Virtual desktops gain traction in housing

Virtualised desktops and thin clients are beginning to get some real traction  in the business marketplace as users start to learn more about the benefits that can be gained. This is, a survey has shown, particularly the case in the UK Housing Association market, one where the balance between cost and effectiveness is particularly important.

Conducted by Winmark on a sample of 50 UK Housing Associations on behalf of virtual desktop and thin client specialist, IGEL Technology, the survey shows that they are adopting a thin client desktop infrastructure to improve management and security while cutting costs.

It shows that 60 percent of Associations are using thin clients, with 43percent of these using them for more than 90 percent of their desktops. In addition, 28 percent said that were very likely to increase their thin client usage in the next 24 months by buying more devices or by converting their existing desktops to thin clients.

The primary benefits the survey identified included the fact that 46 percent of IT Managers believe central management is the primary benefit of a thin client infrastructure, citing ease of management and greater control. Cost issues were cited as a key benefit by 42 percent of them, including the cost of support, ownership and the lower costs of replacing outdated machines.

Improved security resulting from greater control of employee access to data was the third main advantage reported by 32 percent of respondents to the research.

Larger Housing Associations, with housing stocks of more than 1000, are using thin clients much more than smaller Housing Associations, with 76 percent of staff at larger Housing Associations using thin clients compared to 25 percent at the smaller Housing Associations.

Citrix was the primary server-based computing or virtual desktop software provider with a dominant 63 percent of the associations surveyed, while VMware followed with 23 percent and Microsoft Terminal Services with just 17 percent.

Of those that use thin or zero clients, the dominant providers are Dell Wyse with 46 percent, followed by HP with 23 percent and IGEL Technology with a 17 percent share.

The big future challenge the survey sample identified by the IT managers reported include the rise of multimedia as business tool. They reported an average 15 percent of users currently needing to regularly use multimedia services and predicted this figure rising to 24 percent of users over the next 24 months.

Meanwhile, the top three barriers reported by the survey were Continuity (26 percent), Flexibility (24 percent) and Connection issues (22 percent).

With Continuity, respondents were concerned about a technology outage resulting in all staff being unable to work. Flexibility issues referred to concerns about the ability to convert all software applications for a server-based or virtual desktop environment. Connection issues referred to concerns about the level of bandwidth required to successfully deploy an efficient server-based or virtual desktop solution.

“This research demonstrates an IT maturity and depth of understanding of the desktop infrastructure by the IT managers of the UK’s Housing Associations,” said Simon Richards, IGEL Technology Managing Director for UK & Ireland. “The research found that the experience of those that have deployed thin clients is very positive. The largest organisations, in particular, have embraced the benefits a centrally managed desktop infrastructure with thin clients can offer. We look forward to benchmarking the results against next year’s survey to understand if these trends are replicated across the entire sector.”

An executive summary of the research findings can be found here.