The market for virtualization of information technology (IT) infrastructure solutions is booming today. Although this is not a new concept, the issues of rationalizing hardware resources, reducing costs, and ensuring compatibility of heterogeneous systems provide fertile ground for the rapid development of virtualization solutions. Two application areas can be identified for virtualization solutions: platform/operating system virtualization and resource and content virtualization. Each of these areas offers a range of technologies and solutions with a wide range of features to meet the main needs of IT departments.

Desktop virtualization, commonly referred to as Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), provides the user with a complete desktop environment, including the operating system and applications, from a virtual machine. Desktop as a Service (DaaS) providers make use of VDI to offer virtual desktop solutions through the cloud. One of the most attractive features of DaaS is that, as with any Cloud service, it is up to the service provider to manage the technology infrastructure. The service provider is responsible for provisioning resources, load balancing, network troubleshooting, and so on.

DaaS is an obvious choice for those who don't want to administer terminals and infrastructure - especially for companies without in-house VDI expertise. Remote Desktops reduce the costs associated with computers and can be faster because they are not behind a firewall.

Since Cloud workstations are not connected to servers in the data center, they are easier to move, patch, update or restore in the event of an incident. Cloud deployment is also more flexible than VDI - your provider can simply provide workstations to users on any device. Even connectivity concerns can often be overlooked because providers tend to have data centers in or close to datacenters they offer their services in.

To improve efficiency and reduce costs, virtualization is polarizing the efforts of systems teams and investments made by IT departments. x86 architecture, which was not originally intended for virtualization, is now very widespread and has a very broad offering to support virtualization solutions.

The commercial offer for desktop virtualization is diverse but generally remains less well known by the players in the IT sector. The main players for desktop virtualization are:

• Citrix XenDesktop 
• Shells™
• Microsoft Azure
• VMware 
• Amazon Workspaces

DaaS: Concepts and Terminology

Para-Virtualization

A Software virtualization technology based on the use of a hypervisor and optimized for this type of operation.

Hypervisor

A system based on the use of a lightweight and optimized host kernel used to run multiple operating systems simultaneously on the same hardware platform.

Hardware virtualization

Virtualization technology based on the use of hardware-type resources. Intel (Intel VT) and AMD (AMDV) offer a range of processors dedicated to hardware virtualization on x86 platforms.

Operating System virtualization

Virtualization technology, the principle of which is the execution of an operating system in a context isolated from the hardware resources of the host platform.

Application Virtualization

Virtualization technology, the principle of which is the provision and execution of an application in a context isolated from the operating system resources of the host platform.

Virtual Machine

The emulated and isolated environment used to support the context of execution of an operating system or program (guest) on a host machine. 

Host

Physical machine designed to host virtual environments.

Application HUB

Central repository for the provision and distribution of remote and virtualized resources.

Emulation

The action of reproducing the context of the execution of a system on another.

Isolation

Partitioned execution environment without interference with locally installed resources.

Benefits of using DaaS solutions: 

Dynamic and efficient management

Virtualization technologies meet the needs of companies for flexibility in implementing and controlling IT solutions. The management of virtualized resources becomes dynamic and is made more efficient by the intelligent distribution of resources to users. The consolidation of IT resources facilitates the administration work of production teams for the deployment of applications and server maintenance.

Economies of scale on hardware and return on investment

The use of DaaS solutions for sharing and consolidating IT resources reduces the need for hardware.  In particular, savings are made on the reduction in the number of physical servers, with a reduction in hardware acquisition and management costs. The savings can be significant and allow investment in new solutions. Facilitated by the use of virtualization and associated functionalities, the provision of test and validation environments to IT teams is fast, reliable, and does not require the immobilization of hardware resources that are sometimes under-utilized.

Shortened platform provisioning times

The virtualized infrastructure is immediately available for the installation and provisioning of new resources. For example, the time to make a virtual server available is much shorter than the time to make a physical server available, for which the administrator must first upgrade the hardware drivers.

Security and risk reduction

The virtual machine isolation feature reduces the risk of attacks and compromise between machines. Backing up a virtualized platform is easy and does not require the complex implementation of multiple backup agents. The traceability of administrative actions and dynamic load balancing also contribute to the security of virtualized platforms.

Improved operational efficiency

The reduction of administrative actions, such as supervision and maintenance, increases the operational efficiency of this type of platform.  The service continuity and load balancing functions help improve the user experience.