NetApp and VMware Collaborated to Build 50,000-Seat VDI Architecture

At VMworld 2010, in support of the newly released VMware View 4.5, NetApp announced that the integration of its industry-leading unified storage technologies enable VMware View 4.5 customers to achieve enhanced storage efficiency and virtual desktop scalability, while improving desktop performance levels for end users. To underscore this capability, NetApp and VMware collaborated to build a 50,000-seat virtual desktop infrastructure reference architecture that easily scales without sacrificing performance.

"As organizations continue on the path to IT as a service, they are looking for scalable virtual desktop solutions at lower cost," said Vittorio Viarengo, vice president, End-user Computing Products, VMware. "Our partnership with NetApp helps our joint customers improve data management while cost-effectively implementing a truly scalable, high-performance VMware View 4.5 solution."

In a virtual desktop environment, each virtual machine can consist of the same operating software and application software, and can be tied to hundreds or thousands of users’ documents, spreadsheets, and presentations across multiple desktops. As a result, storage capacity requirements for desktop data can increase to tens or even hundreds of terabytes, dramatically impacting performance while driving up the costs and management of both the storage stack and the desktop virtualization infrastructure. NetApp helps customers gain control and reduce the cost of storage for VMware View desktops to nearly one-third the cost of alternative storage solutions.

Integrated with VMware View 4.5, NetApp improves desktop efficiencies by extending critical operations such as backup and recovery, deduplication, desktop cloning, and storage system monitoring directly to desktop and server administrators. NetApp also helps significantly improve performance with Flash Cache, which allows read requests to be served out of high-speed, solid-state cache that can be up to 100 times faster than average high-speed disk drives.

NetApp and VMware recently teamed to build a global 50,000-seat desktop virtualization reference architecture, currently the largest documented virtual desktop deployment, to provide customers with a joint architecture that is easy to replicate and deploy. The flexible and dynamic solution supporting a Windows 7 environment was built using NetApp FAS storage, NetApp Virtual Storage Console, VMware View 4.5, and VMware vSphere. Cisco, Fujitsu, and Wyse also collaborated on the project and provided the server, network, and thin-client technology to deliver an end-to-end scalable solution. In addition to getting an industry-leading partner ecosystem with a track record in desktop virtualization, customers also benefit from a proven architecture that easily scales from 5,000 to 50,000+ seats with minimal impact to performance.

"Desktop virtualization helps improve the efficiency, reliability, and availability of resources, creating a more flexible infrastructure with greater cost savings," said Patrick Rogers, vice president of Solutions and Alliances at NetApp. "By seamlessly integrating NetApp with VMware View 4.5, together we provide a complete, secure, and easy-to-manage solution that enables organizations to completely and cost-effectively virtualize their desktops without compromises."