The idea that you can run a bunch of user desktop sessions on servers isn’t new. The benefits promised by desktop virtualization are pretty profound, including large reductions in enterprise tech costs, better support for users, improved security, and even increased user happiness.

That last promise, the increased user happiness, has been difficult to keep – particularly when you’re dealing with “power users” who use a wide range of demanding applications. Data centers also run into trouble when trying to scale virtual desktop infrastructure efficiently and economically.

However, times change, and new technology has come along to make it possible, and much easier, to deliver solid quality desktop service to any users – regardless of their demands.

Thinking about virtualizing your desktops? Want to run all those sessions in your data center and simply broadcast the screen and UI out to whatever devices your users desire?

There are a lot of vendors out there looking to ease your shift into VDI (virtualized desktop infrastructure) by helping to figure out how much server, storage, and network you need to make your desktop dreams come true.

At the NVIDIA GTC 2014 conference, I spent a few minutes with Tony Paikeday, Cisco’s Global Solutions Lead for desktop virtualization.

You’ve pimped out your fancy new HPC cluster with the latest technology, each node jammed to the gills with shiny new CPUs, loads of memory, and maybe even a double brace of GPUs or other accelerators.

The installation work is done, and users are getting their first shot at the system. The performance boost on the new box is so profound that you’re halfway expecting a mob of ecstatic users to hoist you on their shoulders and parade you around the building. Indeed, a mob of users are gathering… but they’re carrying weapons crudely fashioned from their desktops.

As you’re being beaten about the head by a postdoc wielding a used toner cartridge, you find yourself wondering whether this situation could have been avoided.

This is one of those times when my inherent laziness comes back to bite me. I was writing an in-depthy article about the reasons behind IBM moving their chip works over to GlobalFoundries, but I saw that Reg Hack Ted Worstall has already published a very nice story. So I’m looking at the situation from a different angle – what are the implications on IBM’s systems business?