Intel-powered Citrix XenDesktop Claims to Run 5000 Desktops from one Virtualisation Server
Citrix Systems says its XenDesktop 4 server with FlexCast technology can deliver up to 125 virtual-based desktops, 500 hosted shared desktops and 5000 local streamed desktops from a single physical server. The company says the new desktop virtualisation solution was made possible with Intel's Xeon processor 5500 technology. This announcement seems to be a new achievement in scalability across virtual desktop delivery models to address the needs of a variety of end users in the enterprise.
Citris says the scalability tests were carefully designed to use a mainstream server configuration. Desktop workload simulations incorporated a real-world mix of line-of-business apps, office productivity apps, web browsing and multimedia. The results demonstrate that XenDesktop 4 with FlexCast can deliver up to 40 times more users (5,000 per physical server) than competing solutions which only support VDI-based desktops and max out at just over 100 users per physical server.
With XenDesktop 4, desktop virtualisation can now be implemented with 20 percent lower infrastructure costs. Commenting on the launch, Raj Dhingra, group VP and GM of Citrix XenDesktop said, "With the flexibility it [FlexCast] brings to XenDesktop, along with the improvements in scalability across delivery models, we are making desktop virtualisation ready for mainstream enterprise-wide adoption."
"We are impressed with the hosted virtual desktop scalability improvements Citrix has achieved with next-generation technology from Intel," said Phil Grove, global director, End User Services at CSC. "With the new Intel technology in our engineering laboratories," he added, "we have seen significant performance improvements in our CSC Dynamic Desktop offering, which is powered by XenDesktop. These kinds of Improvements in the economics of desktop virtualisation from Citrix will help our joint customers move forward with large-scale deployments this year."
XenDesktop Reference Architecture Guide for Large-Scale Deployments
Citrix has also made available a reference architecture for large-scale deployments to guide organizations looking at rolling out virtual desktops to a broad set of users. The XenDesktop reference architecture is based on real-world large-scale XenDesktop implementations, and provides a baseline model for a modular approach to designing and scaling to meet the needs of an entire enterprise. It can provide a starting point in understanding the components and capabilities of each FlexCast delivery model, enabling customers to assemble a desktop virtualisation architecture that is tailored to each environment’s unique needs.