Huawei Claims Biggest Desktop Virtualisation Deployment

Chinese telecoms providor Huawei has revealed that 45,000 of its own engineers are making use of desktop virtualisation in what it claims is the world’s largest desktop cloud.

The project, called Huawei Desktop Cloud, grew from a desktop virtualisation pilot that started in 2009 at the company’s research and development centre in Shanghai.

Productivity gains

Aside from extensive use within the company, it has now been extended to external customers and is used by more than 100,000 users in 30 countries, including members of the government, healthcare, education, telecom, and finance sectors.

The project underscores the way in which desktop virtualisation can transform productivity, as well as factors such as power consumption, Huawei said. The company estimates that desktop virtualisation can help businesses cut capital expenditure costs by 30 percent and power consumption costs by 73 percent over conventional desktop deployments.
The technology reduces deployment time for desktops from three months to one week and holding data at a central location improves security, Huawei argued. The company also found that its engineers were able to manage 1,000 virtual desktops compared to 100 PCs.

Carbon emissions cuts

Huawei joins other large organsations that have claimed substantial benefits from desktop virtualisation deployments. Two years ago, the Co-Operative Group, the UK’s fifth largest food retailer (and leading funeral services provider), said it was using desktop virtualisation to save millions on software licensing costs and reduce its carbon output – an important factor when firms face carbon cap and trade rules.

The Group said it believed the deployment could save it £1.5 million on unused software licences and unnecessary software, and reduce power cost by £500,000 per year. Other major desktop virtualisation users include NASA, which uses Citrix XenDesktop software to give astronauts access to remote desktops whether they are on Earth or in outer space.

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