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Analysis: Virtual Desktop Infrastructure: Page 8 of 11

• Everyone in the dynamic resource pool: Your desktop environment can be refreshed anytime; pooled resources of like desktops can be deleted and re-established quickly and easily;

• Mobile users need not be excluded: One major advantage to a fat mobile client is the ability to be offline AND productive. Neoware, Affirmative.net and Maxspeed all have mobile thin-client devices, and VMware's PocketACE product enables users to take virtual desktops with them via a portable hard drive, USB flash drive, even an iPod. Yet you still maintain the ability to centralize resources;

• Lower maintenance costs: Regardless of your strategy—workstation replacement, on-demand supplemental desktops or both—the physical element of troubleshooting will be significantly reduced. Remote sites will need fewer visits.

• Longer hardware lifecycle: A typical desktop lease is three years; resource is then replaced or bought at cost. Thin clients can exhibit a much longer lifecycle, be cheaper, and if necessary, more easily replaced;

• Portability: VDI lets you quickly transfer virtual assets—no reinstallation required, unlike migrating an application in a hosted environment;