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Unidesk is a win for persistent virtual desktop deployment.
October 09, 2015

Unidesk is a win for persistent virtual desktop deployment.

Jared Hahn | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

2.9.2 (vCenter/ESXi)

Overall Satisfaction with Unidesk

Our Unidesk solution is being used to simplify virtual desktop management across a few different areas. On the backend the savings in increased disk efficiency and data-deduplication means that our SAN can handle a larger number of desktops and maintain much higher operational IO compared to traditional persistent virtual desktops. Additionally our staff who handle deployments are able to provision and ready a virtual machine in under 10 minutes a desktops with very little technical experience needed for the deployment.
  • Increased efficiency of existing/new SAN infrastructure.
  • Prompt and responsive support.
  • Ease of deployment.
  • Efficiencies in workflow transparent to the end-user.
  • Disaster recovery options for the Unidesk solution are not easily accessible or require personalized attention from support.
  • Issues when creating software layers do not always have a obvious fix. Make sure to look for and follow Unidesk's published "recipes."
  • The software/OS layering introduced by Unidesk is not "sanctioned" behavior by Microsoft, and thus you're at the mercy of Unidesk's ability to keep up with widespread changes to operating systems.
  • Storage density with Unidesk (via the use of OS/application layering) is 60-70% improved over standard persistent one-to-one virtual desktops.
  • Unidesk virtual machines can be deployed in under 10 minutes by a lower tier of technician without the need to "touch" the vCenter hypervisor.
  • Reliable performance across Unidesk virtual workstations. Added desktops/layers does not adversely effect performance nearly as bad as older persistent desktops.

While we implemented Unidesk through a VMware Horizon View front-end, VMware's actual holdings in persistent/non-persistent desktop deployment leans more towards the side of non-persistent desktop optimization. VMware Horizon Persona management and other tie-ins often cost more to use and are inexplicably much more difficult to configure properly. Likewise, VMware's support can be cumbersomely difficult to get a proper and timely response from.

We chose Unidesk out of the need to simply persistent desktop deployment and the prevent the exponential growth of SAN disk that it typically entails. VMware's products are a good solution, and in many cases a perfect fit for anyone looking to handle non-persistent virtual desktop deployment.

Unidesk is well suited to environments where users are accustomed to using personalized and "unique" desktops where as other solutions cater only to standard or non-persistent desktop experiences. The personalization layer present in Unidesk allows users to feel as though they are using a personalized system without the complexities of managing dozens or hundreds of unique systems for users across your company. Updates to existing desktops/layers are accomplished with ease and can easily be done by lower tier support.

If your deliverable is to provide a persistent desktop experience while maintaining the best density and performance of your infrastructure then Unidesk is a hard solution to beat.