Cost-Effective VDI Solution by UK Boston Limited …

Boston Limited, now in its 20th year as distribution partner for Super Micro Computer, Inc., unveiled their cost-effective VDI solution at CeBIT 2014 that delivers storage, network and server infrastructure for $125  per user – and $500 per user for the complete hardware and software stack.

As VDI technology matures, its suitability for delivering desktops to a range of end-users is increasing. However, despite this, IT managers still face difficulty in balancing the well understood costs of delivering desktops in the traditional way against BYOD strategies and the security and management benefits of VDI.

To respond to this dilemma Boston, in partnership with Citrix Systems, Inc., Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. and Super Micro Computer, has developed a cost efficient VDI solution based on a commodity hardware architecture that delivers virtual desktops at a cost of under $500 per user – bringing VDI to the masses.

The Boston VDI solution uses software components including Citrix XenDesktop 7.1 in combination with Hyper-V 2012 R2 and Windows Storage Spaces. The hardware stack incorporates Supermicro rack servers equipped with SATA 6Gb/s 7mm 2.5″‘ SSD and four AMD 12 Core Opteron processors for servicing the Hosted Shared Desktop workloads, as well as a Mellanox 10GbE interconnect switch for low latency. The VDI solution removes the need for SAN and relies on a traditional JBOD that is managed by Windows Server 2012 R2 clustered file services for hosting user data.

Manoj Nayee, MD, Boston Limited, says: “An increasing number of enterprises look towards desktop virtualisation to help them respond to rising IT costs, security concerns, the user demands of BYOD and mobile working strategies. By partnering with Citrix and leveraging commodity hardware by Supermicro, Boston Limited has designed a cost-effective yet powerful and scalable VDI at a price point lower or equivalent to that of a traditional PC.”

Boston is also launching a whitepaper at CeBIT Cost Efficient VDI: XenDesktop 7 on Commodity Hardware. It explains how Boston’s XenDesktop-based solution achieves the goal of delivering an enterprise VDI solution that maintains the cost-per-user at levels comparable to traditional desktop delivery methods.