On one of the company's official blogs, Citrix announced the release of its Hosted Server VDI Technology which enables Service Providers to deliver dedicated Cloud VDI desktops in a multi-tenant fashion leveraging shared hardware and storage and the ability to use Microsoft SPLA licenses.

The way they do that is by making use of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 instead of Windows 7.  To make it work, you have to apply the Desktop Experience Pack which will make the Server OS look and feel like a desktop Windows 7 OS.  And according to Citrix, Server VDI is built on XenDesktop FMA architecture using a supported Virtual Desktop Agent (VDA).

On the Citrix side, this feature is part of the XenApp/XenDesktop CSP Premium SKU (Platinum level functionality). On the Microsoft side, you can use the normal SPLA options for Windows Server, and an RDS-SAL for each user. Make no mistake – it’s still going to be more expensive in terms of licenses and infrastructure than a hosted shared desktop. But for advanced customer use cases where they need a private VM environment for a user, this is the most cost-effective and practical option. Keep in mind that you can always combine the various desktop models in your service offering – they are not mutually exclusive. For more details on proper licensing, be sure to contact your Microsoft representative.