London – May 16, 2013 - Today at BriForum London, the release of Brian Madden, Gabe Knuth and Jack Madden’s new book was announced. The new book titled The New VDI Reality: How the Biggest Barriers to VDI Adoption Have Finally Been Solved and What This Means for the Future of the Enterprise Desktop – is the second edition to their March 2012 book titled The VDI Delusion: Why Desktop Virtualization Failed to Live Up to the Hype, and What the Future Enterprise Desktop will Really Look Like, which was widely considered to be the definitive book on VDI and desktop virtualization strategy.

When Brian, Gabe and Jack wrote The VDI Delusion, it caused quite an uproar in the VDI community and challenged a lot of the hype and unrealistically positive outlook that many vendors were painting about VDI. Brian recently blogged “we now have the technology to address two of the major showstopper issues for VDI” with 1) the introduction of storage technology to support persistent (1-to-1) disk images and 2) GPU-based graphics improvements for support of most apps. The New VDI Reality book was written to explain how these two technological innovations have lowered the cost and improved the user experience of persistent VDI to the point where they can now be better than physical PCs.

Excerpts from The New VDI Reality book:

It’s been a little over a year since we published the first edition of this book, called The VDI Delusion. While I’m incredibly proud of that book, in hindsight I’m not sure if we picked the best title. Calling it The VDI Delusion scared many people away as they thought it was a book about VDI haters and that we were anti-VDI. (And with a title like that, who could blame them?)

By the way, let’s take another moment to remind you that we’re not VDI haters. We actually love VDI! (Seriously!) What we don’t like is when VDI gets a bad name when it fails because people try to use it for the wrong reasons. So we’re hoping that by sharing real-world examples of how other people have failed with VDI, you’ll be able to avoid these situations and (1) only use VDI where it makes sense, and (2) be very successful with it!

Since the first edition of this book was published last year, there have been two major technological innovations that have changed the game for a lot of VDI deployments. The first is around storage. We always argued that VDI had to be about persistent “1-to-1” disk images, but doing so with traditional server storage was prohibitively expensive…The second major breakthrough of the past year has been in the area of graphics performance, specifically the fact that multiple vendors now have plug-in cards for your remote VDI servers that can offload the processing, encoding, and compression of the remote protocol display streams.

Taken together, these improvements in storage and graphics capabilities mean that VDI is now applicable in far more situations than it was before. This sentiment is corroborated by the number of large (more than 10,000 seat) deployments we’ve seen kick off this year.

The good news around costs and VDI is that thanks to Moore’s Law, desktop economies of scale can be realized more quickly in the datacenter. While we already discussed the fact that Moore’s Law also applies to traditional desktops, much of those costs are wrapped up in the metal box and the power supply and the wires and the logistics of designing, marketing, selling, and delivering a $300 desktop. But when it comes to the datacenter, you can almost literally buy twice the computing power (which cuts the cost of a desktop in half) every 18 months, yet the “goal” of desktop virtualization doesn’t move nearly that often.

As we briefly mentioned in the previous chapter, Windows 7 was released four years ago, and the requirements (in terms of CPU MIPS, IOPS, graphics power, etc.) for delivering a good Windows 7 experience haven’t changed since then. What has changed was that dedicating enough datacenter resources to create a good Windows 7 experience now costs 1/5th of what it did in 2009. In practical terms this doesn’t mean that we’re doing VDI in 2013 for 1/5th of the cost of VDI in 2009, rather, it means that today we’re using roughly the same amount of money but delivering a vastly improved VDI experience that can actually rival a physical desktop. In other words, $500 of VDI in 2013 can deliver something that users actually want to use!

In terms of calculating cost savings and looking at cost models, this means that we can finally do a more true “apples-to-apples” comparison of the product we’re delivering (VDI versus traditional) and the costs to deliver it. All of the cost model caveats still apply of course, but at least now we have the option of delivering a worse user experience by going to VDI. (Previously it was mandatory.)

The ideal 1-to-1 VDI environment is an environment where each VDI desktop has its own personal, unique disk image. So if you have 150 desktop VMs on a VDI host, then we’d want to see 150 separate VMDK files on that host—one for each user. Like we said earlier, building a VDI environment like that would be the most like your existing desktop environment.

Get this new book free from Atlantis Computing and Devon IT

Atlantis Computing and Devon IT have sponsored the distribution of free copies of the New VDI Reality book for the next three months. You can get a free copy of the book in either PDF or Kindle version at www.vdireality.com, by visiting the Atlantis Computing stand #12 at BriForum London, or by stopping by the Atlantis Computing booth #407 or Devon IT booth #304 at Citrix Synergy Los Angeles taking place May 22 – 24, 2013 at the Anaheim Convention Center. Atlantis Computing and Devon IT will also be giving away a free Kindle with The New VDI Reality book each day at Citrix Synergy.
The free version has an added Introduction: How the biggest barriers to VDI adoption have finally been solved and a concluding chapter titled The Ideal VDI Environment: A Deeper Look at Persistent (1-to-1) VDI written by Atlantis Computing and Devon IT that explain how rethinking storage and thin clients for persistent VDI can overcome the cost, scalability, user experience and complexity challenges that have prevented VDI from living up to the hype.

The print edition will be available at BriForum Chicago taking place July 30 – August 1, 2013 at the McCormick Place Convention Center. There will be a book signing at BriForum Chicago and at VMworld US which is taking place August 25 – 29, 2013 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. For more information, go to: www.vdireality.com

Citrix HDX Ready Thin Clients Available for Demo in Booth 304 at Industry’s Premier Desktop Virtualization Event

Visit Booth #304 to see the client device expected to be available for under $100

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–As part of its participation Citrix Synergy, the industry’s leading desktop and virtualization event, Devon IT will announce the most innovative client computing device available.

With prices expected to be to be under $100 USD, the specifications and picture of the new device have been tightly held secret. A large Devon IT customer, who was secretly briefed on the beta device of this the project stated, “I have seen the Devon IT new device and it is truly amazing.”

Devon IT President Joe Makoid exclaimed, “I have never been so excited to launch a product – and that is saying something! This revolutionary device will be the beginning of change for the desktop computing landscape.”

Devon IT will be demonstrating this new product in the Acer/Devon IT booth 304, at Citrix Synergy 2013.

In addition to the new device, Devon IT will offer user demos of the Acer Veriton Citrix HDX Ready™ thin clients in the Acer and Devon IT booth 304. The Acer/Devon IT solutions include ARM SOC-based thin clients as well as the very latest advanced x86 processors with features that are designed for knowledge-based workers focused on multimedia and content creation. These devices run Devon IT’s DeTOS operating system and WES7 and are all fully manageable by the Echo thin client management platform.

The Acer Veriton N Thin Client Series provides simplified manageability and security in a space-saving form factor for virtual environments. These practical systems are designed for businesses, call centers and customers in education, financial services, healthcare and government wanting to tightly manage data, while reducing energy efficiency and overall costs.

“Citrix continues to evolve its leading remote desktop solutions to meet the growing needs of virtualization and cloud computing users,” says Joe Makoid, President, Devon IT. “For years we have worked with Citrix and aligned our products with their application delivery solutions to provide the best virtual desktop experiences to users. We are proud to let users test our newest Citrix Ready desktop technologies at Synergy.”

When Makoid was asked to be more specific about the new device he said “no comment.”

Devon IT will also offer live tweets from the tradeshow floor in booth 304 and you can follow Devon IT on Twitter @DevonIT.

To contact Devon IT for all things related to this new device, thin client computing and virtual desktops, email info@devonit.com or call (610) 757-4220 or toll-free at (888) 524-9382. For more information about Devon IT DeTOS™, and Echo™ please visit www.devonit.com/software Follow Devon IT on Twitter @DevonIT.

Limited Time Offer:

Get 5 VDI Blaster Licenses for only $100! That’s a $74.95 Savings!

*Discounted Pricing only available through June 2013

VDI Blaster Overview:

• Extends the useful life of aging PCs
• Simple and cost effectively with no hardware replacement necessary
• Maintains Windows desktop experience
• Centrally manages converted PCs
• Allows plug and play replacement of PC to a thin client

VDI Blaster™ will connect thin clients to Microsoft Terminal Services, shared services, and virtual desktops from Citrix XenAppView, Microsoft RDP, RemoteFX through rDesktop, VMware Horizon View, Virtual Bridges, and vWorkspace.

Visit VDIBlaster.com for more information on the virtual desktop solution.

The updated version of the powerful thin client software tool that turns any PC into a managed thin client now has many added features

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Devon IT, Inc., a leading thin client solutions company, today announced that its VDI Blaster™ version 7.2.2, the industry’s leading PC repurposing tool, now supports a range of features that were formerly only available on expensive standalone thin client devices.

VDI Blaster is the most popular software tool that enables a PC to act as a thin client. VDI Blaster converts PCs into secure and centrally manageable virtual desktop, which enables companies and organizations of all sizes to realize the benefits of thin client computing, and extends their capital investment of PCs.

Devon IT President Joe Makoid stated, “With the experience we have gained from thousands of VDI Blaster customers we have been able to add features that are only currently available in high end thin client devices. Now any laptop, PC or even aging thin terminal can be upgraded to a new and manageable thin client device. The VDI Blaster’s new functionality and GUI interfaces makes the process of repurposing PCs easy and less time consuming. Our industry is moving to a device agnostic model and the new VDI Blaster facilitates this easily and cost effectively.”

The latest version of VDI Blaster includes internal wireless support and when using Devon IT’s Echo management platform, persistence of settings and configurations. Additional enhancements include an updated graphical user interface (GUI) and First Boot Wizard, and new access clients.

VDI Blaster offers many benefits for IT initiatives. Once a PC reaches the end of its useful life, VDI Blaster provides a simple plug-and-play solution to transform the PC into a thin client, which is still able to run Windows OS and applications. It also allows the PCs to return to their previous state if necessary. VDI Blaster minimizes the risk of switching to a fully virtualized IT architecture. VDI Blaster makes centrally-managed desktops possible, which reduces risk and allows for synchronized system updates. Devon IT’s VDI Blaster will connect thin clients to Microsoft Terminal Services, shared services, and virtual desktops from Citrix XenAppView, Microsoft RDP, RemoteFX through rDesktop, VMware Horizon View, Virtual Bridges, and vWorkspace.

VDI Blaster:

• Extends the useful life of aging PCs
• Uses virtual desktops, simply and cost effectively with no hardware replacement necessary
• Maintains Windows desktop experience
• Centrally manages converted PCs
• Allows plug and play replacement of PC to a thin client when ready

Users download VDI Blaster to old PCs via a USB key or a MSI (Windows Installer) install. VDI Blaster deploys Devon IT’s thin client operating system, Devon Terminal Operating System (DeTOS™), and Devon IT’s thin client management software, Echo™ to help IT administrators manage enterprise-wide deployments from one central location. Once VDI Blaster is deployed, users repurpose into a dual-boot Windows and VDI Blaster PC, run VDI Blaster with a live-boot CD or USB flash drive, or remove Windows and fully install VDI Blaster to the hard disk.

“Traditional desktops typically need to be refreshed or replaced every three or four years, but IT departments can now extend the life of their company’s PCs by converting them into thin clients,” explained Makoid. “Users can simultaneously test thin client computing methods, and we hope VDI Blaster will continue the momentum of IT administrators moving from desktop PCs to virtual client environments.”

To contact Devon IT for all things related to thin client computing and virtual desktops, email info@devonit.com or call (610) 757-4220 or toll-free at (888) 524-9382. For more information about Devon IT DeTOS, and Echo please visit www.devonit.com/software. Follow Devon IT on Twitter @DevonIT.

Without a cost-effective and flexible system, Calford Seaden had high operating costs, consistent management issues associated with maintaining 200+ desktops and 45 servers, and concerns associated with outdated disaster recovery plans and provisions. IT systems included 45 Intel Windows Servers where each location had its own servers and PCs; all linked via a leased line to their headquarters. As many as 200+ desktops needed to be replaced every three years, making PC refreshes difficult and limiting their flexibility.

Calford Seaden moved to a virtualized server and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). Switching to a virtual solution, they were able to reduce 45 servers to five and decrease the number of PCs being used, resulting in notable power savings. Calford Seaden originally utilized 200+ PCs using 150W each and with thin clients they are using less than 12W.

With VDI, Calford Seaden was able to use thin clients for digital dictation with audio transcription.  Devon IT’s Echo™ Thin Client Management Software on Acer thin clients provides them control of their user environment, which simplifies their process for applications and managing profiles.  Users are able to log in at any office, providing greater ease of use and increased productivity.

Download full case study on Calford Seaden and others!

By creating a dynamic and flexible IT environment with thin clients and servers, IT departments worldwide are simplifying their IT infrastructures. Total cost of ownership, security, manageability, energy costs and user experience can all be improved through a VDI approach.

Virtual Desktop Computing in K-12: Technology Helping Education
Date: Thursday, May 2, 2013
Time: 11:00 AM Pacific Time / 2:00 PM Eastern Time
Register for the Webinar at: https://aceramerica.webex.com/aceramerica/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=924168555

Patrick Christl, Technology Specialist of Pennoyer Elementary School will share their experience of implementing a virtualized computer lab and server infrastructure. The webinar shows how virtualization, a shared computing strategy, maximizes efficiency by harnessing the computing power of underutilized PCs and is an excellent way to bring classrooms and labs into the 21st century, in a simple and cost effective manner. It also demonstrates how virtualization allows schools to achieve more with less by simplifying management, allowing for blended learning and collaborative technology use and by facilitating incremental rollouts. Patrick will share the process, successes and the lessons learned.

“Less than a decade ago, technology in the classroom was still considered a luxury,” explained Joe Makoid, President, Devon IT. “Today, it’s an essential tool to learning. It’s no longer about providing the bare minimum, but discovering the most innovative ways to improve education through these vast and diverse technological advancements in the world. Thin Clients and virtual desktop infrastructure is an essential element in bringing technology to school districts in a cost–effective way.”

To contact Devon IT for all things related to thin client computing and virtual desktops, email info@devonit.com or call (610) 757-4220 or toll-free at (888) 524-9382. For more information about Devon IT DeTOS™, and Echo™ please visit www.devonit.com/software Follow Devon IT on Twitter @DevonIT.

Technology is revolutionizing every aspect of society, and that powerful shift is especially evident in education. The era of paper and pencil has shifted to tablets and multimedia- rich lectures, and schools are being wired to enhance learning across the digital spectrum.

Join Acer and Devon IT for an informative session on a school district’s journey in becoming a 21st Century learning environment by integrating technology and implementing a virtualized computer lab for its students.

Virtual Desktop Computing in K-12: Technology Helping Education
Date: Thursday, May 2, 2013
Time: 11:00 AM Pacific Time / 2:00 PM Eastern Time
Register for the Webinar now!

Agenda:
Patrick Christl, Technology Specialist of Pennoyer Elementary School will share their experience of implementing a virtualized computer lab and server infrastructure. Virtualization, a shared computing strategy that maximizes efficiency by harnessing the computing power of underutilized PCs is an excellent way to bring classrooms and labs into the 21st century, in a simple and cost effective manner. Simply stated, virtualization allows you to achieve more with less by simplifying management, allowing for blended learning and collaborative technology use and by facilitating incremental rollouts. Patrick will share the process, successes and lessons learned.

Register for the Webinar now!

We look forward to your participation. Please contact us_promarketing@acer.com if you have any questions.

Keynote Speaker:
Patrick Christl
Technology Specialist
Pennoyer Elementary School, Norridge, IL

Since joining Pennoyer Elementary School in 2011, Patrick Christl, Technology Specialist, has helped transform Pennoyer into a progressive 21st century learning environment. Patrick has increased interactive whiteboards by 700%, making nearly all classrooms in the district interactive. He established a Cisco managed wireless system and adopted a new advanced content filter and antivirus system to stay current with the continuing trends. He is currently piloting an eBook initiative, replacing paperbound books with digital versions of text. This past school year, Patrick implemented a virtualized computer lab and server infrastructure from scratch. He brings a hands-on, real world approach to technology in education. Patrick is always looking for new ways to help teachers and staff implement technology in the classroom. He enjoys working within the classrooms to help students become more familiar with all that technology can offer.

More Information on Technology for K-12

Learning in the Cloud: How Virtualization Is Revolutionizing K-12 Education – Download White Paper from Devon IT

Acer’s Success Stories for K-12 – See Success Stories

New Acer Veriton N thin clients run and managed by Devon IT Solutions

BANGALORE, India & KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Devon IT today announced that Acer India, one of the top three PC players in the country, is now offering its line of Veriton thin clients running Devon IT software. With this launch, Acer will further widen its offerings in the desktop segment for its customers in the commercial space. With the thin client market booming in India, Acer and Devon IT will focus on addressing the requirements of customers in the manufacturing, BPO and BFSI segments that require high performance products while keeping operational costs and power consumption low.

“As the thin client market remains buoyant, we expect robust growth from this segment in particular. We will continue to innovate and further strengthen our commercial product offerings with the thin client range.”

The Veriton N series launched by Acer will aim at offering thin client solutions at low administrative cost with superior security system and easy manageability. With such compelling features, thin client computing has become the most preferred choice for many sectors. To take this solution to consumers across segments Acer has teamed up with Devon IT, an information technology firm to offer specialized thin client solutions along with software for its wide range of thin client solutions.

Acer Veriton N2110G and N2620G are equipped with invaluable tools that support both simple and complex environments. Devon IT Terminal Operating System (DeTOS) and Microsoft Windows Embedded operating system (WES) will enable companies to create and maintain remote desktop connections and terminal settings from one central location. These two variants of Veriton are also packed with the Echo Management software, developed exclusively by Devon IT, which combines thin client management capabilities and connection management features, thereby allowing companies to have a seamless and integrated enterprise network. Acer Veriton N series thin clients are also coupled with Citrix HDX technology that deliver a high definition desktop virtualization user experience to end users for any application, device or network.

Announcing the launch, Mr. S. Rajendran, Chief Marketing Officer, Acer India, said, “With our existing domain expertise in the commercial segment, we believe it is the right time to enter into the thin client market. Globally, we have partnered with Devon IT, a leader specializing in thin client solutions, to provide software for our portfolio in the thin client segment. With our offerings, we are confident of bringing additional value to the Indian thin client market. Our thin client product line-up offers a variety of energy, security and space saving features to help organizations meet their business deliverables at a reduced cost.”

Mr. Joe Makoid, President, Devon IT, said, “Globally we have a strong association with Acer in introducing thin client solutions; we have extended our support to address the requirements for the Indian market as well. Acer thin client offerings embedded with our software expertise will offer customers optimized benefits of virtual desktop infrastructure computing.”

The Acer Veriton N2110G and N2620G features a dual core AMD T56N processor with AMD Radeon™ HD 6320 Graphics and Intel® Celeron® 887 processor with Intel® HD Graphics with DVI-I and HDMI dual digital output for high multimedia capabilities respectively. It also packs in USB 3.0 for better connectivity and 2GB memory space that offers high performance output. Packed in a compact form factor, the Veriton N2110G also supports dual display ports with a maximum resolution of 1920 * 1200.

Mr. Rajendran, further added, “As the thin client market remains buoyant, we expect robust growth from this segment in particular. We will continue to innovate and further strengthen our commercial product offerings with the thin client range.”

Acer Veriton thin clients save as much as 70 percent of energy when compared to traditional desktops. Acer’s thin client systems meet Energy Star 5.2 requirements and are EPEAT® Gold complaint; it maximizes energy efficiency to reduce the cost of ownership. Acer thin clients are also RoHS complaint to better the environment. They also provide wireless connectivity with optional integrated WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n.

About Acer

Established in 1976, Acer is an information and communication technology company dedicated to the research, design, marketing, sale and support of innovative products that enhance people’s lives. Acer’s green supply chain delivers environmentally friendly PCs, displays, projectors, servers, tablets and smartphones — tools our customers need to explore beyond limits and experience more. Ranked No. 3 for notebooks globally (IDC 2012), Acer employs 8,000 people, and 2012 revenues reached US$14.7 billion. Please visit www.acer.com for more information.

When choosing between thin clients and zero clients, it isn’t that one hardware or connection option outweighs the other. Instead it pertains more to the requirements in the environment being deployed as well as the needs and permissions of the desktop users. Understanding the benefits and challenges of your VDI options will help you make the right choice. There are some key differences between thin clients and zero clients that are worth outlining.  While both have similarities, they each boast capabilities that make them unique.

Taking a Look at Thin Clients

With thin clients, virtual desktops are hosted in the data center and the thin client simply serves as a terminal to the back-end server. Thin clients are generally easy to install, make application access simple, improve security and reduce hardware needs.

Thin Client devices for VDI are traditionally end-point devices with their own native operating systems, usually offering a version of Windows Embedded Standard (WES) or a Linux based operating system such as DeTOS.  Thin clients utilize connection protocols such as Citrix ICA or Microsoft RDP in order to remotely access a desktop that is being hosted on a Virtual Machine stored on a server.   They often include a local browser, as well.

Thin clients are mean to be simple devices to create a secure and manageable environment. However different users have different requirements so when choosing devices, consider whether you need capabilities such as 3-D, video conferencing and multi-monitor support. You should also take into account your remote display protocol and how much display processing your back end can supply.

Zeroing in on Zero Clients

Zero clients are gaining ground in the VDI market. These are client devices that require no configuration and have nothing stored on them. Zero clients often require less setup than a thin client. The deployment time can be lower provided those carrying out the deployment have properly set their environment up.  However, zero clients are not as flexible and often require that the administrators choose one protocol or another for the device to utilize.  While a user may only need to enter their credentials to access their desktop sessions, the options for what they can do is more limited.

Instead of an operating system, Zero Clients have a highly tuned onboard processor specifically designed for one possibly three VDI protocols (PCoIP, HDX, or RemoteFX). Most of the decoding and display processes take place in dedicated hardware and therefore are more efficient than using a software client and a standard CPU and GPU setup as with a Thin Client. Zero Clients have boot up speeds of just a few seconds and are immune to viruses, decreasing the overall downtime of the device and increasing the productivity to the end-user. The Zero Client device requires very little maintenance and rarely needs an update unless there is a significant change/enhancement to the VDI protocol or the occasional BIOS related update.

Alternative Client Solutions:

There are also thin clients such as the Acer Veriton N2010G, that offer a feature through the client operating system that enables fast, efficient deployments of new zero client terminals. Another option is choosing a thin client model that provides an OS (such as ZeTOS) allowing it to perform as a zero client terminal that runs in a stateless condition. Users then are unable to execute software or initiate remote sessions that the administrators have not authorized. A user enters their username and password and is immediately up and running in their remote session.

Configuration is carried out through an external DNS environment: management software becomes optional, as connectivity is established passively through standard DNS records. Once the DNS environment has been established the management process is essentially complete. Choosing this alternative, zero client computing can convert back to thin client computing with this OS capability on these terminals.

‘Thin vs Zero’ Clients: Wrap Up

Thin clients and other slimmed-down devices rely on a network connection to a central server for full computing and don’t do much processing on the hardware itself. Best thin and zero client product choices for your VDI environment really rests within the software embedded on the clients. As I stated before in my previous blog entry Evaluating Software to Reap the Full Benefits of Desktop Virtualization,   “Your thin client management software should be a powerful software product that combines thin client management capabilities with connection management features”.

Again, to host virtual desktops, you have a lot of choices: thin clients, zero clients and not to mention tablets and mobile devices as we continue to advance in today’s mobile and BYOD era. The first step on deciding between thin and zero clients really rests within the requirements of your network and the connection you prefer with your end uses.