Virtual desktop technology is well understood, and has been around for more than two decades. While thin client remote desktops go back to the 1990s, the term virtual desktop infrastructure, or VDI, was introduced by VMware in 2006. Products from Citrix and Microsoft quickly followed and adopted this terminology. VDI promised data security and compliance, as well as disaster recovery and business continuity, but while VDI was a compelling solution when it was developed over 20 years ago, a lot has changed in that time. The network perimeter has dissolved, and the advent of the SaaS model has put modern apps in the cloud with many accessible via the browser.
