| Dell Launches End-To-End OS Streaming Solution Based On Citrix Provisioning Server |
| Friday, 12 October 2007 by Michel Roth | |||
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Today, at the Gartner IT Expo, Dell announced that they will be offering something called "Dell On-Demand Desktop Streaming". Now, I've read all the press releases and write-ups I could find on the subject and here's what's going on. Dell is offering a special "package" that contains everything you need to be able to do Desktop OS Streaming with Citrix Provisioning Server. Reading trough all this information reveals something about the features of Citrix Provisioning Server: it now also supports Windows XP and Windows Vista (Ardence used to be targeted a primarily server OSs). The package contains the following components: • The diskless desktop machines: OptiPlex 745 and 755. • The Citrix Provisioning Server hardware: a PowerEdge 2950 server • The gigabit switches (you sooo most definitely need if you are going to pull this of) PowerConnect Gigabit switch • The storage you need for the images and associated user data: a PowerEdge 2900 storage server So nothing out of the ordinary in the hardware except for the fact that the client machines have something called "EasyConnect". This basically means that the client has the Ardence client embedded to you don't need a PXE server anymore. What's also worth to notice is that this package is limited to 100 users but I'm sure there's something you can arrange with Dell if you have more users. Additionally there are High Availability options available as well. Pricing is the bit that I am not to certain about. It states that it is $1100 per seat. I'm hoping that this includes everything (including hardware) and not just the software licenses. Of course a giant like Dell is flooding the Internet with this fantastic news but if we look beyond that, there's really nothing new. Wyse Streaming Manager has been able to do Desktop OS Streaming for years. Neoware's Image Manager should also be able to do "streamed desktop delivery". However, neither of these companies has the firepower Dell has. So perhaps Dell is going to be successful with this. The concept of OS streaming for desktops is really attractive, especially the way it is positioned in the "Dell On-Demand Desktop Streaming" package. In many ways (desktop) OS streaming is just another form of Server Based Computing. Server Based Computing however over the years has grown to be synonymous with Citrix, Thin Clients and other "thin" solutions but basically Server Based Computing is just about having all the data in the data center and just having "dumb" clients delivering the "content". This content could be an application but it could be an OS as well. This has historically been a presentation protocol like ICA or RDP but this does not have to be the case. Dell positions their OS streaming package and something in between a Thin Client architecture and Blade PC. Supposedly OS Streaming has the best of both worlds. Consider the following advantages: Desktop Performance Experience Since the client in the Desktop Streaming scenario uses local resources to facilitate the users session, like the all important local video power, there's really not that big of a difference whether the user is using a locally installed copy of XP or a streamed version. This is where OS streaming buries Thin Client computing. Even with the current advances in multimedia performance (like Wyse TCX or Citrix' Speedscreen) there's no way they can truely deliver the performance that a "normal" desktop has. Another advantage of running this (virtual) OS of the local hardware is the peripheral support. It's just like what you're accustomed to in a normal Windows desktop environment. Single Image Management Using the Ardence erhm.... Citrix Provisioning Server technology, it is able to have single image that will be used by all clients to boot from. So the volume of patching and updating you need to do is way smaller than in a traditional client server environment. You've probably heard that one before: this is when they tried to sell you Citrix or Terminal Server. No Local Data Security geeks love OS Streaming. why? Because when you power off your client not a single bit of data is left behind. Every time you boot you machine your receive that same vanilla OS with of course your personal settings being restored. The Bad News: User Data The last of the pro's is rather closely related to the first of the con's to (desktop) OS streaming. You have to take great efforts to make sure that all the user data retained after the session is ended. This isn't just a case of a roaming profile but also involves applications and a lot more. WANs Don't even think about a WAN. This might seem obvious but it is a limitation on its own. OS streaming is absolutely not fit for environments connected be WAN links. Even if these links are quite bulky, say like 10 Mbps, you should never use this technology across a WAN. Application streaming suffers from these limitations as well and this is even worse in OS streaming if only for the increase in data volume crossing the WAN. Imaging Also this disadvantage of streaming is closely related one of its advantages, being "single image management". To use OS streaming, you need to rely on imaging technologies and that is, in my mind, a bad thing. In these kind of technologies the image and all its associated procedures are extremely important. It requires a different way of working and is very prone to error. Everywhere I've seen images used I've seen the common issues like wrong user names, "ghost" connection histories, missing drivers and so on. So will be Desktop OS streaming be the best thing since sliced bread? I don't know. But if $1100 is the price for just the streaming license, then Dells stream will could very well run dry very soon ....
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