Brian Madden had an interesting post yesterday on why a non-technical business person would be interested in VDI.  Brian surmised "the same benefits of Terminal Services without the hassles" as one compelling reason. This makes sense, because with VDI you don't have to learn a new OS(Terminal Services), you don't have app compatibility issues, and you can run the full desktop.

But, does traditional VDI bring with it a new set of hassles bigger than the ones it replaces?  We talk to several customers who want to upgrade from Terminal Services to VDI, but are daunted by the cost and complexity of traditional VDI - the ROI is unclear, traditional VDI requires a cultural change away from the desktop team as it involves managing memory pools, virtualization resources, and the top-down VDI model doesn't fit how desktops are typically upgraded (in phases).

What  our customers tell us is that VDI as an upgrade to Terminal Services is compelling IF:

• The math works: If they can get VDI at the cost of a PC, without a huge upfront investment.
• No cultural change is needed: Desktop IT should be able to deploy and manage the VDI solution
• Companies don't have to change how they buy/upgrade desktops: which typically happens in phases (e.g. as desktops age, or one department/branch at a time). Traditional VDI is typically not cost-effective below a few thousand desktops because of the massive upfront investment it requires.
  

This is precisely what Kaviza delivers - all the benefits of Terminal Services, without the hassles, and with no new costs or complexity.  Try it for yourself.