After more than two decades of undisputed dominance in the corporate desktop space, PCs are now under significant threat following the long-time development of virtualisation technologies that finally make the delivery of remote desktops viable for businesses. This IDC white paper provides an overview of remote client solutions and how they compare with the traditional PC infrastructure.IDC conducted a statistical ROI analysis of the use of thin clients based on interviews with four HP customers and found that companies received a 466% return on investment after purchasing a thin client for their business. The IDC whitepaper also takes an in depth look at the benefit of HP thin clients to major Australia and New Zealand ticketing partner, Ticketek.
W H I T E P AP E R R e m o t e C l i e n t S o l u t i o n s : T h e M u l t i p l i c a t i o n o f V i r t u a l i s a t i o n T e c h n o l o g i e s Sponsored by: HP Jean Marc Annonier Randy Perry June 2008
I D C O P I N I O N
After more than two decades of undisputed domination on the corporate desktop, PCs are now under significant threat following the development of virtualisation technologies that make the delivery of remote desktops at last viable for businesses. Computer virtualisation, although not a new concept, has come of age. IDC believes that PC virtualisation as a pervasive business solution is now an established technology and has the potential to revolutionise the way IT is delivered to the business. The days of the traditional PC and the distributed computing model as we know them are numbered and the trend towards centralised computing is already becoming increasingly evident. 0035 The migration towards virtualisation and centralised computing is not a simple journey .22 but, when carefully prepared, it will bring tangible benefits, not only by rendering the 99.2 infrastructure more efficient but also by adding a layer of flexibility to the infrastructure .16. that will enable IT to be more agile and respond more quickly to changes to the P business. This vision of a dynamic infrastructure fits perfectly with the IDC Dynamic IT aila model that defines how IT should be organised to cater to both operational needs and rtsu responsiveness to changing business conditions. A 060 Virtualisation is an end-to-end solution, of which each component must be carefully 2 W considered to address the specific circumstances of the business. IDC urges IT SN managers to work closely with their IT provider to determine which architecture and ,ye technology fit best their environment: ndyS h The infrastructure model. Moving away from distributed computing to troN centralised computing can take multiple forms: server-based computing, virtual te desktop infrastructure, consolidated client infrastructure. Each infrastructure ertS model has its pros and cons that must be measured against the specific rek requirements of the business before a choice can be made. laW 7 Server-side hardware. The choice of hardware is critical and depends on the 51 , infrastructure model selected as the requirements vary significantly. Number of 3 le servers, number of processors, quantity of memory, type of storage and network veL components all influence the performance of the overall system.
Client-side hardware. Thin clients represent strong cost benefits compared to PCs (reduction of 87% in hardware and software costs and of 61% in IT operations costs). However thin clients must be chosen carefully as they vary greatly in form factor, functionality, and price.
HP's remote client solutions cover the whole range of virtualisation products and allow IT managers to compare technologies and make informed choices regarding their migration to virtualisation.
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
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In This White Paper 1
Situation Overview 1 The Need for a New Model of IT Infrastructure......................................................................................... 1 The Various IT Infrastructure Delivery Models Available Today ............................................................... 2 Traditional Distributed Computing............................................................................................................. 3 Flashless Thin Clients............................................................................................................................... 4 Server-Based Computing ......................................................................................................................... 5 Virtual Desktop Infrastructure ................................................................................................................... 6 Consolidated Client Infrastructure............................................................................................................. 8 Thin Client Devices........................................................................................................................... [download for more]
