Atlantis Computing Shows Off New Approach to VDI Storage

Upstart Atlantis Computing, which specializes in virtual desktop infrastructure storage and performance optimization, this week proclaimed that it has done away with storage for VDI systems.

Um, say that again, please?

We won’t trouble you with a repeat — you can read the top line here again if you desire. But the company ostensibly has done away with the very thing it provides: data storage for VDI systems.

Atlantis is talking about its new ILIO Diskless VDI system, which it claims is the first software to “eliminate” storage for Citrix and VMware virtual desktop images. What it does do is store whole images in local memory, compresses them way, way down with its secret-sauce IP, and thus eliminate a lot of storage space that would have been necessary in a conventional VDI setup.

Atlantis ILIO Diskless VDI software works with virtual desktop deployments to eliminate the use of storage for non-persistent VDI, while at the same time boosting performance levels, Atlantis Director of Marketing Seth Knox told The Station.

“With existing VDI solutions, virtual desktop images are stored on either shared SAN/NAS storage or local SAS/SSD disks, which are costly, have limited IOPS for VDI workloads, and can have short lifespans/warranties,” Knox said. “Atlantis ILIO Diskless VDI is software that performs NTFS traffic processing and inline deduplication of images to run all desktops from local server memory.

“There are no more disks to fail and no rack space, power and cooling required for storage. Diskless VDI results in response times that are faster than even the most expensive local SSD drives (MLC or SLC) and reduces the cost of a virtual desktop below that of a physical PC.”

Atlantis, based in Mountain View, Calif., and with offices in the U.K., has real customers deploying the newfangled system, and the early reviews have been good. Knox can hook you up for testimonials.

If you’re looking at a new VDI system for your enterprise, you probably should at least take a look at this innovative idea. Go here for more information.