VDI success hampered by over-hype

Industry failing to show the benefits that virtual desktop infrastructure technology can bring, research finds

Scrapheap challenge: Firms are still tentative of going down the virtual route

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is being over-hyped and end users remain sceptical about the technology, research has found.

Research firm Vanson Bourne interviewed 100 chief information officers at private-sector organisations with more than 1,000 desktops in October, on behalf of PC vendor Fujitsu.

It concluded that the IT industry is failing to demonstrate the benefits that can be brought by VDI, a technology earmarked for colossal growth by analysts such as Gartner and IDC.

Some 49 per cent of respondents said that desktop virtualisation technologies are promising more than they can deliver. The level of scepticism was particularly pronounced among midmarket firms, with 60 per cent of firms with 1,001-3,000 desktops agreeing that the technology is over-promising.

More than three quarters (76 per cent) claim either to have no clear roadmap or strategy for realising the benefits of desktop virtualisation, or confessed that it is 'work-in-progress'.

Ian Bradbury solution design director at Fujitsu UK & Ireland, said: " What's clear from the research is that the IT industry is doing its usual job of over-hyping the benefits of a technology without showing the real and tangible benefits it can bring."