DaaS - Is Desktop as a Service going to be the next big thing?
All this talk about "The Cloud" being the future of both personal and professional computing makes the thought of Desktop as a Service business model very appealing to me. Rapid growth in remote desktop capabilities increases benefits along with the potential market DaaS would appeal to.
The idea of access from any computer in the world is not a new one, desktops can be accessed using software like TeamViewer or services such as gotomypc.com and logmein.com. So what makes DaaS a radical improvement upon existing technologies?
DaaS has the ability to consolidate many of the expenses associated with being a pc owner. These costs include hardware, software, internet providers, backup hardware, monthly fees for full feature remote access and even electricity. There is no need to own a computer that will run in your home or office 24 x 7 to be available on demand. In addition many have turned to mobile broadband solutions while on the road while they continue to have additional ISP costs at home for the host PC. Power can be unpredictable so uninterrupted power supplies are added along with external storage for backup to provide some data redundancy in case of hardware failure or data corruption. Remote access services also carry a charge for full featured connections essential to business users. Put together the initial costs can be quite substantial with recurring costs being added monthly in the form of service fees and electricity.
A few of the costs can be eliminated from the formula if a Desktop as a Service provider offers an adequate product. Hardware is obviously going to be removed due to the virtual desktop being hosted in the providers data center, as with electricity and secondary ISP costs. It would be appropriate for DaaS subscribers to have the minimum of shadow copy backup abilities, this would also ease many of the concerns potential clientele may have. Hosting companies datacenters have redundant power which can seamlessly switch from the grid to battery for short outages then on to generators for longer outages.