Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) deployments are on an upward trajectory with IT professionals increasingly turning to VDI as a cost-effective and secure solution for granting remote and hybrid workers access to essential software and applications. Yet, this surge comes with its challenges, particularly as office and web applications become more graphically intricate, necessitating a superior quality of experience.
The solution? GPU-enabled VDI. Many forward-looking companies are embracing this technology to deliver lower latency, high-quality streams that ensure consistent frames per second, and a stellar media-rich user experience.
IT professionals now have more choice in GPU vendors for their GPU-enabled VDI solutions. Intel has released the VDI capabilities in the Flex Series GPUs tailored for VMware ESXi environments, complemented by the VMware Horizon connection manager. The first public demonstration is taking place at Intel Innovation on September 19-20, 2023, in San Jose, CA.
Support for Flex Series GPUs in VMware Horizon was initially announced in April 2023, and its availability is now extended to comprehensive ESXi-based environments with the introduction of Flex ESXi device drivers available <<here>>.
What sets the Intel Flex Series apart is its support for hardware-assisted GPU virtualization using Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) with no additional virtualization licensing costs or complexity. Flex GPUs are available in both a 75W and a 150W single-width PCIe add-in card offering 12GB or 16GB of GDDR respectively.
For deployments seeking higher density, with slightly less-demanding requirements, VMware Virtual Shared Graphics paravirtualization (vSGA) will also be available.
“VMware is excited to expand our community of w-certified GPUs with the Intel Data Center GPU Flex Series and to offer our customers more choice in GPU vendor selection,” said Arindam Nag, VP Product Management, Horizon, VMware.
Dell Technologies, Intel, and LoginVSI are collaborating on benchmarks with Intel Flex GPUs for media rich VDI solutions.
To quantify the benefits of Intel Flex GPUs to VDI users, Intel ran a series of side-by-side experiments both with and without the Intel Flex GPU. The results spoke volumes: Flex Series GPU consistently delivered higher frame rates with reduced CPU load across various benchmarks and applications. Full details can be found here.
Resources:
- Experience VDI running on Intel Flex GPUs by viewing our demo at Intel Innovation or online.
- Learn more about Intel Data Center GPU Flex Series and the newest capabilities at Intel.com/FlexSeriesGPU.
Authors:
- Ed Dylag, VDI Vertical Segment Manager, Intel Corporation
- Joe Van De Water, Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series Product Manager, Intel Corporation
**************
Additional supporting quotes:
“The Cisco UCS X-Series Modular system was designed to support tomorrow’s technology. The Intel Data Center GPU Flex Series is the latest example of this flexibility. VDI and AI opportunities demand high performance housed in a system design that requires less space and power, growing only as needs dictate. The Intel Flex Series GPU solution best practices will be forthcoming in a set of Cisco Validated Designs which will decrease implementation time and maximize performance.”
Siva Sivakumar, Vice President, Compute Product Management and Solutions, Cisco
“Login VSI is excited to work with Intel and industry OEMs on the development of new GPU Reference Workloads, which exercises discrete graphics adapters, such as the Intel Data Center GPU Flex Series of graphics adapters. To complement our industry-standard Knowledge Worker Workload, these new profiles give our customers the ability to optimize their GPU-enabled VDI environments by adding Zoom, HD video, and graphics applications, typical of today’s remote/hybrid worker.”
Blair Parkhill, Director, Technology Alliance and Vendor Programs, Login VSI
“Supermicro continues to innovate and deliver the latest application-optimized servers available today. We work closely with Intel and VMware to create energy efficient systems that reshape how organizations work, enabling increased collaboration and productivity.”
Michael McNerney, Vice President, Marketing and Network Security, Supermicro
Notices and Disclaimers
Performance varies by use, configuration, and other factors. Learn more at www.Intel.com/PerformanceIndex.
Performance results are based on testing as of dates shown in configurations and may not reflect all publicly available updates. See backup for configuration details. No product or component can be absolutely secure.
Intel technologies may require enabled hardware, software, or service activation.
© Intel Corporation. Intel, the Intel logo, and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
You must be a registered user to add a comment. If you've already registered, sign in. Otherwise, register and sign in.