Virtual Desktop TCO, Total Cost of Ownership

Hosted Virtual Desktop Costs

Virtual Desktop – What is it?

A virtual desktop is when the User Interface to a users desktop or operating system is moved to a remote location and provided virtually from a server. The primary advantage is that all of the processing takes place remotely on a server and it extends the life of your PC. There are many other benefits that you can read about in the advantages of using Virtual Desktops over PCs.

TCO – Total Cost of Ownership Factors

  • Hardware (PC/Laptops)
  • Data Center hardware / Storage

  • Power Consumption

  • Management

  • Software: Win / Application licensing

  • Security & Management tools

  • Support time

In general, the tricky part will be figuring out the difference in soft costs or your support labor. Virtual Desktops should require much less support time as they eliminate the customization users can do as well as greatly locking down the environment. This makes it much less likely that users will get spyware, bots, or accidently mess up their application software. All of that translates to lower support costs and better performance.