Overview
Many businesses are considering desktop virtualization and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) to centralize deployment and management of their desktop environment, to lower desktop management costs, make IT organization more efficient and increase business agility though rapid provisioning of computing resources to end users. However, at the same time, IT leadership is becoming increasingly aware that VDI CAPEX costs can be double that of a physical PC, with up to 80% of the cost of implementing a conventional VDI environment going to the storage infrastructure needed to deliver acceptable performance.
Atlantis ILIO accelerates Citrix XenDesktop and VMware View VDI deployments by lowering the cost of virtual desktops to below that of a PC, making virtual desktops perform faster than a PC and enabling customers to deploy VDI without compromising security. Atlantis ILIO is a unique and innovative VDI storage optimization solution that fundamentally changes the economics and performance characteristics of VDI by intelligently optimizing how Microsoft Windows operating systems interact with VDI storage. With Atlantis ILIO, customers can simplify VDI enabling persistent or non-persistent desktops with up to 90% less storage and making it possible to use any type of storage for VDI including SAN, NAS, or local disk (SATA, SAS, SSD).
Features
Cut VDI CAPEX by 50-75%
- Use Less Storage—cut the amount of VDI storage required by up to 90%
- Scale VDI Storage—support 5 to 10 times the number of desktops on the same storage with equal or better performance
- Use Any Storage —use lower cost SAN, NAS and Local Disk (SATA, SAS, SSD)
Boost VDI Performance
- Desktop Performance—make desktop boot, login, and application startup perform faster.
- Accelerate Application Virtualization—accelerate virtualized applications for VMware ThinApp, Microsoft App-V, and Citrix XenApp App Streaming to improve logon times for non-persistent desktops and launch times for virtualized applications.
Inline Deduplication
Atlantis ILIO Transparently offloads write operations before they reach the storage fabric
- VDI Storage IOPS Offload—up to 90% reduction in IOPS load on storage infrastructure
- VDI Storage Capacity Reduction—up to 95 % reduction in disk storage capacity requirements
- VDI Latency—accelerates VDI performance by eliminating disk write latency
Windows NTFS Protocol Layer Processing
- Hyper-efficient IO characterization—instantly characterizes IO based on Windows NTFS file system characteristics
- Faster IO Processing—real-time IO processing locally from memory
- IO Optimization—re-sequences read/write operations from small random IO to large sequential
Integrates with Leading VDI Solutions
- Certified Interoperable—VMware View Technology Alliance Partner and Citrix Ready Partner
- Leverages Existing Infrastructure—VDI brokers, application virtualization, profile virtualization, and image layering tools
- No Desktop Changes—doesn’t require an agent or any change to the desktop image
- Deployed Using Open Virtualization Format (OVF)—easily installed in 8 minutes as an .OVF virtual appliance
Image Layering (Sold Separately)
- Dynamic Provisioning of Virtual Desktop Images—dynamically assembles each virtual desktop disk image on-demand from core layers containing the operating system and corporate applications to instantly provision thousands of desktop images.
- User-Installed Applications—enable users to install applications with non-persistent virtual desktops
- Update Any Application—support central provisioning of applications that can’t be virtualized such as VPNs and anti-virus
Deployment Options
The Atlantis ILIO software virtual appliance may be deployed either “On Each Server” hosting virtual desktops or in a “top-of-rack” configuration where multiple virtual infrastructure hosts connect to a single Atlantis ILIO virtual appliance.
Atlantis ILIO On Each Server
Local deployment is the preferred configuration option, as it offers the best desktop performance, greatest flexibility, and lowest cost. In this configuration an Atlantis ILIO virtual appliance is deployed on each hypervisor alongside the individual virtual desktops.
For maximum performance and lowest cost, Atlantis ILIO can be configured to use local storage (SATA, SAS, and SSD) to store single instances of application and operating system files. User data is always located on a shared SAN/NAS storage system for portability and ease of backup.
Persistent desktop deployments are always set up to use a shared SAN or NAS. Non-persistent desktops (stateless desktops) can use either shared storage or local direct attached storage with VMware linked-clones, Citrix Provisioning Server (PVS) or Citrix Machine Creation Services (MCS).
Atlantis ILIO performs storage and performance optimization for all VDI desktops running on the same server before writing unique data to either local disk or SAN/NAS storage.
Hardware Options
An Atlantis ILIO virtual appliance is deployed on each VDI server running virtual desktops. Certified off-the-shelf servers are used to host both the virtual desktops and Atlantis ILIO virtual appliance.
Atlantis ILIO Top-of-Rack
In this configuration, the Atlantis ILIO virtual appliance is deployed on a dedicated server installed at the top of each rack of VDI servers. Atlantis ILIO uses a shared SAN/NAS storage system to store user data and single instances of application and operating system files. The Atlantis ILIO virtual appliance performs inline deduplication and local read/write IO acceleration for all virtual desktops in its associated server rack.
Each hypervisor sees the Atlantis ILIO virtual appliance as a storage volume, and the storage target treats the Atlantis ILIO virtual appliance as if it were a hypervisor hosting one or more virtual machines.
Hardware Options
Atlantis ILIO top-of-rack controllers are deployed as software virtual appliances on certified off-the-shelf servers.
