VDI benchmark launched to measure storage performance, costs by Dave Raffo

Analyst firm Evaluator Group today launched the VDI-IOmark, a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) benchmark for storage. The benchmark measures I/O performance and costs per desktop for VDI storage.
Evaluator Group senior analyst Russ Fellows said the idea for the benchmark was born about a year ago when vendors began publishing costs per desktop for their storage when used with VDI. He said those figures were not based on standard testing, and there was no way to verify the claims or compare different vendors’ offerings.
“VDI deployments are getting derailed because of costs and I/O problems,” Fellows said. “There’s virtually no realistic sizing for performance. “We started getting inquires from end users on VDI asking what they need to know about storage. We recognized a need for a benchmark, although that s not something an analyst usually does.”
The analyst firm put together the VDI-IOmark organization, which it describes as a coalition of industry groups, vendors and IT users. No members of the organization have been identified, although the press release announcing the VDI benchmark included a quote from BlueArc’s vice president of product marketing, Ravi Chalaka.
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