The technology available to businesses today allows them to operate without the large CapEx and OpEx of the past. Cloud computing and many of the services it offers means a company can be established without having the software, infrastructure, and platform on-premises with SaaS, IaaS and PaaS, which dramatically reduces the capital needed to get started. Desktop as a Service (DaaS) is another service offered in the cloud in which the back-end of a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is hosted by a cloud service provider. A new survey by Citrix, provider of virtualization, mobility management, networking and cloud services, has revealed the DaaS market anticipates revenue growth as more organizations continue their migration to cloud services.
Companies that deploy DaaS can expect simplified management of the computer resources within the organization including desktops, laptops, mobile devices and thin clients. By using distributed execution or remote execution, it delivers a cost-effective platform compared to conventional IT solutions. It can be used by enterprises that need high-level performance and availability as well as SMBs looking to save costs on IT.
DaaS provides easy platform migration with total cost reduction that can be implemented with minimized complexity. Once it is in place, users get uninterrupted connectivity with increased performance and personalization as well as proven data security and disaster recovery in the event of an emergency.
The report titled, "Desktops-as-a-Service Global Market Trends: The Service Provider Perspective," was conducted from a pool of 700 Citrix service providers located in 25 countries around the world who are asked how they anticipate key metrics that would determine the growth of DaaS. The participants were asked: do they anticipate revenue growth: which vertical markets are embracing DaaS: where is demand strongest: what infrastructure is being used: which hypervisor are DaaS providers using: and what kind of service bundles are MSPs offering to drive growth?
According to the survey, 87 percent anticipated DaaS revenue growth, with 34 percent projecting growth to range between 16 and 50 percent, and 19 percent of the respondents projecting revenue growth to go beyond 50 percent.
Top vertical markets targeted by DaaS services providers include Healthcare (12 percent), Manufacturing (12 percent), and Construction/architecture/engineering (10 percent).
The infrastructure that is seeing growth is public cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) for delivering DaaS, which is in the early stages with 20 percent of service providers delivering DaaS from a public cloud, but with 39 percent looking to move to IaaS in 12 months.
Hypervisor preferences various depending on the service provider with 47 percent using the VMware hypervisor, 29 percent use Microsoft Hyper-V, and 23 percent using Xen as their hypervisor.
"In a market where lots of vendors and pundits are claiming exponential growth of their DaaS solutions, this report provides clear, valuable insights into the maturity of the Citrix partner channel, their solutions and the value they truly provide to end users," said Mitch Parker, VP and general manager, Citrix Cloud Services.
Edited by
Maurice Nagle
