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virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is the practice of hosting a desktop operating system within a virtual machine (VM) running on a centralized server. VDI is a variation on the client/server computing model, sometimes referred to as server-based computing. The term was coined by VMware Inc.

In the past couple of years, some large organizations have turned to VDI as an alternative to the server-based computing model used by Citrix and Microsoft Terminal Services.

Related glossary terms: GSX Server, root partition, SPARC (Scalable Processor Architecture) , systems management, virtual private server (VPS) or virtual dedicated server (VDS), live migration, physical to virtual (P2V) , Our Favorite Technology Blogs, Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM) , PowerPC

Contributor(s): Alex Barrett

This was last updated in April 2007

Posted by: Margaret Rouse

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