VDI: Citrix or VMware?

For those of you who are working with companies who have already begun to invest in desktop infrastructure, what you are you seeing out there? When I was at VMworld I tried to attend as many of the VDI sessions as I could. Particularly for companies that need 3D rendering and video streaming, it seems that Citrix is the leader/incumbent and VMware is starting to close in.

I'm investigating whether VDI might now be feasible for my envrionment. I understand that the storage performance characteristics are vastly different from VMware server virtualization and that I'll likely need a different storage infrastructure to support VDI. Graphics performance is my main concern, we have a few dozen engineers who would need to work with 3D models, CAD drawings, etc, and possibly a few folks needing to play back HD video. Most of the user base would be just using the usual desktop/line of business applications, though.

I don't see VDI discussed much here, but maybe someone can chime in.

Thanks

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sratakhin

We use VDI-in-a-Box for environment of about 100 computers. Our requirements are simple and ViaB is easy to use and set up. I didn't try any resource-intensive tasks but our thin clients play HD videos just fine

brentw722

We have been using vdi for about 8 months now through VMWare, and quite honestly I love it. It is so easy to maintain as far as patching. We did have to buy another storage solution. We went with Nimble which has really done wonders for IOPS. As far as those with 3d rendering and high quality graphics, you can set separate pools and resources just for those users. I have tested some HD videos and everything looked pretty smooth. Id recommenced Vmware VDI, but I have not really seen Citrix.

Mrock4

We have deployed VMWare's VDI solution for a lot more customers than we have for the Citrix VDI solution. The overwhelming response has been in favor of the VMWare solution (we even did a pilot for a customer using both Citrix/VMWare solutions, they chose VMware). Really cool stuff.

The only area there's still some improvements to be made are in graphic intensive applications. I've heard some rumor of manufacturers stepping it up in this department, but generally speaking we don't deploy VDI in those scenarios.

ajs1976

I'm a Citrix person so I lean that way, but what they are doing with XenDesktop 7 is really good. Using XenDesktop to deploy and manage asolution that has both VDI and RDS as options gives a lot more flexibility.

blargoe

Mrock4 wrote: »

The only area there's still some improvements to be made are in graphic intensive applications. I've heard some rumor of manufacturers stepping it up in this department, but generally speaking we don't deploy VDI in those scenarios.

They were making a very big to-do of this at VMworld. The latest nVidia GRID stuff in particuar.

blargoe

ajs1976 wrote: »

I'm a Citrix person so I lean that way, but what they are doing with XenDesktop 7 is really good. Using XenDesktop to deploy and manage asolution that has both VDI and RDS as options gives a lot more flexibility.

Our entry into VDI (how we justify getting our feet wet) is probably going to exist as a remote access solution for our partners to access a particular set of applications that only exist in client/server form today. Our management is finally realizing that trying to throw all of our apps on a couple of Windows Terminal Servers and giving everyone in the company access to a full desktop is no longer the best way to do things. But I still see us using RDS for the forseeable future, and I see a lot of use cases in our environment where XenApp could be very beneficial as well (I do have experience with XenApp from several years ago).

Does Citrix offer a bundle or combo suite that encompasses all of the App and Desktop virtualization bells and whistles?

QHalo

Someone correct me if I'm mistaken, but I thought that XD7 was now all-encompassing as far as XA and XD.

Important information for XenApp administrators - Citrix eDocs

ajs1976

Prior to XD7, Citrix had a VDI solution called XenDesktop and a license suite of products that included XenDesktop and XenApp which was also called XenDesktop. Now with XD7 they cleaned it up. Central management for both which are now management agents.

Maybe your company has managers and developers that need individual, customizable VDIs but you have a 100 call center people that all use the same apps and can go on 4-5 terminal servers.

azjag

We did a test pilot of citrix and vmware products a year or so ago. After 6 months of testing both products in pilots and different configurations the decision was to go with vmware. We couldn't find any deal breaking issues with either option and it came down to the fact we already had a relationship with vmware. Adding VDI allowed us to get an enterprise licensing agreement that would save us more money on vmware products. Fast forward to today, they bought the licensing, got the ELA, still haven't deployed a single virtual desktop.

blargoe

We already have an ELA with VMware, and my manager has a bad opinion of Citrix based on the NT 4.0 days, so I would say VMware would have the upper hand if we were to invest in a VDI solution. Thankfully, most of the human obstacles I used to face at this company are not factors any longer, so as long as I can convince my manager that "Citrix" isn't just the application presentation software that it was 15 years ago, I can do a true POC with both and see if either solution will fit our needs.

xenodamus

I work for a hospital (lots of task workers) and we've virtualized 600 of our 1500 desktops thus far. It's been an awesome change for every team. On the systems side, patching is a breeze. From an application standpoint, we have consistency across the board. For desktop support it dramatically reduces the amount of time we'll spend on future refresh cycles.

Our organization has been doing app virtualization with Citrix for years, so that's the direction they went with the VDI implementation. I can't really comment on vmware's solution since I haven't used it, but Citrix is definitely putting a ton of focus here. They have not only the core desktop delivery technology, but all the extras that could be used on top of it (profile management, universal print driver/server, mobile device optimization/support, etc).

There's a lot of new stuff coming out on the graphics side. We aren't doing any heavy 3D stuff in our shop, but it's out there. Be sure and do your research there before investing heavily. There are a few options.