Dell and Microsoft continue their collaboration on an existing, affordable VDI solution to be previewed at Dell World

In October, Microsoft announced Windows Server 2012 R2 (WS2012R2). The new release brings several important improvements to Remote Desktop Services (RDS) and to VDI solutions leveraging Microsoft Hyper-V. Among the benefits, WS2012R2 reduces the cost per seat as well as enhances your end user experience when implementing a VDI solution on Hyper-V:

  • Online data deduplication on actively running VMs reduces storage capacity requirement by up to 90% on persistent desktops
  • Tiered storage spaces manage your tiers of storage (fast SSDs vs. slower HDDs) intelligently so that hot data is automatically moved onto faster-tier drives. Likewise, older or seldom-accessed files are moved onto cheaper and slower SAS drives.
  • With Remote Desktop App, you can now access virtual desktops and RemoteApp programs from endpoints also running Android, iOS or MacOS. This is good news for your end users and your mobility/BYOD strategy!
  • Your user experience is also enhanced due to improvements on several fronts including RemoteFX, DirectX 11.1 support, RemoteApp, quick reconnect, session shadowing, dynamic monitor and resolution changes, etc.

If you have a preference for VDI solutions based on Hyper-V and other Microsoft tools, we have good news for you: Dell is working closely with Microsoft on an updated version of our Dell Desktop Virtualization Solution (DVS) for Windows Server which includes all the benefits mentioned above and brought by WS2012R2. But that’s not all: Dell is also packing additional enhancements into Dell DVS for Windows Server so it will also support:

  • Windows 8.1 with touch screen devices and new Intel IvyBridge processors
  • Unified Communication with Lync 2013, via an endpoint plug-in that enables P2P audio and video. Dell Wyse has certified selected Windows thin clients to this effect, such as the D90 and Z90.
  • Virtualized shared graphics on AMD FirePro cards S7000/S9000 using Microsoft RemoteFX technology
  • Affordable persistent desktops
  • Highly-secure and dual/quad core Dell Wyse thin clients, for a true end-to-end capability, even when using high-end server graphics cards or running UC on Lync 2013
  • Optional Dell vWorkspace software, also supporting WS2012R2. It brings scalability to tens of thousands of seats, advanced VM provisioning, IOPS efficiency to reduce storage requirement and improve performance, diagnostics and monitoring, flexible resource assignments, support for multi-tenancy and more.
  • Availability in more than 30 countries

Depending on where you stand in the VDI deployment cycle in your organization, DVS for Windows Server is already supported today on several Dell PowerEdge server platforms:

  • The T110 for a pilot/POC up to 10 seats
  • The VRTX for implementation in a remote or branch office up to about 500 users
  • The R720 for a traditional enterprise-like, flexible and scalable implementation to several thousand seats. It supports flexible deployments such as application virtualization, RDSH, pooled and persistent VMs.

In one month, Dell and Microsoft will do a technology showcase at Dell World in Austin (TX), USA. You will be able to see by yourself how well Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1 integrate into Dell DVS. We will show:

  • The single management console of Windows Server 2012 installed on a Dell PowerEdge VRTX, demonstrating how easy it can be for an IT administrator to manage VDI workloads based on Hyper-V in a remote or branch office environment
  • How users can chat, talk, share, meet, transfer files and conduct video conferencing within virtualized desktops set up for unified communication
  • That you can watch HD multimedia and 3D graphics files on multiple virtual desktops sharing a graphic card installed remotely in a server
  • How affordable it is to run persistent desktops with DVS and Windows Server 2012 R2

At Dell World, Dell will also present its other Cloud Client Computing solutions, such as DVS for Citrix/VMware, Dell vWorkspace software, DaaS and the latest Dell Wyse thin clients, including project Ophelia.

Come and meet Dell and Microsoft VDI experts at Dell World in Austin, 11th-13th December 2013. If you can’t attend, visit www.dell.com/virtualdesktop or contact us to learn more.

About the Author: Nicolas Cuendet