Desktop virtualisation has failed to see the same take-up as its server and storage counterparts because people are scared of it, Dell told CBR today.
Speaking at its Technology Camp held at the O2, Jerome Semichon, senior solution architect in Dell’s Infrastructure Consulting Services, said that the company had seen impressive take-up of desktop virtualisation over the last 18 months or so because firms are starting to rethink their desktop infrastructure.
Semichon added, however, that many companies are afraid of the impact a virtualised desktop environment may have on end users. "It scares people," he told CBR. "Server virtualisation, although it affected all users, was invisible. With desktop, it’s very visible, most notably in applications like Word, where users have to start the learning process again."
"Desktop virtualisation is changing the way people work; the same way they’ve been working for years. It feels new, but it’s not. It’s not rocket science, it’s using the building blocks we’ve had for years," Semichon concluded.
Semichon’s comments echo those of Scott Herold, lead architect, virtualisation business at Quest Software and author of the VMGuru website. Speaking to CBR earlier this year about why desktop virtualisation had failed to see the same take-up as server virtualisation, he said: "End users are very particular about performance – if they perceive that their applications are running slower, they get loud. They will let you know when you push them into something they don’t like or is different from what they are used to."
