Working for RedPixie on a VDI PoC at a client recently, we were asked “how have you guys managed to get all this VDI working so quickly when everyone else has tried and failed?”

The answer is that installing software out of the box in a greenfield proof of concept environment is easy. Whether it be vCloud Director or Citrix Streaming Server, installing it is half a days work. But you can’t do that and then say “I’ve installed a cloud for the client”.

All the technical challenges in these types of professional services engagements are to do with integrating the product into the existing environment. Environments that have evolved over decades and are embedded with processes built one way and resistant to be change. I like the analogy of changing the direction of a supertanker. Every client’s environment is different. Understanding it, and the culture, is as important as understanding the product.