ITA Premium: A Rosetta Stone for Windows Vista Virtual Licensing

Increasing interest in using virtual machines (VMs) for deploying and managing enterprise PC desktops is challenging the traditional one-user-per-desktop-machine paradigm for Microsoft Windows licensing. In virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), back-end servers host individual VMs that are accessed remotely from PCs or thin clients. Using VDI, end-user desktops can be upgraded to Windows Vista without the deployment of desktop hardware necessary to run the new operating system. But how are Vista instances licensed if they are not on standalone PCs? This note looks at:

• Microsoft’s previous approach to virtualization and licensing.
• What changes came about through Microsoft’s Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop (VECD) licensing agreement.
• When the value proposition for Microsoft’s Software Assurance (SA) is most attractive and cost effective.

Through VDI, IT departments are able to manage users’ machines from one location, thereby cutting down on desk-side support visits and the management of individual applications and operating systems. VECD is Microsoft’s attempt to keep Windows relevant in the virtual world.