The explosive growth of mobile workers is set to drive a significant spike in demand for desktop virtualisation over the next two years.
This is according to a new global market study, commissioned by Citrix. The study found that 55% of companies surveyed expect to deploy desktop virtualisation for the first time by 2013, with 86% citing security as a primary driver.
Gartner last year labelled desktop virtualisation the “hottest trend”; while IDC also recently noted that the desktop virtualisation market has garnered remarkable attention over the past few years.
“Customers are intrigued by the possibility of a better desktop management model, and the operational savings desktop virtualisation could deliver,” says Ian Song, senior research analyst, enterprise virtualisation software, at IDC.
“Many vendors have emerged to provide solutions; desktop virtualisation products are available from small start-ups to Fortune 100 companies. Customers are, in turn, confused about the capability and addressability of each vendor's solution,” he adds.
Fellow analyst firm, Frost & Sullivan says desktop virtualisation promises to achieve significant cost reduction in the IT sectors and also alleviates IT administrators' constant strain to fulfil the ever-evolving demand for IT services.
“It also offers granular, policy-based access control and supports compliance requirements. It embeds an important infrastructure level of information governance that enhances risk management across information security and compliance.”
Other key benefits identified by IT decision-makers in the Citrix survey included the immediate provisioning and de-provisioning of application and desktop access. at 60%; instant isolation of a compromised application (54%); and the ability to remotely wipe data from mobile and PC devices (32%).
Some 86% of those surveyed believe desktop virtualisation offers a strategic approach to improved information security, regardless of whether they intend to use desktop virtualisation within their own organisations.
Of the senior IT decision-makers that aim to have desktop virtualisation in place by the end of 2013, 95% believe it is very effective at protecting information while providing workers with fast and effective access to the information they require.
Ninety-seven percent said they expect desktop virtualisation to help their organisations respond to new and emerging security threats.
Related story:
Desktop virtualisation gains traction in SA
Share