It looks like people can save lot of space by streaming applications into VDI images instead of installing all the applications. Yet I do not see talk about this on any of the discussion boards I use. What do you think? Is it worth exploring? Would it save space?
Absolutely. VDI technology, while not new, has been re-energized because of virtualization. This technology, while just recently hitting the mainstream, is a smart architectural decision. Any time you can reduce storage consumption, reduce file duplication (which in turn reduces backup, replication, etc), and centralize desktops into the data center, you are reducing risk and complexity by putting in tools that allow you to manage software spend as well as centralizing unstructured data into the data center.
This was first published in March 2008