Just received this from our friends at Evolve IP:

Research firm Gartner Inc. predicts virtual desktop revenue will hit $65.7 billion as adoption reaches 49 million units by 2013. That’s just around the corner, and even though many channel partners are caught up in the cloud computing craze, they may be missing out on the virtual desktop opportunity. That’s because virtual desktop technology, while simple to grasp, is difficult to deploy. From hardware and software to networks and data centers, there are so many moving parts that it would be understandable if most VARs and agents said, “Thanks, I’ll pass.” But don’t write off virtual desktop sales altogether. Instead, consider the technology’s benefits and the industry’s available resources. The key is to make the process easy on you.

The case for virtual desktop is straightforward. If a company employs dozens of remote and traveling workers, or if many of its employees use laptops, it makes sense to store the operating system and applications such as Microsoft Office in the cloud. The programs don’t run locally on the desktop (or laptop, thin client or mobile device) and that has several implications:

• First, because the applications are housed in a data center, a business’s IT staff controls what employees may and may not access; security is tight.
• Second, if a fire or flood, for instance, hurts the company, operations will continue as normal (for employees not located in the affected facility, anyway).
• Third, if an employee loses a laptop, there’s no confidential information on the device — all of the data is in the cloud and can only be accessed by authorized users. The company just has to replace the computer.
• Fourth, virtual desktops cut costs. In a January 2011 report for DataCore Software Corp., analysts noted that virtual desktops lowered total hardware expenses to about $32 per desktop, rather than costing hundreds of dollars in a non-virtual environment. Similarly, research firm IDC found virtual desktops reduce hardware and operating expenses by up to 50 percent, and energy bills by up to 80 percent.

Tom Colton is Vice President of Business Development at Matrix. He can be reached at 803-978-2051 or Tom.Colton@Matrix-IBS.com