All virtual machines (VMs) are accessible remotely, but not all remote workstations are virtualized. VMs are, in a manner of speaking, theoretical computers; they do not exist as physical entities in real life. They live in the cloud (private or public) and mimic the look and behavior of physical computers, but in reality they're the computing resources from a server distributed among multiple users. A virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is usually a one-to-many setup: One cluster as the source for multiple VMs. In addition to the hardware, VDI also requires additional server-side and client-side software components. VMware, known for its vSphere software, and Citrix, known for its XenDesktop software, are the two biggest names in the VDI market Commercial VDI solution vendors also face competition from open-source counterparts, like KVM (kernel-based virtual machine). In enterprise use of VDI, licensing fees for software could add up over time. The open-source alternatives could offer significant savings.
展开▼
