Desktop virtualization is in its infancy. By the end of 2009, only a handful of organizations had embraced these solutions. Our study, however, finds a large rise this year in the number of companies investing in the technology, encouraged perhaps by the favorable experience of early adopters.
Our study, Desktop Virtualization Adoption, ROI, and TCO, shows that desktop virtualization currently remains at a low level of adoption. Figure 1 shows that only about 15% of organizations have desktop virtualization solutions in place, which is about the same level as in 2009. This is not surprising, as many of the developments have emerged only within the past 12 to 18 months.
However, a more positive indication of the market outlook is that current investors outnumber those with the technology in place by a substantial margin. About 29% of organizations are currently investing in the technology, a figure that includes organizations that are expanding existing implementations as well as first-time implementers.
Moreover, the percentage of companies investing in virtualizing desktops rose from 18% in 2009, an increase of 61%. This is a sizable growth in the number of companies actively deploying the technology and it dovetails with a similar investment rate for Windows 7 migration, which is also beginning in earnest.
The full study examines desktop virtualization adoption trends, providing data on how many organizations have the technology in place, how many are in the process of implementing it, and how many are expanding implementations. To give additional insight, we look at the economic experience of those that have adopted virtualized desktops. We examine return on investment (ROI) experience in terms of the percentage of organizations that report positive and break-even ROI within a two-year period. We also balance the potential ROI against the risks, measured in terms of the percentage of organizations that exceed budgets for total cost of ownership (TCO).
This Research Byte is a brief overview of our report on this subject, Desktop Virtualization Adoption, ROI and TCO. The full report is available at no charge for Computer Economics clients, or it may be purchased by non-clients directly from our website (click for pricing).