On balance, SSDs all work but some work better than others and a few work really, really well. Check the tests and comments from sites like Anandtech and Toms Hardware. They do extensive testing of SSDs and other products.

Now watch this. You can’t do this with SAS drives -

A company’s IT department is asked to do more with less. And while they work furiously to put out fires and still have time to do proactive work, they waste an eternity rebuilding PCs for new users, users who have introduced malware, users with PCs that don’t properly and all manner of reasons. And how about when IT is asked to setup 10 PCs for a new group of interns?

So how long does that take? An hour, two, all day? And that 10 user XP or Windows 7 deployment? With a properly figured VDI deployment, how about 3 minutes for a single XP or Windows 7! And how about 12 minutes for deploying the 10 PCs!

As all the work is done at the server and the master images are prebuilt it just takes a few clicks (before finishing the cup of coffee) for almost the entire process to automatically complete. And even the single malfunctioning user’s computer is still only under 5 minutes as the operating system, XP or Windows 7 is separated from the two additional layers – the applications and the personalizing layer. It’s truly remarkable.

The Gartner Group has reported that they think that VDI will achieve 40% penetration of the installed enterprise base within a few years. You need to do your own proof of concept; you’ll be amazed and won’t spend your time twiddling your thumbs waiting for Godot.

So what is VDI?

VDI, or Virtual Desktop Infrastructure represents the future in changes to companies or institution’s networks, that reflect the need for the IT department to control, manage and reduce the operating expenses of running the data networks. Simply put, it replaces the standard desktop PC model, a physical PC on every desk, with a small box that transfers the work from the traditional, support intensive PC, to the server room or data center.

Why? Because it takes an enormous effort to support each computer on users desks, so VDI moves that experience from software running on those desktop PCs to the data center. It’s clean, simple and inexpensive. This graphic clearly shows the advantages.

The users don’t know that their PCs have moved if done properly, it just works after a normal login and the users continues to use their desktop peripherals as normal. The desktop PCs are replaced with zero or thin clients called endpoints, or even repurposed older XP PCs all of which allow the user to use the “PC” located elsewhere. The, normally loafing, super servers in the data center now have something to do all the time so the IT managers finally get their money’s worth out of these machines.

The biggest requirements in today’s IT Network infrastructure are to:

• Cut hardware costs
• Reduce administration
• Reduce energy consumption
• Improve security

Watch this video from one of our vendors. We generally recommend VMware, Citrix Xen, Parallels Virtuozzo or a Linux foundation to VDI. This 4 minute clip will help you understand VDI.

Another video illustrating the power of VDI -

From Wow to How – Watch this and be amazed!

That being said, you can also apply that to integrating virtual desktops into your business infrastructure – VDI. If you’re considering VDI for your company, then before implementing it you have lots and lots of choices, just like in life. But once you’ve chosen your path it becomes progressively more difficult to make radical changes. So choose wisely. It’s not all bad – we live in a wonderful country, not because of its government, but in spite of it. Opportunities abound. VDI is not about a one VDI manufacturer solution, but often a blend of several.

And that’s why we don’t offer a single VDI solution, hoping that one size fits all but many as needs dictate solutions, and not the other way around. We partner with companies such as Pano Logic, Quest, Parallels, Virtual Computer, Virtual Bridges, Kaviza, Unidesk, 10ZiG, Citrix, 2x, VMware, Microsoft, HP, Dell, SuperMicro, GreenBytes and more to offer custom solutions and not forced to sell the same size shoe to everyone.

Think about it. Make your decisions about VDI wisely and you’ll be greeted with success. Don’t, and you may find that you’re at a Dead-End! Ouch.

Let me describe how this works. As I’ve written before VMware, Citrix XenServer and Microsoft’s Hyper-V all boot the server and creates a volume or volumes where servers can be installed within the “host” or server. Those servers can be converted from a single physical server, be converted from another virtualized system (such as moving from XenServer to VMware ESX) or installed as an appliance. Appliance? What’s that?

An appliance is simply a complete server was created by someone else, and saved to a shared pool of appliances and that may be downloaded directly into the virtualized server for instant use. For example, the formerly Yahoo.com Zimbra, a competitor of Microsoft Exchange was sold to VMware and virtualized into an appliance. So if you have ten minutes to spares you can select and download the Zimbra appliance (http://www.zimbra.com/)  and having a running messaging server minutes thereafter! To reiterate, an appliance is (usually) a Linux file server software release such as Centos 5 and has a pre-installed piece of software such as Zimbra installed on it. It saves a great deal of time installing a server, and then the specialized software on top of it. So what does this have to do with libraries?

Lots… as I said they have to screen material electronically before the content gets to the endpoint – the libary computer user. The quickest and best way to do this is to install a gateway or filtering appliance such as Untangle (http://wiki.untangle.com/index.php/Untangle_Virtual_Appliance_on_VMware) or Astaro, (http://www.astaro.com/products/astaro-security-gateway-software-appliance) both excellent products. In a matter of minutes, either can be installed and activated. Not only that but they use the Internet to updates themselves every day automatically. Time and effort is money. It’s best to save time and money by installing an appliance and let it do the work itself.