Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is a core technology that is deployed for a variety of reasons, but especially when application performance, security, intellectual property protection, and regulatory compliance are important considerations. The primary goal of a VDI rollout is to provide a user experience that is indistinguishable from the desktop experience. This is often a challenge, but when factors are fully considered, and the right products and processes are put in play, it’s very achievable.
By Steve Schall, HPE Master Technologist and Senior Product Manager for HPE ComputeTechnical Enablement
Why should you choose HPE ProLiant Gen11 servers with AMD EPYC™ 9004 Series Processors for an optimal desktop virtualization experience?
Deploying client-server applications on virtualized applications or virtualized desktops enhances the user experience. By placing the application and database on a high-speed data center network you can avoid the latency that seriously impacts both user experience and productivity. Even when working on a local LAN, using application virtualization improves application response times dramatically. This is why operations, accounting, electronic health records, and graphical applications such as CAD and media are typically deployed on a virtualized platform.
Here's a good example of performance and response time. Several years ago, I worked on a very large SAP rollout. Local user response times took several seconds, and remote VPN users would experience extended application response times of between 25 and 30 seconds. After we deployed VDI, the VPN response time dropped to less than two seconds – even for remote users.
Financial and securities trading, while a bit different from client server applications, targets optimizing each actual transaction. If trading is deployed on desktop PCs, you add milliseconds of latency to each transaction. By placing the trading applications on high-speed data center networks with direct connections to the various markets, you reduce the transaction latency from milliseconds to microseconds. This has a huge impact on large financial institutions. All of those milliseconds of latent transactions add up to lost trading profits. During a year's time, this could cost more than the actual technology investment.
Data security is another VDI deployment driver. A desktop workstation is far more vulnerable to attack than a virtual desktop in the data center. Once compromised, the user credentials that allowed access to their data files could result in slow exfiltration of the information to an attacker’s system.
Here's a scary fact. The Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property estimates that intellectual property theft in the USA alone is estimated by to be between $225 billion to $600 billion yearly. If your application info and data are confined to the data center, and tightly wrapped with security countermeasures, intrusion monitoring makes it much more difficult to exfiltrate data. This is especially true when you leverage HPE’s secure servers. With safeguards in place, the only thing that comes out of your data center are pixels on a screen. Keystrokes and mouse movements are direct inputs into the system and are insulated from the user device. This is especially important for government, healthcare, manufacturing, and financial organizations whose operations and regulations require securing confidential data and adhering to strict compliance measures. By avoiding intellectual property theft, your business can avoid large fines and legal costs for breaches. This not only will increase profitability; it also ensures less embarrassment.
If one considers the cost of intellectual property leaking from an organization – be it a car design, electronic equipment configuration, competitive defense products, or a movie script – the costs could be astronomical in terms of lost revenue or diminished competitive advantage in the marketplace.
The three “C’s” of VDI success: clock, cores and cache
All three, in concert, create the optimal environment for a VDI deployment.
The most important “C” is CPU base speed or clock. The faster the better, and over 3 GHz is the minimum. I’ve seen a few VDI deployments that didn’t follow this rule, and the result is always substandard usability and an experience resulting in user complaints. A fast clock reduces application latency and creates the optimum user experience, which can be indistinguishable from a desktop PC.
The more CPU cores, the better. The goal is to reduce the number of servers, thereby simplifying management and enhancing sustainability. Reducing the number of servers also gives the end-user computing specialist more flexibility in tuning the VDI environment for the kinds of individual use cases that invariably pop up in the real world.
A large L3 cache reduces application latency and enhances the user experience. A good example is the AMD® EPYC® 9554. It has 64 physical cores with a 3.1 GHz base clock vs the competition’s 60 cores at 1.9 GHz, which is unusable for VDI. AMD’s base clock is 163% of the competition with more cores. If pure speed is desired (especially for energy and financial trading) the EPYC 9374F, with 32 physical cores and a 3.85 GHz clock, is the fastest VDI processor available today. And the best news, perhaps, is that the AMD per core list price is 56% less expensive and 163% faster.
Scalability, performance, and best user experience
The latest AMD EPYC 9004 family of processors are perfect for virtual desktop deployments providing top-flight server scalability, performance, and the best user experience available. You can discover for yourself how AMD is faster and denser, with more cache – and at half the cost. These processors are also more sustainable since they use less power and cooling per watt.
With over 50 years combined experience, HPE’s core VDI team has extensive expertise in architecting and deploying VDI technology. We architect hundreds of thousands of seats of VDI yearly, with specific, extensive experience in a variety of industries including manufacturing, healthcare, energy, financial services, media, entertainment, government, military, and defense applications.
Why HPE ProLiant servers for VDI?
- Discover unparalleled security with the unique-in-the-server-industry HPE Silicon Root of Trust.
- Recognized by the Marsh McLennan Cyber Catalyst program for security as the only server manufacturer in the industry that meets their extensive cybersecurity criteria.
- Explore flexible acquisition options – CapEx or aaS – with HPE GreenLake and HPE Financial Services.
- HPE ProLiant provides multi-vendor support, including VMware Horizon, Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, HPanyware, and Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop with Azure Stack HCI.
- HPE supports a wide variety of NVIDIA VDI accelerators for accelerated applications like CAD, energy, and financial trading.
- Extensive storage options, including HCI, disaggregated HCI Alletra 6000, and traditional storage architectures with HPE Alletra 9000.
Committed to your ultimate success
If you are considering deploying VDI, I would encourage you to look closely at HPE and AMD. I think you’ll be impressed with the options and capabilities, as well as our commitment to the ultimate success of your VDI project.
To learn more, please check out:
HPE and AMD: Delivering EPYC™ solutions together
Elevate your virtual desktop experience with HPE ProLiant and AMD
HPE GreenLake for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
Steve is a Senior Product Manager for HPE Compute Technical Enablement, specializing in EUC and Accelerated Graphics VDI. He has also achieved the honor of being named an HPE Master Technologist.
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