The new Dell VDI announcements, like the previous day’s Dell EMC announcements at VMworld, all focus on the deepening relationship and more effective integration between Dell EMC and VMware since the merger.
Today, Dell EMC is continuing its VMWorld announcements with the expansion of Dell EMC VDI Complete Solutions, powered by VMware Horizon. It now includes Horizon Apps, to provide simple virtual application delivery to PCs and thin clients. Two new NVIDIA virtual GPU options were announced, as was a new mobile thin client, the Dell Latitude 5280.
The Dell EMC VDI Complete Solutions portfolio, which was announced in May at Dell EMC World, consists of end-to-end desktop and application virtualization bundles that provide the infrastructure appliances, software, storage and endpoints for a VDI solution. Powered by VMware Horizon software, they are based on Dell EMC VxRail Appliances or Dell EMC VMware vSAN ReadyNodes. Endpoint options comprise Dell Wyse thin clients and Dell OptiPlex PCs or PCaaS.
“We are the only ones in the industry with an end-to-end portfolio to make this kind of offering in one company,” said Jeff McNaught, Dell Cloud Client-Computing Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer. “Dell EMC VDI Complete Solutions leverages the broader resources and muscle of Dell Technologies. Now we are announcing an expansion of the VDI Complete offering to offer an additional software platform and enhanced graphic options. We can now take all that technology and deliver it for customers in a way that’s easy to implement technically, and also easy for them to buy.”
The new platform option is VDI Complete with Horizon Apps.
“It simplifies virtual application delivery to PCs or thin clients, and allows for a high session density of up to 1,400 hosted apps,” McNaught said. “Admins can add, update or retire them in real time, and instantly roll the apps out to users.”
McNaught said that VDI Complete has also added new options for customers for both build and buy options at reduced prices.
“We are setting a brand new low price in the industry as we continue to drive these prices down,” McNaught said. On the build side, it’s now down to $7 per user per month for the infrastructure and on the buy side, $11 with VxRail. The Wyse thin clients are available for as little as $6 per user per month.
“If customers but a pre-integrated solution with VxRail, these are not public cloud, but on-prem solutions that customers have complete control over,” he added.
Dell EMC VDI Complete Solutions with Horizon Apps will be available in late 2017.
The new video options are the NVIDIA Tesla M10 and M60 GPU graphics accelerators.
“Standard VDI apps now consume more graphics than in the past – not just CAD apps but also knowledge workers,” McNaught said.
The NVIDIA Tesla M10 GPU accelerator is designed to provide a better end-user experience for knowledge workers. The NVIDIA Quadro vDWS with Tesla M60 is more of a custom option, for specialized power users for intense applications like CAD/CAM.
“The M60 powers delivery of professional graphics for those who need true workstation requirements,” McNaught indicated.
NVIDIA GPU capabilities can be added on as a single node or up to a four-node cluster. An NVIDIA GRID software license is required to enable the enhanced graphics for virtual desktops and is available separately. The new graphics options are available now.
The final component of the announcement is the new Dell Latitude 5280 mobile thin client.
“This joins the Latitude 3480 thin client, which we launched earlier in the summer,” McNaught said.
The Latitude 5280 thin client has the Windows 10 IOT Enterprise OS, and is based on an Intel 7th generation, Core i5 processor with 8GB DDR4 RAM. It has extended battery life and a 12.5-inch, Full HD display, with the ability to support a 4K monitor with an optional docking station.
The Dell Latitude 5280 mobile thin client is available now starting at $USD 1,299.
These VDI announcements, like the hyper-converged, data protection and storage announcements made yesterday, have a common theme in the deepening of the Dell EMC relationship with VMware.
“The common theme is that the different parts of Dell EMC are learning how to partner better with VMware, so we have better aligned offerings coming to market,” said Bob Wambach, VP of Product Marketing, Converged Platforms and Systems Division at Dell EMC. “As the merger progresses, we are all getting much better at working together and aligning our road map. This both simplifies things for customers, and gives them technologies that are built to work together.”
