If you have been reading my blog and case studies you will know that we have virtualized 95% of our desktops over the past three years. This now represents nearly 5,800 Wyse Thin Client terminals and over 100 Wyse Thin Client laptops across the whole enterprise which is 270 locations through the UK, Europe and Asia Pacific.
This strategy together with server virtualization and our Green data centre has been fundamental in reducing our carbon footprint by 2,500 tons per annum and picking up a hat trick of awards along the way during 2008.
However, we are not satisfied with 95%!
I want 100% desktop virtualization by the end of 2009 with PC's and laptops retired across the company so they become a distant memory.
This is not just a green thing but a security, flexibility and cost saving strategy.
The reason that 5% of my enterprise is still using PC's and laptops is common in many organizations.They tend to be the difficult and technically demanding end users to convert to Citrix Xenapp. Marketing departments where multimedia is used is one common group and of course the IT departments who want control over their own desktop space and registry settings are another obvious group.
Enter Xen Desktop as the missing piece of the jigsaw. I have been piloting this technology myself for the past six months and I must say I am very impressed. This allows me to deliver a full functioning unrestricted virtual Windows XP desktop through a Wyse thin client, my ASUS EEEPC, my Apple iphone or through any device with Microsoft Internet Explorer and a Citrix plug-in.
The multimedia capability is very good too; on a recent business trip I was able to stream UK BBC TV programmes via my Slingmedia Slingbox to my virtual desktop without losing speech sync and with a smooth video stream. You could never do that with Microsoft RDP.
I will be giving a presentation on this very topic about Xen Desktop at this year’s Citrix Iforum 2009 in Edinburgh Scotland on Tuesday afternoon 16th June 2009
Citrix Iforum is on from 15th to 17th June. Maybe see you there.
http://www.citrixevents.com/English/about/index.asp?eventID=8756
More on Xen desktop from Citrix
http://www.citrix.com/english/ps2/products/product.asp?contentID=163057
Video Demo of Xen Desktop
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