The EMEA virtual client computing (VCC) market is expected to grow from $804,9-million in 2013 to $1,181-billion in 2018, representing a CAGR of 7,5%, according to a new study from International Data Corporation (IDC).
The study assesses the different approaches to desktop virtualisation, as well as market drivers and inhibitors, and shows that growth is expected to be driven mainly by the centralised virtual desktop (CVD) category, which is also referred to as virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), while other areas such as application and user state virtualisation and virtual user sessions will only see moderate growth.
“Following the advances in data centre infrastructure virtualisation, it is more than logical to bring their efficiency and flexibility to desktops and applications by introducing a VCC solution,” says Andreas Olah, research analyst at IDC EMEA Data centre Infrastructure Group.
“Cloud service providers are also expected to take a greater chunk of the VDI market with their hosted DaaS and WaaS solutions, which bring the benefits of client and desktop virtualisation to small enterprises in the same way cloud computing has changed the way IT infrastructure resources are consumed.”
While major European markets and the Middle East are expected to catch up rapidly with the more mature markets over the next five years, adoption in southern Europe and in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is expected to remain low in comparison despite some progress.
“Despite a few larger VDI projects, the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa are still lagging behind Western Europe,” says Mohamed Hefny, senior research analyst: Systems and Infrastructure Solutions at IDC CEMA.
“There are more urgent infrastructure challenges — for example, hospital funds would be directed to critically needed medical equipment and analytics capabilities, rather than virtualised infrastructure.”
IDC recommends that organisations of all sizes evaluate the introduction of VDI in view of pressure from end users, competitors, the changing IT landscape, and increasing workforce mobility, as well as the trend toward bring-your-own-device (BYOD).
However, it is crucial to avoid major pitfalls in the form of set-up and organisational costs spiralling out of control and disruption caused by the inability to deal with increasing complexities that desktop virtualisation may create. VDI in itself does not necessarily enable mobility, and a constant reliable connection between mobile devices and a data centre is required to avoid latency and downtime issues.