Elevating VDI with Intel

Revolutionizing Virtual Workspaces: Harnessing the Power of Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series in Collaboration with Citrix and Cisco

Since early 2023, Intel embarked on a journey into GPU-based Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), with significant support on popular platforms.

That journey continues today with support for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops now available on Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series. Starting with Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops version 2311.1, you can now deliver a superior experience to your most demanding VDI users.

As previously detailed in this VDI white paper from Intel, users embracing GPU-based VDI can anticipate higher and more consistent framerates, resulting in an overall smoother, lower-latency experience. When combined with the Citrix HDX, a premium user experience is assured.

“We're excited about our partnership with Intel and their Data Center GPU Flex Series. This collaboration brings a cost-effective and powerful solution to virtual desktops. With Intel's GPUs, we can offer a great experience for graphic-intensive applications. It's a big win for our customers, offering excellent value and lower total costs for their high-end graphics use cases."

James Hsu – Director, Product Management, Citrix

Diving into the performance of the Flex Series GPUs alongside Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. Cisco, a leading OEM in VDI, recently conducted extensive testing and meticulously documented their results in a white paper. Cisco ran the Flex 140 on the new Login VSI GPU Reference Workload, introducing demanding office applications with increased GPU processing needs. The tested Flex 140 achieved an impressive EUX score of 8.9 out of 10, firmly placing it at the very high end of the excellent range, as defined by Login VSI. Notably, even during the most demanding tasks like 3D rendering, CPU utilization never exceeded 30%, as tested by Cisco.

“The Cisco UCS X-Series Modular System is a future-ready platform capable of supporting today and tomorrow’s technologies. The ability to integrate Intel Data Center GPU Flex Series is the latest example and will support the high-performance demands of workloads like VDI and AI with less space & power and with intelligent scaling. The Intel Flex Series GPUs will also be a key part of the next Cisco Validated Designs that help customers decrease implementation time while optimized performance.”

Sean McGee, VP, Technical Marketing, Cisco

Cisco plans to release the Flex Series GPU solution best practices in a set of Cisco Validated Designs, aiming to streamline implementation time and maximize performance. Flex Series GPU support for hardware-assisted GPU virtualization using Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) has no additional licensing costs or complexity.

Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series is available in two configurations:

• GPU Flex 170 is a 150-watt PCIe card, best suited for VDI deployments targeting power users – 3D and media content creation workloads with high graphics and compute performance requirements. It supports up to 16 VMs.
  
  
• GPU Flex 140 is a smaller, low-profile PCIe card at lower power (75 watts) that is ideal at the edge and in data center usage. Each PCIe card can support up to 12 typical knowledge-worker VDI sessions.

To join the GPU revolution, order Flex GPUs from Cisco or one of the other OEMs offering Flex GPUs. Enhance your VDI experience by downloading the Citrix vApps and Desktops v2311.1, and get started today!

Additional Resources:

Get details about the GPU Flex Series for VDI. Solution brief: Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

Learn more about GPU Flex Series: Product page: Intel Data Center GPU Flex Series

Dive deeper into solution architecture and performance: White paper: Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Performance on Intel Data Center GPU Flex Series

Download Citrix vApps and Desktops v2311.1

Get the Citrix VDI Guide for Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series Setup Reference Guide

Order systems from Cisco

Author:

Ed Dylag, VDI Vertical Segment Manager, Intel Corporation

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.
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Intel does not control or audit third-party data. You should consult other sources to evaluate accuracy.