VMware, Inc., the global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, today revealed in a recently commissioned report conducted by Spiceworks that for a second year in a row, VMware Horizon View is the leading desktop virtualization solution deployed by small and midsized businesses (SMBs). In addition, the study showed that virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) adoption trends among SMBs have remained steady during the last year, with end-user security and compliance continuing to be the biggest challenges for IT.

"The study shows that VMware virtual desktops are preferred over Citrix by SMBs that have deployed VDI by an almost 2-to-1 margin ," said Mason Uyeda, senior director, technical marketing, End-User Computing, VMware. "It is a testament to the technology advancements featured in VMware Horizon View^TM, and the many practical benefits it offers to organizations of all sizes. VMware is committed to helping SMBs modernize their Windows desktops and will continue to execute targeted programs - such as the Fast Track Program - and introduce architectures that can drive down the cost and complexity of VDI."

Spiceworks, the vertical network of more than 2.5 million IT professionals worldwide, conducted the proprietary study on desktop virtualization industry trends in March 2013 with nearly 600 SMB IT professionals.

Based on Spiceworks' MarketView data of companies who are deploying a VDI solution, during the past year, VMware Horizon View remains the top choice with the number of VDI agents deployed increasing from 53 percent in December 2011 to 57 percent in February 2013. The three leading VDI solutions found among SMBs were VMware Horizon View (57 percent), Citrix Virtual Desktop (31 percent) and NComputing vSpace Client (6 percent).

"As the findings of this report highlight, VDI technologies once reserved for the enterprise are making their way to the SMB," said Kathryn Pribish, voice of IT program manager at Spiceworks. "Virtual desktop acquisition costs are declining, giving SMBs the opportunity take advantage of the benefits associated with VDI, including streamlined management, lower operating costs and high availability. This trend bodes well for VDI providers and the IT departments implementing the latest technologies." 

Reasons For Adoption Remain the Same 
The report also found that IT service providers, government, finance, education and health care industries were leading the charge in implementing VDI. The top two reasons for implementing VDI were unchanged from the year before - streamlining IT administration and management, and cutting operational costs. Similar to last year's report, a large majority of organizations - 90 percent - still prefer an on-premise solution compared to a hosted virtual desktop.

"We use VMware® Horizon View^TM, even though our company only has a dozen users, because of the resiliency, security and mobility it offers our sales team," said John Nicholson, systems integrator at SynchroNet. "BYOD and other mobility initiatives are likely to increase the use of VDI in smaller companies, as the lower costs put it within reach of organizations with more conservative budgets."

Moving Desktops to the Cloud 
As part of the VMware® Horizon^TM Suite, VMware Horizon View transforms traditional physical PCs into centrally managed IT services and delivers elastic desktop services as a virtual workspace for ultimate control and flexibility for user experience, administration and service. IT gains greater control in conjunction with the flexibility to embrace new technologies and simplify management of the end-user environment, while still being able to access desktop services from every device while in the office, remotely and on the road.

Built on VMware vSphere®, the industry's most widely deployed virtualization platform, VMware Horizon View enables the industry's best end-user experience while simplifying IT management for large-scale deployments and reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO) associated with VDI.