VDI overload WANs

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) projects could come unstuck if implementers treat them as just another flavour of server-based computing, a WAN acceleration expert has warned, according to Techworld.com.

Ofer Bezalel, Expand Networks` services VP, said although VDI - which gives each user their own virtual PC, hosted on a server in the data centre - uses the same RDP and ICA remote access protocols as Terminal Services, its bandwidth demands are much higher because its usage profile is quite different.

Where Terminal Services is typically used to deploy task-specific applications or capabilities, VDI is all about providing the full capability of a desktop PC, he explained.

Factory revenue in the worldwide server market grew 0.5% year-over-year to $13.1 billion in the third quarter of 2007 (3Q07), according to IDC`s Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, says LinuxElectrons.

Although this is the sixth consecutive quarter of positive revenue growth and the highest Q3 server revenue since 2000, it was the slowest growth rate since the first quarter of 2006.

Server unit shipment growth of 6.3% year-over-year in 3Q07 represented a slight decrease over the 7.8% year-over-year growth reported in 3Q06.

More than a third of enterprise IT shops have implemented x86 server virtualisation, and nearly two-thirds expect to do so by 2009, Forrester Research finds in a new survey, according to Networkworld.

IT departments already using virtualisation have virtualised 24% of servers, and that number is expected to grow to 45% by 2009.

The Forrester report - "x86 virtualisation adopters hit the tipping point" - is based on a survey of 275 enterprise server decision-makers.