What Is DaaS in Cloud Computing?

Desktop as a service (DaaS)—also called hosted desktops—is a cloud-based virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) offering. Under this offering, applications and desktops run in virtual machines (VMs) hosted on a third-party’s infrastructure, consisting of compute, storage and networking. A third-party (cloud or DaaS provider) manages all the back-end IT resources, including the VMs that run desktop OSs.

The DaaS provider also streams all the virtual desktops to users’ endpoints, allowing anywhere, anytime access to applications and desktops. DaaS solutions leverage multi-tenancy architecture, and just like other cloud offerings, they are subscription-based.

How Is DaaS Different from VDI?

Both DaaS and VDI offerings have a similar result: delivering virtual applications and desktops to users’ endpoints from a centralized datacenter. However, these offerings are different in setup, architecture, control, cost implications and agility, as summarized below:

Feature	DaaS	VDI
Setup	A cloud provider hosts all the organization’s IT infrastructure, including compute, networking and storage. The provider handles all the issues to do with hardware monitoring, availability, troubleshooting and upgrades. It also manages the VMs that run the OSs. Some providers even offer technical support.	With VDI, you manage all the IT resources on-premises or at a colocation facility yourself. VDI requires in-house IT administrators to manage servers, networking, storage, licenses, endpoints and more. However, if you decide to host VDI on an off-site private cloud, the vendor may manage the infrastructure.
Architecture	Most DaaS offerings leverage multi-tenancy architecture. Under this model, a single instance of an application—hosted by a server or datacenter—serves multiple “tenants” or customers. The DaaS provider isolates each customer’s services and makes them available dynamically. Other clients’ resource consumption or security can affect yours with a multi-tenant architecture if the services get compromised.	Most VDI offerings are single-tenant solutions where clients operate in a solely dedicated environment. Leveraging single-tenant architecture in VDI allows IT administrators to gain complete control over the organization’s IT resource distribution and configuration. You also don’t have to bother about another organization overusing resources and causing service disruption.
Control	The cloud vendor controls all the organization’s IT infrastructure, including monitoring, configuration and storage. You may not have complete visibility over these aspects. Accessing the DaaS’s control plane requires internet connectivity, making it more susceptible to breaches and cyberattacks.	With VDI deployment, the organization has full control over its IT resources. Since most VDI solutions leverage single-tenant architecture, IT administrators can ensure that only permitted users access virtual desktops and applications.
Cost	There are almost no upfront costs with DaaS offerings since it is subscription-based. The pay-as-you-go pricing structure allows companies to scale their operations dynamically and pay only for consumed resources. DaaS offerings may be cheaper for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that have fluctuating requirements.	VDI requires a substantive capital expenditure (CapEx) to buy or upgrade servers. It’s appropriate for enterprise-level organizations that have predictable growth and resource requirements.
Agility	DaaS deployments provide excellent flexibility. For example, you can quickly provision virtual desktops and applications on the fly and accommodate temporary or seasonal workers. You can also scale down resources easily. You can support new technology trends such as the latest GPU or CPU or software innovations with DaaS solutions.	VDIs require complex infrastructure setups and considerable efforts to build and maintain. For example, adding new features may take days or even weeks to complete. Budget can also limit the organization if it wants to buy new hardware to handle scalability.

5 Benefits of DaaS

Over the last few years, DaaS has made significant progress in becoming an alternative to VDI. Below are four reasons why DaaS is becoming increasingly popular:

1. Eliminates expertise barriers

Many organizations that run on-premises VDI encounter several challenges, including performance, operational and scalability constraints. This is due to a lack of specialized IT personnel with requisite experience in VDI. Many organizations already have overstretched IT budgets. And even in cases where the budget allows, hiring experienced administrators proves difficult because of the few skilled IT personnel even on the market. VDI compounds these challenges.

With DaaS, organizations can elastically complement their VDI deployments in the cloud and shift management challenges to a cloud vendor. The few IT administrators in the organization can then focus on delivering services to satisfy digital transformation goals.

2. Overcomes geographical limitations

Adopting a distributed workforce model is advantageous for companies because it makes the business more visible and accessible to customers. It also helps the company tap into new territories to access a wider pool of talent. DaaS is an excellent solution for addressing the needs of the distributed workforce across disparate locations.

Employees can work virtually from anywhere and at any time provided they have a solid internet connection. Even when these employees are in different regions, they can collaborate via DaaS with ease.

3. Greater budget predictability

Replacing or upgrading software after their end of life (EOL), like migrating Windows 7 to Windows 10, is the single-most challenge facing organizations today. This is because the newest versions of this software almost always require major upgrades in the client hardware. With DaaS, an organization can potentially save large CapEx.

DaaS’s pay-as-you-go pricing model also ensures that the organization pays only for IT services consumed. As such, organizations can add workspaces elastically for new users without overstretching their IT budgets.

4. Eliminates scalability challenges

Flexibility and agility are the hallmarks of success in organizations. They help drive trends such as hiring consultants for special projects and mergers and acquisitions. DaaS allows companies to provide all the necessary desktops and applications—together with their access rights—to users’ needs in a matter of minutes. You can also scale down resources when these workers no longer require desktops.

5. Enhances Security

The responsibility for security is shifted from the individual device to a data center infrastructure that is designed to provide the greatest levels of security. Data is no longer vulnerable on a local device; instead, it is stored in a secure hosted environment, where it is encrypted and accessible only through multi-factor authentication processes.

What Are Some Use Cases for DaaS?

Organizations can leverage DaaS to address different use cases and scenarios such as:

Users with multiple endpoints. Some roles, such as software development, may require a user to work from more than one device. Rather than switching between many devices or multiple OSs on a single PC, a user can access several distinct virtual desktops with DaaS.
Contractual or seasonal workers. DaaS can help you provision a virtual desktop for a seasonal or contractual worker in minutes. You can also decommission such a desktop quickly when the employee leaves the organization.
Mobile and remote workers. DaaS provides secure anywhere, anytime, and any-device access to corporate resources. Mobile and remote workers can leverage these features to enhance productivity in the organization.
Mergers and acquisitions. DaaS simplifies the provision and deployment of new desktops for new employees, allowing IT administrators to unify an entire organization’s network quickly after a merger or acquisition.
Educational institutions. IT administrators can provide each teacher or student with an individual virtual desktop, complete with necessary privileges. When such users leave the organization, their desktops get decommissioned with just a few clicks.
Healthcare professionals. Privacy is a major concern in many healthcare settings. With DaaS, IT administrators can easily customize desktop permissions and rules based on the user. This allows individual access to each healthcare professional’s own virtual desktop, only allowing access to relevant patient information.

How to Choose a DaaS Provider

There are multiple kinds of DaaS providers to choose from, including major vendors such as Azure and managed service providers (MSPs). Because of the many options out there, selecting the appropriate provider can be a challenge. Here are some tips to help you pick the right vendor:

Performance. An appropriate DaaS solution is one that meets all the users’ requirements in the organization—including GPU-intensive applications.
Scalability. If you’re implementing a DaaS solution for an organization with hundreds or thousands of users, ensure it’s scalable. A scalable DaaS offering allows you to onboard and offboard new users easily and quickly.
Elasticity. A great DaaS provider is one that allows you to provision resources based on the existing workload demands. You don’t want to pay more in instances where workload demands vary depending on the day or time.
Location of the datacenters. Selecting a DaaS provider whose datacenters are close to the employee results in optimized network infrastructure with low latency. On the other hand, poor location can lead to unstable connections and efficiency challenges.
Security and compliance. If you’re in an industry that must conform strictly to prevailing laws and regulations, be sure to select a DaaS provider that meets all the security and compliance requirements.
Simplicity. An intuitive and easy-to-use DaaS solution allows employees to get the job done. It also relieves you of many IT administration responsibilities related to OSs and application management.
Cost. Like all cloud-based services, DaaS shifts CapEx to the operating expenditure (OpEx) consumption model. However, when comparing price versus services, not all DaaS providers are equal. Therefore, you should thoroughly compare the cost to various DaaS providers’ value to get the best service.

Deliver DaaS With Parallels RAS and Simplify Azure Windows Virtual Desktop

The enterprise computing world is changing fast, responding to mobility forces and bring your own device (BYOD), high costs, security concerns and platform updates. Desktop virtualization solutions have become the new mantra for organizations that want to satisfy their digital needs. Azure Virtual Desktop—Microsoft’s DaaS solution offered through its Azure platform—is a game-changer in the desktop virtualization arena.

Besides addressing some limitations associated with a server-based approach to desktop delivery, Azure Virtual Desktop also reduces costs through pooled and multi-session resources. Parallels® Remote Application Server (RAS) is a complete desktop and application delivery solution that integrates and extends Azure Virtual Desktop capabilities seamlessly.

Parallels RAS integration with Azure Virtual Desktop enables organizations to simplify the deployment of virtual desktops via wizard-driven interfaces. Parallels RAS enables IT administrators to leverage advanced metrics and management capabilities when provisioning host pools, application groups, and workspaces in Azure Virtual Desktop.

Experience the benefits of DaaS in cloud computing by downloading a 30-day Parallels RAS trial today!