I'm curious about whether VDI is still a popular choice for organizations these days. I'm looking to estimate the costs for 350 concurrent licenses of VMware VDI, especially given the recent pricing changes. Additionally, what do you think the upfront hardware costs would be? I'd love to hear your best guesses on both!
4 Answers
A lot of places are still using Horizon. If you’re starting from scratch, contacting a vendor like Omnissa will help get clarity on licensing costs. As for hardware, it's pretty flexible—just keep in mind that things like vGPU licenses from Nvidia and ESXi licenses will add to your total. Without specific details, it's hard to give a precise number.
Same here! I don’t have all the info either, just that they’re suggesting we make this switch because it worked for them previously.
VMware Horizon is now managed by Omnissa, and the pricing hasn’t fluctuated drastically. VDI is very much alive with many options available, not just VMware. When it comes to hardware, you really need to assess your user requirements to get a solid estimate. Licenses tend to be less costly compared to hardware, so focus on that first and then licensing will be clearer. I recommend working with a trusted VAR if you’re in the US.
For what it’s worth, I’m running Citrix VDI on ESXi, but I've been experimenting with XenServer since it's free with Citrix. Parallels RAS is pretty neat too and generally cheaper than Citrix if you want something simple. If you just want a quick deployment, WorkSpot or Amazon WorkSpaces is also a solid choice.
Yeah, VDI is definitely still being used, but it's worth checking out alternatives like Azure Virtual Desktop or AWS WorkSpaces. For VMware, you're looking at an annual cost somewhere between $70,000 and $175,000 or even more, depending on what you need. As for hardware, that could run you anywhere from $150,000 to $500,000 upfront, depending on how big your setup will be. Definitely get a quote to be sure!
Those estimates sound about right! Don't forget to factor in Windows licenses and any thin clients you might need.
Yeah, I've heard they're still using Horizon for GPU-accelerated Linux desktops. Not sure if there's a better option out there.