Guide To VDI: Evaluating Top Vendors: Page 6 of 6

Comparison matrix

The following chart provides a comparison of the various vendors reviewed by Fusion PPT. The chart shows a weighted matrix of the VDI criteria reviewed and discussed.

In addition, we offer the following recommendations when evaluating VDI:

1. Be careful of forced comparisons.
   One of the current challenges with VDI is in its complexity. Even though DaaS claims to offer simplicity to work through this challenge, the waters only get muddied when comparisons are forced. Apples-to-apples comparisons can be difficult, especially if you take the word of a biased vendor.
    
2. Watch usage patterns.
   With a number of maturing VDI and DaaS solutions now available, it will be time to monitor and see what direction customers turn. Will they flock to the seemingly low-cost DaaS options? Will usage patterns show adoption of solutions that can deliver a more representative desktop experience for graphics and video-intensive apps? Will the more general-purpose user pattern prevail?
    
3. Keep an eye on cost.
   It is likely that the on-premise VDI market will continue to face challenges in cost. As PC prices continue to fall, in part due to an oversupply (perhaps driven by increased cloud adoption?), it can be expected that VDI solutions will face more competition on cost also. IT managers know that the added complexity of on-premise VDI also adds cost to the total cost of operations. VDI solutions will need to respond.

To add more fuel to the fire, we should also remember that new Linux-based VDI solutions and open-source hypervisors offer an alternative that begins to address the cost factor, given the proper in-house technical skillset. As a leading indicator, we will need to continue to monitor the prices offered by DaaS solutions and see if customer adoptions move in that direction.

Do you have experience with these VDI platforms? Tell us about it in the comments.