There is a bunch of meaningful news for our industry today and some key topics that I've been itching to talk about for weeks. So let's start with everybody's favorite topic, licensing.

VECD is free if you are a Microsoft Software Assurance (SA) customer

Yes it's true, thank you Microsoft! Starting July 1 2010, Microsoft will remove a key barrier to the adoption of the VDI model of desktop virtualization. I can't begin to express my relief at this. I have been in far too many customer meetings where VECD becomes a barrier to adoption for customers who are already current on SA, and frankly complicates the conversation. I think this is significant for our industry and now makes desktop virtualization a reality for many customers who have been on the fence and simplifies the whole process.
VECD has always been a requirement for implementing the VDI model within the desktop virtualization solution portfolio. For SA customers it used to be $56/device/year, and then was slashed to $23/device/year, which was significantly cheaper than buying VECD without SA which was $110/device/year. However, it still remained a barrier to many. I know from personal experience that buying SA made a lot of sense to entitle you to a number of benefits including upgrades to Microsoft products. However, I was always looking to get more value from SA, and I think waving VECD for SA customers will make this a no brainer for the vast majority of customers who understand the strategic drivers for desktop virtualization

I think it's also important to note, that with the centralized management that desktop virtualization brings to the table it's far easier to perform software upgrades and take advantage of SA. Usually the main objection I have observed to SA, is when a customer is unable to absorb new updates fast enough in a market downturn and opts to stay on existing software. While I can certainly empathize with this, I see this as an incredibly risky strategy for many organizations. Adding desktop virtualization really helps simplify upgrades and extract value from SA while giving you all the organizational benefits of centralized management.

To learn more and to read the entire article at its source, please refer to the following page, Microsoft to simplify VECD and partnering with Citrix to bring RemoteFX (formerly known as Calista) to HDX- The Citrix Blogs