ReadWriteWeb Solution Series

The PC era is here to stay as long as the Internet lives. That is not to say however that it won't go through some physical changes along the way, in much the same way the QWERTY keyboard has been made more ergonomic, virtualized on touchscreens, and tucked away in tiny cellphone trays, but remains essentially the same.

Certainly other manifestations of the desktop's evolution, such as in this interactive exhibit at the DDR museum in Berlin will appear in mass production eventually.

The current cries heralding the death of desktops and the rise of the Post-PC Era ring hollow to anyone of the Video Killed the Radio Star MTV age. If history has taught us anything, it's that devices with a common purpose seldom destroy one another. It is the changes in computing processes that kills devices.

The small business owner is in that phase right now in which they are asking the young store clerk about all this cloud stuff.

It may be surprising but they are also asking about virtualization. Businesses are starting to understand that they can leapfrog into a new competitive world by using virtualization to use multiple operating systems and to keep apps partitioned and protected.

The innovations in virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) have helped better its perception compared to a few years ago when it clearly had an image problem.

Most of this was due to the poor experience people had. You could clearly tell the difference between it and your standard desktop. But we are now seeing a new level of understanding about how to manage virtual environments that is translating into better experiences for the end user.

As CEOs take the stage and talk about the next big thing, as they often do this time of year, reality is getting a little distorted.

This year, without a doubt, it's talk of the mobile enterprise and the idea of BYOC (bring your own computer) to work. This is an undeniable trend, but we also have to look at the issue objectively. We see a race emerging for the next platform to virtualize. Desktop virtualization is coming to the mobile landscape.

The iPhone, iPad and every smartphone known to mankind have one thing in common. You can use them for work and you can use them at home. There is no difference when it comes to the new generation of mobile devices that people use. That is pretty much true for the Internet, too. People use Web apps for work and in the home. Testament to this trend is the social business phenomena. Social is super hot. Why? We use social technologies at home so why not at work, too?

Understanding the concepts of desktop virtualization really comes down to knowing the user's work environment. For example, a person who only works at a personal computer in an office setting may require a desktop virtualization environment that is different from the salesperson who is out on the road, using a laptop for work.

According to Virtualization Review, there are five approaches to desktop virtualization.

Cloud-oriented operating systems like Chrome OS, Jolicloud and Peppermint OS can run on low-end hardware and provide an alternative to desktop virtualization infrastructure (VDI). Instead of running a desktop environment on a central server, the desktop is displaced entirely in favor of Web applications. This approach does away with the need to virtualize and can ease compatibility issues across platforms. The offline storage feature of HTML5 will solve the availability issue for Web applications.

If cloud-oriented OSs catch on, will desktop virtualization still be relevant?

A huge issue with desktop virtualization is the storage question. How do you best allocate storage when potentially thousands of people are working on virtualized desktops?

It's a different world. Before, people kept their data on their own desktops and laptops. Now the data sits in shared storage environment.

George Crump, an analyst with Storage Switzerland, writes in Information Week that in many respects it comes down to thin provisioning and image management.

Due to the popularity of smartphones and tablets, some say we are entering the "post-PC era." Thanks to these new devices, the desktop computer no longer has a monopoly on our work lives. But as we use more devices, how can we maintain consistent access to our applications and data across them all?

Desktop virtualization can provide non-PC devices with access to desktop resources. Through virtualization, we can carry our desktop applications with us across several devices.

One common way to handle desktop virtualization is to run the desktop environment as a virtual machine (VM) on a central server. The user will then access applications from the desktop remotely. This approach is sometimes called virtual desktop infrastructure or VDI. VDI enables admins to maintain a single environment for several users, and for those users to have a consistent experience from whatever device they use to access the desktop. This is helpful not only for access on non-traditional devices, but for scenarios when employees may use more than one desktop or laptop for their jobs.