Not many years ago, computing at work was simple and inflexible. People walked into their offices, punched the power button on their desktop, tapped their fingers on the desk waiting for it to start, and then got on with the applications, files, and web browsers as and when needed. They weren’t much comfortable with the process but eventually got familiar with the system.
For the enterprise, though, this was a great headache. In addition to paying for hundreds or even thousands of desktop or laptop workstations (with all the software required) for each employee, the system admins also spent considerable time doing hardware maintenance and updating software.
Not just large companies, but hospitals, schools and government agencies also faced the same problem – scaling up computing, storage, and networking capabilities also resulted in a proportional increase in costs.
Virtual Desktop Interface (VDI) technology came to the rescue around 15 years ago. Today, it is part of the larger End User Computing (EUC) ecosystem and involves a centralized OS that is hosted, run, and managed in an on-premises data center or in the cloud.