The rising costs of VDI: a strategic approach to software delivery

One of the hottest topics right now amongst higher ed IT professionals is undoubtedly the recent commercial decisions made by the VDI technology giants, and their impact on the end user computing strategies of many universities and colleges. The acquisition of VMware has caused many institutions to see their VDI licensing bills increase by up to 800%, rapidly causing our industry to question its approach to application delivery through desktop virtualization. But how can institutions redefine their use of these technologies in their quest to fulfil key student satisfaction, equitable access, and hybrid learning strategies?

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solutions, such as Citrix and VMware Horizon (now Omnissa), have been useful tools for universities and colleges, providing users with access to the software they need in certain scenarios. It was the lifeline of many institutions during COVID, to enable remote learning for students, and meet the increasing demand of hybrid learning.

The problem with VDI

However, due to the significant costs associated with licences, institutions have been reluctant to adopt these solutions on a large scale. Despite the touted benefits in delivering a centralised computing environment and enabling institutions to manage and provide applications and desktops to students and staff regardless of location, the increasing costs of maintaining VDI solutions have prompted many universities to seek more cost-effective alternatives.

The financial burden of VDI extends well beyond the initial investment in hardware and software licences, although some customers have reported increases of up to 800% in license costs recently. Institutions must also deal with ongoing expenses such as continuous infrastructure upgrades to ensure compatibility with the latest software versions, regular maintenance, support services, and security updates to keep systems running efficiently. Additionally, the need for highly skilled IT staff to manage and troubleshoot the VDI environment further contributes to these costs. These expenses can quickly add up, placing significant strain on the budgets of educational institutions already facing financial constraints.

Cloud desktops to the rescue?

In response to these financial pressures, many universities have transitioned to cloud-based virtual desktop solutions such as Microsoft’s Azure Lab Solutions. This has provided a more flexible and scalable alternative to traditional on-prem VDI, allowing institutions to deliver virtual desktops and applications without the substantial upfront investment in hardware.

For a simple per user per month charge – or a monthly charge with an additional variable consumption charge on top – institutions can consume all the benefits of a virtual desktop with none of the back-of-office complexity. Hardware is all managed by the vendor (including OS patching and security updates, hardware refresh, upgrades etc.), as are many of the infrastructure configuration and settings, which are often a time-intensive feat for resource-constrained IT to maintain (for example instance types, gold images, app deployment etc.). This is a neat solution for institutions that deliver a small number of applications to a limited number of users, but for higher education institutions it is becoming a cost not many are able to sustain, at least not beyond a small number of use cases.

Higher education presents the biggest challenge and complexity in computing environments: tens of thousands of students, faculty, staff and visiting staff access hundreds of applications across thousands of devices. Many of the applications for the different faculties and subjects are highly specialized, resource intensive, delivered on manage devices in labs, libraries or open learning spaces, or to a myriad of unknown and uncontrollable personal devices, ranging from high-powered Macs to underperforming Windows or Chromebooks. Because of this complexity and the increased pressure to improve students’ digital experience, it is understandable why DaaS is so attractive.

However, Microsoft's recent decision to retire Azure Lab Solutions has turned the tables again on universities, dealing with more changes imposed by technology providers. This retirement underscores the volatility of relying on singular technologies and highlights the need for a more strategic approach to delivering applications. This announcement from a large established provider impacts the myriad of resellers and partners and highlights the importance of understanding the technology solutions offered by third party providers. This announcement, and the naming of a handful of alternative providers could lead to additional price changes in the market, especially for a sector that presents incredible complexity.

Apart from price changes, we also operate in a dynamic technology market with ongoing innovations, as well as mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances. And their timing doesn’t always put customers first. Moving from one cloud desktop provider to another could put institutions in an “out of the frying pan, into the fire” situation. A “lift and shift” strategy could get you into another vendor lock-in and can lead to fragmented systems, inconsistent user experiences and can add unnecessary complications to an already complex environment.

Variety is the spice of life

Universities must therefore adopt a strategic approach to application delivery. It begins with a thorough assessment of the institution's current and future needs, including understanding the specific requirements of students and staff and the types of applications and services they rely on.

Instead of focusing on individual technologies, universities should adopt a comprehensive, service-oriented approach to application delivery. This approach involves creating a service catalogue that outlines all available applications and services, making it easily accessible and regularly updated to reflect new offerings and changes. Implementing a unified platform that can integrate various delivery technologies, simplifies management and provides a consistent experience regardless of the underlying technology is the golden ticket for a sustainable software delivery strategy.

AppsAnywhere is the alternative to expensive on-prem or cloud VDI. This platform enables institutions the flexibility to choose the underlying technology to deliver applications, while maintaining a consistent user experience. Whether the backend technology is on-prem VDI, cloud-based solutions, or a hybrid approach, AppsAnywhere ensures that the transition is seamless for the end-users.

It acts as a self-service portal where users can request and access applications on demand, reducing the administrative burden on IT staff and empowering users to manage their own needs. Automated provisioning tools streamline the deployment of applications and services, minimising manual effort and speeding up the delivery process. AppsAnywhere's built-in analytics tools allow universities to track usage patterns, performance, and user satisfaction, providing valuable data that can inform decision-making and optimise application delivery.

8 steps to a sustainable end-user-computing strategy  

1. Deliver virtual applications not desktops – the advantages of containerized applications

Why deliver a whole desktop when your users may only need an app? One of the main issues with VDI (cloud or on-prem) is that consumption costs can go through the roof, and are often unpredictable, due to the inconsistent nature of application usage by students and staff. One day they might only need MS Word or PowerPoint, while other days they might use some heavy-weight engineering software. Regardless of the application launched, VDI brings up the whole desktop, so all the applications are there, ready to be picked.

Delivering just the application via a browser in AppsAnywhere offers significant advantages over providing an entire virtual desktop. This approach simplifies the user experience by allowing access to the specific application without the need to navigate a complex desktop environment.

2. En-masse packaging and re-imaging are a thing of the past

Packaging an application can take from minutes to days, depending on the complexity of the application and the environment it will be delivered in. The summer holidays are the busiest time for higher education IT, and packaging application and reimaging computers takes up a lot of time and resources. Many universities hire students or temporary staff to cope with the demand and get computer labs ready for the new year.

You can now significantly reduce the size of the Windows image installed on managed devices, to have a small number of applications locally installed, with most of them delivered through AppsAnywhere. There are now over 180 popular applications pre-packaged and available to deploy, accounting for up to 60% in packaging time savings.

If you are looking to do more with less, outsourcing packaging and moving away from locally installed fat images would be a key area to address.

3. Cloud VDI (DaaS) is the cherry on the cake, reserved for specific use-cases and not as default

DaaS has its clear benefits, but it comes with a high price tag, so it shouldn’t be used as the default delivery method for all students and staff, not when another, more effective alternative is available. The elegance of the solution presented by AppsAnywhere meets some of the highest standards required by Purdue Engineering, the university sending the most graduates to NASA. Using AppsAnywhere as the central delivery platform, you can add the expensive VDI to handle applications that require a database on the same network, applications that have sensitive security requirements; high end user compute (far more RAM or GPU than the average desktop provides).

4. Let the tech do the hard work for you: automations are your best friend

We’re not very far off a future where we can automate repetitive manual tasks in software delivery. Artificial intelligence may not yet be able to do your packaging, but existing technologies can do a lot of the heavy lifting for you. AppsAnywhere provides more than 180 applications pre-packaged and ready to deploy – a catalogue that continues to grow to free up time, reduces, workload and complexity.

Automated provisioning tools for students and staff streamline the deployment of applications and services to their devices, minimizing manual effort and speeding up the delivery process. Applications can be available within minutes to hours with no IT intervention, increasing student and faculty satisfaction.

5. Keep control where it matters most

While your technology does the heavy lifting, that frees you and your team to focus on what matters most: supporting students and staff, advancing the IT strategic agenda and working on projects to improve efficiency and keep your institution secure and compliant.

With AppsAnywhere it is easy to control when updates take place, so you can schedule them during term time with minimum interruption, and not be exposed to vulnerabilities through unpatched applications.

6. A well configured integration that stands the test of time

There is no silver bullet or one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to software delivery in a complex environment such as higher education. Your technology set-up must meet the needs of your staff and students both now and into the future, it needs to be flexible enough to incorporate existing technologies while making it easy to replace them with new ones.

Having a consistent user interface allows IT to use the best technology for the job while minimising changes for users, who access their familiar “single source of truth” for applications with minimum disruptions. This approach adds the benefit of providing aggregate the usage data from across those technologies behind the scenes to get key insights that will help you make better decisions in the future, particularly when it comes to license use and cost.

7. The future of learning is flexible

The pandemic accelerated the adoption of online learning and changed the way students engage with education forever. The digital native generations (both current and future) expect to access their course from anywhere, at any time. They are used to streaming content on demand, and don’t understand why universities can’t follow the same standard of frictionless digital experience.

If your institution is not already providing a seamless and secure BYOD experience for your students, it will be a matter of time before this comes back up on the CIOs’ top priority list.

8. Enhance the immersive brand experience for your students

Many students only get to experience your university through your virtual and digital environments. A recent UK survey shows 21% of students never go on campus, while only 1% only learn on campus. So, 99% of your students will have experienced at least part of their university life through the digital experience IT teams facilitate.

Cognitive load is a big issue for students who experience life defining changes in their first year of university, many having left home for the first time, having to work along their studies, sharing houses with strangers or commuting while at home. That is in addition to having to adapt to the higher expectations of higher education. Providing a seamless brand experience can make a big difference in students’ academic achievement and can impact completion rates. Having a single portal, either through their Virtual Learning Environment, LSM or Student Hub can make life so much easier for students and reduce cognitive load. AppsAnywhere embeds with your university’s learning environment and can be branded to provide that enhanced engagement and brand experience and drive user adoption.

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Establishing a continuous improvement process, which includes regularly reviewing and enhancing the application delivery strategy, soliciting feedback from users, staying informed about industry trends, and implementing best practices, ensures ongoing development and success.

In this rapidly evolving landscape, it is imperative for universities to remain agile and adaptable. A strategic approach to application delivery not only addresses immediate challenges but also positions institutions for long-term success in providing high-quality education for its students and staff.