VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) has become one of the most fiercely competitive areas of technology. This is being driven by enterprises across all industries looking to reduce capital expenditure costs and IT infrastructure complexity while at the same time enhancing flexibility and organisational agility.
Dominating this highly competitive market are the VDI super giant vendors Microsoft, Citrix, Omnissa, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). What can we expect over the next year and beyond?
A Market in Transition
While VDI technologies have existed for some time, the number of big vendors in the field has remained fairly consistent. A couple of decades ago it was all about Citrix and VMware until Microsoft and Amazon started flexing their substantial corporate muscle in terms of both technology development and customer acquisition.
There are challengers in the VDI space, but when considering super giant vendors, there is a big five:
- Microsoft
- Citrix
- Omnissa
- VMware by Broadcom
- AWS
Delve deeper under the surface, and the picture becomes even more complex. This is because the VDI landscape has been transformed over recent years. That pace of change shows no signs of slowing as we speed through Q1 2025.
The headlines include the fact that Citrix and VMware no longer exist in their original guises, as both are under new ownership. Citrix is part of Cloud Software Group while VMware is now owned by Broadcom with the exception of its end-user-computing (EUC) division. The EUC division is now a separate company, Omnissa, which is owned by KKR.
The Growing Dominance of Microsoft
Microsoft is an interesting case study, as it did not ramp up its efforts in the VDI and EUC space to get a share of an existing market. Microsoft’s objective was instead to significantly expand the VDI and EUC market beyond the established Citrix and VMware et al customer base. With the potential market expanded, the aim was to capture as much business as possible.
Microsoft has done this with Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), the company’s VDI solution, as well as Windows 365.
AVD is aimed at organisations with VDI experience and who want high levels of control. Windows 365, on the other hand, is arguably the disrupter as it is a subscription-based, pay-as-you-go desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) product that is feature-packed, straightforward to manage, and requires minimal capital expenditure. Plus, for most users, the experience of using a Windows 365 desktop is essentially the same as using a traditional laptop or desktop computer.
So, how is it going for Microsoft? All indications both in the market and what we hear talking to customers are of growing dominance. By way of example, we can look at the latest Magic Quadrant for DaaS released by Gartner in October 2024. Gartner put Microsoft out in front as the leader. AWS, Omnissa, and Citrix are also in the leaders’ category, but behind Microsoft. Gartner researchers estimated that Microsoft has the largest number of users on its DaaS platforms.
What About Citrix?
Citrix and its parent company have been highly active in recent months buying other companies in and adjacent to the EUC space. Cloud Software Group has at the same time been cutting staff while saying its goal is to become a “diversified software company” worth more than USD $20 billion.
Another notable development is the announcement in 2024 that Citrix had entered into an eight-year strategic partnership with Microsoft. The partnership has a number of elements, but it primarily positions Citrix as a preferred Microsoft partner for enterprise DaaS implementations.
In other words, Citrix is now both a Microsoft partner and competitor.
What About Omnissa and VMware by Broadcom?
Looking at VMware by Broadcom first, there have been reports by customers of substantial price increases with some in the region of 300 percent. These price changes are the result of a shift away from perpetual licensing to the now more common model of subscription-based licensing. However, there has also been some discontent with how the change in billing was implemented.
Switching to Omnissa, one of the stand-out developments is that its products are now also integrated with Microsoft, making Omnissa both a Microsoft partner and competitor.
And AWS?
AWS remains the largest cloud infrastructure vendor in the world with 31 percent of the market according to Statista.
However, it doesn’t appear to be as aggressively competitive in the VDI and EUC space as Microsoft, Citrix, and Omnissa. It also scores below Microsoft, Citrix, and Omnissa on product scores for four assessed DaaS use cases:
- Remote workers
- High security and compliance
- High performance
- Custom, enterprise architectures
So, Where Do We Stand?
There remain a lot of moving parts in the VDI and EUC space with acquisitions, consolidation, and enterprise customers voting with their virtual and metaphorical feet. There does, however, appear to be a spine developing in the shape of Microsoft as it continues to win a growing proportion of the increasingly large market. It is doing this through user familiarity with its interface and apps, VDI and EUC products that directly address enterprise customer pain points, and strategic partnership arrangements that dilute the scale of competition.
How will the battle of the VDI super giant vendors play out in 2025? It is hard to dispute that whatever the makeup of the market, Microsoft will be standing strong.
