You are completely right. You could deliver a working environment with traditional XenApp. No issues with IOPS and settings.
A reason I forgot to mention were 16bit apps. Latest XenApp is 64bit only which limited us.
17 publicly visible posts • joined 2 Sep 2010
I run the VDI infrastructure in my office. Approx 200 staff.
We have 5 DL380s with Fusion IO cards for write cache fast IOPS. No SAN for the desktops. Of course the PVS servers deliver from SAN but cached in memory.
We stream three different discs delivered to three different groups of staff. Assignment dependent on work load and some application access. We had to overcome some very similar issues to what you have described.
Personalisation dealt with by AppSense which is allows us to layer settings and minimize log on times and deal with mapped drives on an AD group level.
Our use case for VDI was ensuring the same working environment whether working in head office, Lloyd's or home. The same session can be picked up anywhere. Further more patching and software deployment takes minutes of streamed or maybe an hour or two if an image needs updating.
Back on topic, licensing is a ball ache. It was a big stumbling block for us.
As I understand it the PB was targeted at the coroporate environment. The reasone the PB is tethered to a BB is to ensure that the device never holds any sensitive coporate data. As soon as its out of BlueTooth range, its just a semi decent tablet.
I appreciate that the iPad is a far superior experience, but the controls around remote wipe are immature and dependent on Apple services and they are playing catch up to RIM in that respect.
I have been testing a PB for some time now and I do agree that for the most part its a toe dip into the pad marketform by RIM but I am sure that if the tethered mail client gets features that at least match those found on the BB and its more nativelyt supported by the BES, it will be a decent alternative.
I use TVCatchup everyday on my laptop or HTC when in bed. I am quite happy to watch Jean Claud over and over again when swapping channels as a means of paying for the service. Whats more, the fact that the original advertisments in the channel are not removed plus the fact that I already pay a license for Beeb channels leads me to think there isnt really a problem here.
I cant see how the original broadcasters are being diddled out of money when I could just walk downstairs and watch the same on my tv.
I have lways thought thatthis is being looked at from the wrong perspective. At the moment we drive up to a petrol station and fill up.
Shouldnt we just design a car with a replaceable battery? Drive up to a fule station, change your empty one for a full one and drive off. The empty one can then be left to charge for as long as required for the next person.
Rather than fuel deliveries there would just be some trucks moving batteries around to even out the spread etc
I appreciate there might be some holes in the idea. I dont know how much a battery would cost, but the more there are, the cheaper they would get until they ubiquitous and not worth stealing.