Within the next 24 months, 74 percent of organisations in Europe adopting virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) plan to implement single sign-on (SSO), according to new research from Imprivata, a leading provider of authentication, access management solutions for the healthcare industry. The Imprivata 2014 Desktop Virtualisation Trends in Europe report also finds that overall adoption of VDI is expected to reach 65 percent within the next 24 months, and in healthcare, 71 percent of organisations expect to be using VDI within the next two years.

“Our virtual desktop infrastructure enables our clinical staff to add roaming desktops and mobility into their work routines, and allowed us to replace about 1,000 desktop PCs with thin clients,” said Justin Beardsmore, Infrastructure Manager, St. George’s Healthcare NHS Trust (London). “By adding SSO and strong authentication though Imprivata OneSign, our providers are collectively saving more than 50 hours every week. The combination of VDI, thin clients, mobile devices and Imprivata OneSign has kick-started St. George’s journey into the mobile health era.”

Key findings from the Imprivata 2014 Desktop Virtualisation Trends in Europe report include:

• Adoption rates of VDI increased from 41 percent in 2013 to 49 percent in 2014. This trend is expected to continue, with VDI adoption forecasted to reach 65 percent within 24 months. The use of VDI in healthcare is outpacing other industries, with adoption levels expected to reach 71 percent over the next 24 months.
• Today, 46 percent of organisations that use VDI also use SSO, which is an increase of 18 percent from 2013. This is expected to continue to increase, with 74 percent of organisations indicating they will implement SSO with their VDI environments over the next 24 months.
• Adoption of zero clients to support VDI is expected to increase 45 percent over the next 24 months, while adoption of thin clients is expected to increase eight percent over that time frame. The use of tablets and smartphones for VDI is also expected to increase sharply, particularly in healthcare.

“The results of the Imprivata 2014 Desktop Virtualisation Trends in Europe report mirror what we continue to hear from our global customers—implementing authentication management solutions to delivering fast, secure access to mission-critical applications and information is integral to unlocking the full potential of desktop virtualisation,” said Clay Ritchey, chief marketing officer at Imprivata. “The combination of these technologies is especially beneficial in healthcare, where providing instant access to clinical applications and patient data at the point of care can significantly improve efficiency while also meeting security and compliance requirements.”

To download the complete 2014 Imprivata Desktop Virtualisation Trends in Europe report, click here.

Methodology

A total of 101 respondents from across the healthcare, financial services, government and other industries in Europe were surveyed to understand their organisation’s adoption rates of desktop virtualisation. Responses were collected from organisations of varying size based on number of employees for non-healthcare respondents and number of beds for healthcare respondents.