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Cutting your teeth on desktop virtualization?

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Reader survey It could be argued that desktop virtualization was where it all starte' in terms of the current hoo-ha around virtualization as a whole. Most attention might now be focused on the server, but there's still plenty of potential for virtualization on the desktop.

While desktop virtualization may be simple in principle, in practice there are many ways to skin the cat. At its most straightforward a virtual machine can be hosted on a desktop directly, allowing more than one computing environment to share the same screen.

But given that the virtual machine (VM) can potentially reside anywhere, what's to stop running the desktop environment on a server and remotely displaying its screen on the client? Nothing, as long as server, network, desktop and the VM are appropriately sized and configured. The term in vogue for this is Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, or VDI.

In addition, virtualization can be more granular, as individual applications can be configured to run in their own environments as and when necessary. Ouf! With such a range of options, the challenge can be to pick through them and make the most appropriate choices.

At this stage, nobody has all the answers. But we're mighty keen to find out who's doing what with what. Have you selected one kind of desktop virtualization over another, or are you considering it? What kinds of users do you see as the most likely targets for VDI, and how far might you take deployment?

If you're interested, please do grab a cuppa and take ten minutes to fill in our survey. We will come back to you with the results as soon as we've crunched them.

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