer. It was a transformative event; the one that in time would far exceed even the most optimistic projections of its future potential. It changed forever how the computer would be viewed, making it truly "Personal".

Much has changed since that day; many of these changes are immediately visible. The computer's user interface has transformed beyond all recognition, from the blocky text of the DOS command prompt to rich windowed interfaces driven by a mouse or touchpad. PCs are faster, smaller, and cheaper than ever before and are capable of doing things that were beyond the imagination of all but the most far reaching science-fiction authors. Other changes are more subtle; the PC is now both ubiquitous and ever-connected. Its transformation in size and appearance has seen it acquire new names to better describe its new form. Becoming the Portable PC first and later the laptop and netbook, and most recently the tablet and smartphone; hiding its nature in ever smaller packages with new interfaces designed to be controlled by gestures and voice. As a result, some would even have it that we are entering a post-PC era.

It is perhaps too soon to say that we have left the PC behind. For all these changes, one thing remains unaltered today's personal computing experience is still centered on the device. Applications are for the most part installed locally and the decision to walk from device to device or carry one from place to place is based more on the device's size than the user's need for mobility. Either way, the only method to ensure that it is possible to provide service is to rigorously enforce standardization, making sure every PC has all the applications preinstalled on the off chance that someone will need them. This model has worked, after a fashion, almost unchanged for the last 31 years, but of late it is starting to show its age. Now, we need to consider a world shaped by new, deeply destabilizing forces.

The launch of the Apple iPad in 2010 brought with it "Bring Your Own Device" programs and was the stimulus that pushed the "Consumerization of IT" into the limelight, sending shockwaves through what was until recently a smooth running, well-understood service. We are rapidly entering a world where an IT administrator doesn't know from one day to the next how many users he has to support or even where in the world they might be located. Where managing user experience does not mean providing a standard suite of applications across 10,000 identical PCs, each running identically configured copies of Windows, but supporting and insuring a comprehensive user experience (not just the user profile and home directory, but the user's entire working environment, their data, and applications) and making it available in its entirety at any place, any time, and on any device. Welcome to desktop virtualization.

Desktop virtualization is a deceptive term; everybody understands that at its core, server virtualization is all about being able to consolidate server workloads onto fewer physical servers. Desktop virtualization is more subtle and far reaching. It's not about consolidating desktop workloads into fewer physical servers, although, frequently this is part of the picture. Rather, it's about being able to orchestrate the creation of personalized working environments (that is, applications, data, and user profile) and enabling access to them in the manner most appropriate to each individual user's computing and communications environment while at the same time ensuring full compliance with organizational governance, risk, and compliance policies.

Simon Bramfitt

Founder

Entelechy Associates