Switching from Citrix to AVD with Nerdio

Overcoming barriers to AVD adoption

IT leaders may be hesitant to switch from the Citrix platform they know and have invested in over to AVD, questioning its suitability for their needs and what it will take to manage the new environment.

Question 1: Is AVD up to the task? 

Microsoft has been actively developing its virtualized desktop solutions, including AVD and Windows 365. Today, these platforms are fully enterprise-ready, as evidenced by widespread adoption in organizations of all sizes.

Points to consider:

• Cloud, on-premises, or hybrid?: For industries where information security is mission-critical, hybrid environments are seen as a priority, and may have considered hybrid deployment to be an argument in favor of Citrix. But as of mid-2023, this is no longer a point of difference: Microsoft has introduced Azure Local (formerly Azure Stack HCI), a hyper-converged hybrid environment that combines on-premises infrastructure with Azure Cloud Services. This technology promises to be a game-changer and is evidence of Microsoft’s commitment to virtualization.
• User experience: For the vast majority of virtual desktop admins, the AVD user experience when properly configured—something made far easier with Nerdio—holds up well when the two environments are compared side-by-side.
• Compatibility: Application compatibility is always a moving target; this is true whether it’s a commercial application or one developed in-house. Compatibility issues related to cloud deployment will require reworking regardless of the desktop virtualization platform. Microsoft has an advantage here given the depth and extent of the Windows ecosystem—a strength specifically identified in the September 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant DaaS report.

Question 2: What about resilience?

Keeping desktops online is a key concern for any organization running virtualized environments. The ability to distribute workloads and keep them secure has long been a Citrix selling point—but it can be a high-cost way to achieve resiliency if a fully automated failover that transitions workloads in real time is needed.

Points to consider:

• Disaster recovery: The Azure Cloud is spread across more than 60 regions around the world. AVD allows users to set up a host pool that distributes workloads across them to provide disaster recovery. Using AVD’s native tools to do so can be relatively complex, but Nerdio makes it simple. Additionally, the arrival of Azure Local makes hybrid cloud a reality for AVD users.
• Native security: All essential elements of security are provided by AVD, including host pool copy/paste restrictions, data download control, and limits on moving data. Nerdio makes setting these up simple and accessible—and also provides tight access control to the management console itself.

Question 3: Will AVD with Nerdio really save my organization money?

The issue of cost has many dimensions. In addition to license subscription and support fees, there are the costs of cloud resource use and time spent managing the environment. The total cost of ownership needs to be considered to make a true comparison

Points to consider:

• What you’re paying for: Citrix comes at a premium (and increasing) price far higher than AVD with Nerdio. Its feature set is broad, and enterprises must pay for all of it whether they need it or not. Additionally, the Citrix fees are charged on top of AVD. Moving to or consolidating on AVD eliminates that expense, and adding Nerdio to simplify management is far less costly than using Citrix to accomplish the same tasks.
• Ability to optimize IT spend: Nerdio makes paying only for the resources actually used easier by offering clear, real-time visibility into cost-per-user along with the ability to minimize it autonomously using the Auto-Scaling feature.
• The value-add of IT expertise: Some IT professionals have built a career on becoming Citrix experts and are understandably concerned about being made redundant in a move off of the platform. The expertise, knowledge, and skills they’ve acquired still apply to AVD. At the same time, the simplicity of Nerdio offers a new opportunity for them. By dramatically streamlining AVD management, the time and expertise that they have been devoting to routine tasks can be redirected to work on more important projects, such as development, governance, and data security.

Question 4: What’s the most efficient way to manage AVD?

Nerdio is built exclusively with and for Microsoft’s technology stack in partnership with Microsoft. Nerdio tools are highly automated, simple, and accessible, with low resource overhead and low cost—and they’re tightly focused on AVD configuration, management, and optimization. Nerdio also provides a better alternative to the costly, complex, and time-consuming use of DevOps pipelines that are the most common way of managing AVD natively. Nerdio delivers the best of both worlds: simpler than native AVD management and less expensive than Citrix.

Points to consider:

• Task simplification at scale: Nerdio’s highly automated console and help desk tools are designed to support thousands of AVD desktops. This translates into dramatic time savings and more effective optimization: A fully functional environment can be stood up with Nerdio Manager for Enterprise in just two hours, which is markedly faster and easier than a full Citrix deployment. Nerdio also simplifies complex AVD configuration tasks, such as workload regionalization, and streamlines rollouts of updates and patches.
• Visibility into the environment and resource use: Nerdio surfaces key metrics that are highly relevant to the business in a clear and accessible way, such as resource usage and cost-per-user. This enables the enterprise to apply chargeback policies accurately. Nerdio Auto-Scaling also dynamically manages cloud use, ensuring that the business only pays for what it consumes, while IT managers can easily allocate resources as needed.
• Need for expertise: Native AVD management via DevOps pipelines can be inefficient, requiring extensive involvement from knowledgeable IT staff. By automating and simplifying many essential tasks, Nerdio delivers the desired results more quickly and with less risk of human error.

AVD migration timeline

Embarking on a journey from your current VDI solution to Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) can be a transformative move for your organization. This timeline serves as a strategic guide, ensuring you allocate ample time to take stock, deploy, and rigorously test your applications within AVD. Leverage our proven expertise and insights to empower your migration process, ensuring an efficient transition to a more agile and scalable desktop experience.