VMware closing a door opens up new VDI possibilities

There has been increasing attention on open and closed technologies in relation to the development of AI and large language models (LLMs) in the past few years. Meta released Llama as open source, XAI released GROK-1 and, of course, the open source release of China’s DeepSeek model in recent months has been widely publicized.

It’s evident that open source technology benefits from community adoption and development, enabling faster iteration, greater security testing and the contributions of many more active minds, experiences and skill sets.

Whether the recent LLM releases are driven by such beliefs or by commercial instincts (likely both), it certainly helps in preventing a single player from dominating the market. This perspective was highlighted by the ironically named OpenAI trying to stifle DeepSeek adoption in recent weeks.

A shifting state of play

The tensions of open versus closed technologies have long existed in less sensitive, yet still important, areas. Closed technologies tend to be much more widely adopted as they are more easily packaged and deployed and require less depth of expertise. This can lead to monopolies of the type exemplified by Microsoft or Adobe, whose dominance stifles any real competition; the sheer weight of users and finances might preclude serious challenges. In other areas there might not be monopolies, but still a general market domination by a handful of vendors.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is a good example, where VMware and Citrix have shared the spoils for many years. And if their dominance has been challenged in recent years, this has been due to the growth of cloud hyperscalers which, for the most part, were extensions of existing global, powerful big tech such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon.

This state of play is starting to shift somewhat, driven in part by dissatisfaction and distrust of the cloud giants (almost certainly concentrated further by their involvement in AI). This is causing many organizations to ‘reshore’ on-premises or cloud hosted in their own private data center. This dissatisfaction has been fueled by the slow collapse of VMware - perhaps the most well known and widely used of the legacy VDI vendors.

The fall of VMware

VMware was purchased by Broadcom in November 2023, who almost immediately announced several changes including the divestment of their end user computing (EUC) which included Horizon VDI services. The EUC business was subsequently purchased by KKR, a global investment firm, that now offers VDI services under the ‘Omnissa’ brand.

The lack of interest shown by Broadcom in the EUC service is a huge knock in confidence for the continued viability of this model, which is not profitable enough for them. It’s uncertain whether the software can be revived under new ownership and there have been worrying indications.

Last year, Gartner warned of uncertainty regarding Omnissa’s roadmap and continued semi-dependence for many users on other VMware products. Concerns are currently compounded by recent large-scale layoffs which in one sense should be expected as a post-sale reconstruction, but of course could easily result in the loss of critical internal expertise and a drop in service levels. The recent upheaval has also caused issues concerning price increases and significantly lengthy waits for renewal quotations.

New VDI opportunities

Such concerns are driving customers towards other options and, with Citrix remaining complex and expensive and certainly out of the reach of many SMEs, we are seeing a rise of open source related solutions starting to emerge. Many organizations are now offering KVM-based solutions which both avoid the increasing risks and expense associated with the legacy vendors to offer more accessible, flexible and cost-efficient VDI services.

Changes in Microsoft virtualization access licensing in recent years helped open possibilities in the space, which has allowed for more efficient use of hardware and more bespoke options. There are industry specific services arising to serve architecture, engineering and construction (AEC), media production and other compute heavy sectors as well as more generalist, knowledge worker options for finance, law and similar businesses.

As VDI offers the potential for higher levels of security, more efficient estate management and greater flexibility in our continuing challenging economic climate, this is to be welcomed.

Challenging big tech dominance

Innovation is critical for a healthy technical ecosystem and the ability to address specific industry requirements, whilst also continuing to focus on lowering carbon impacts and creating greater resilience. Businesses and channel operators should be open to such possibilities and actively engage with potential future partners to support development and mitigate the likelihood of monopolies and big tech dominance.

We can see the overreach of some of these players in the news every day; supporting independent innovators is a proactive means of preventing an overgeneralization of power and its associated risks. An open world, rather than a closed one.

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