What is DaaS (desktop as a service)?
Desktop as a Service (DaaS) is a cloud computing offering where a service provider delivers virtual desktops or apps to end users over the Internet, licensed with a per-user subscription.
The provider takes care of backend management for organizations that may find creating their own virtual desktop infrastructure to be too expensive, resource-consuming, or want to leverage cloud capacity. This management typically includes infrastructure maintenance, backup, updates, and data storage. Cloud service providers may also handle security and applications for the desktop, or users may manage these service aspects individually.
There are two kinds of desktops that are available in DaaS—persistent and non-persistent.
- Persistent desktop: Users have the ability to customize and save a desktop so it will look the same way each time a particular user logs on. Persistent desktops require more storage than non-persistent desktops, which can make them more expensive.
- Non-persistent desktop: Desktops are wiped each time the user logs out—they are merely a way to access shared cloud services.
Cloud providers may allow customers to choose from both, allowing workers with specific needs to access a persistent desktop and providing access to temporary or occasional workers via a non-persistent desktop.
What are the advantages of DaaS over traditional desktops?
Desktop as a Service (DaaS) offers some clear advantages over a traditional desktop model:
- Faster deployment and decommissioning of active end users: With DaaS, the desktop is already configured, it just needs to be connected from a new device. For seasonal businesses that consistently experience spikes and drops in demand or employees, DaaS can save a lot of time and money as users can quickly get onboarded and offboarded.
- Reduced downtime for IT support: Desktop as a Service also allows companies to provide remote IT support to their employees, reducing downtime.
- Hardware cost savings: Because the devices that access DaaS require much less computing power than a traditional desktop machine or laptop, they are less expensive and use less power.
- Increased device flexibility: DaaS runs on a variety of operating systems and accessible from device types, which supports the trend of users bringing their own devices (BYOD) into the office and shifts the burden of supporting the desktop on all of those devices to the cloud service provider.
- Enhanced security: Because data is stored in the data center with DaaS, security risks are considerably lower. If a laptop or mobile device is stolen, it can simply be disconnected from the service. Since none of the data lives on that stolen device, the risk of a thief accessing sensitive data is minimized. Security patches and updates are also easier to install in a DaaS environment because all of the desktops can be updated simultaneously from a remote location.
How does DaaS work?
With Desktop as a Service, the cloud services provider hosts the infrastructure, network resources, and storage in the cloud and streams a virtual desktop or app to the user’s device. The user can access the virtual desktop’s data and applications through a web browser or other client software from an end user device, such as a laptop, zero client, or mobile device. Organizations may purchase as many virtual desktops as they need through a subscription model.
What is the difference between VDI and DaaS?
A virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) allows organizations to remotely host desktop operating systems on endpoint devices from a centralized server. All of the data lives in the data center server—the endpoint is merely a way for users to access that data over the Internet. VDI requires an investment in network, storage, and compute infrastructure in the data center, in addition to an IT Team that is skilled in setting up and managing virtual infrastructures. With the DaaS model, cloud service providers bear the infrastructure set-up cost and the management cost, which can make DaaS more affordable than setting up a new virtual desktop infrastructure in-house.
A company with a large number of users can save money with either VDI or DaaS because the endpoint devices don’t need much computing power (most of the processing is happening in the data center). However, serving a large number of users requires a large IT staff that can handle any issues that come up. DaaS lets a company function with a leaner IT staff because the DaaS vendor will deal with deployment, backend connectivity problems, and other infrastructure issues that may come up for end users.
However, VDI gives a company’s IT staff more control over their virtual desktop and app offering and more control over their security than DaaS.
What are the benefits of DaaS?
The benefits of Desktop as a Service (DaaS) include simplified management, increased scalability, and lower cost of ownership compared to traditional desktop delivery models. Businesses that aim to offer remote work options and personal device flexibility can use DaaS to quickly and easily create a digital workspace. Users may log in to their virtual desktop from anywhere, via many different kinds of devices. All they need is an internet connection. Since corporate data lives in a centralized, remote location, it can be constantly backed up without the need for users to manage back-ups on their own or worry about data existing on a computer at the office but not at home.
