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Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Services

Desktop virtualization planned, built, and operated to hold up under real conditions

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Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Services

Calance designs, deploys, migrates, and operates virtual desktop environments for organizations managing a workforce spread across offices, homes, client sites, and personal devices. Endpoint fleets drift from the standard build, patch windows slip, business data accumulates on machines outside direct IT visibility, and support teams spend a disproportionate share of their week rebuilding devices rather than improving services.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure addresses those pressures by relocating the desktop operating system, the user profile, and business applications into centrally managed infrastructure, then streaming the session to whatever device the user is holding. Organizations working with Calance gain auditable access, predictable logon performance, application compatibility verified before users encounter it, and a consumption model finance can plan against.

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Our Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Solutions

Calance covers the full lifecycle of a virtualized estate. Engagements begin at whichever stage matches your position, whether you're evaluating desktop virtualization for the first time, replacing an aging on-premises platform, or stabilizing an environment deployed quickly and never optimized afterward.

Strategy and Readiness Assessment

User personas, application inventory, endpoint estate, and network conditions get documented before architecture is committed. Licensing entitlement is verified early, since rules differ across platforms and shape the cost model directly.

Ongoing Management and Cost Optimization

Monitoring, patching, image lifecycle management, and capacity review continue under production load, with consumption reviewed against observed usage rather than original sizing assumptions made at design time, so spend stays aligned with actual need.

Security and Access Configuration

Conditional access, multi-factor authentication, and role-based administration get configured alongside session policies that govern clipboard, drive redirection, USB access, printing, and file transfer between the virtual desktop and the local device.

Architecture and Design

Host pool structure, session host sizing, and profile storage get designed against measured concurrency. Since identity, networking, and storage rarely work in isolation, this stage runs alongside our IT infrastructure and operations practice.

Deployment and Configuration

Golden image creation, hardening, and versioning happen against the target session model, followed by application packaging, compatibility testing, and policy configuration ahead of pilot validation with real users before wider release.

Migration

Movement from physical desktops or legacy virtualization platforms happens in controlled waves, with compatibility testing, identity federation, and policy alignment completed before each wave and a rollback path retained throughout.

Advantages of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

Centralizing the desktop changes more than where compute runs. The shift shows up in day-to-day operations, security posture, and cost predictability once an estate moves from scattered endpoints to managed infrastructure.
endpoint

Reduced endpoint exposure

Business data stays in managed infrastructure rather than scattered across laptops, lowering the consequence of a lost or stolen device.

onboarding

Faster onboarding and cleaner offboarding

Access is granted and revoked through identity rather than hardware procurement, which matters most for contractors, seasonal staff, and acquisitions.

application

Consistent application delivery

Applications are published from managed images, removing the version drift that accumulates across a physical fleet.

distruption

Continuity during disruption

Users reconnect from another approved device with the session intact, reducing dependence on any single piece of endpoint hardware.

support-effect

Predictable support effort

 Centralized image and patch management replaces device-by-device fixes, freeing help desk capacity for higher-value work.

hardware-refresh

Decoupled hardware refresh

Compute demand sits in the backend, so endpoint replacement cycles stop being driven by application requirements on the local device.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Models

Two decisions shape cost and operational effort more than any other: where the environment runs and how desktops are assigned to users.

Deployment model
Cost profile
Best suited to
Cloud-hosted
Operating expenditure tied to consumption
Variable user populations, distributed workforces, rapid onboarding
On-premises
Capital expenditure plus ongoing maintenance
Stable user counts, latency-sensitive workloads, data residency constraints
Hybrid
Mixed, weighted toward the workload
Retaining specific workloads on-premises while running the broader population in the cloud

How Calance Delivers Virtual Desktop Infrastructure -

Migration sequencing determines how disruptive a transition feels to the business. Moving a full population in one step concentrates risk, so Calance advances through defined stages with clear exit criteria between them.

1

Assessment and Discovery

  • Document personas, concurrency patterns, and full application inventory
  • Record network conditions and confirm licensing entitlement well in advance
  • Establish which specific users and roles genuinely suit virtual desktops
2

Architecture and Design

  • Agree the deployment model, host pool structure, and assignment approach
  • Set session and access policy alongside our cybersecurity services team
  • Define profile storage, image standards, and monitoring approach early
3

Foundation Build

  • Establish identity integration, network paths, storage, and management tooling
  • Validate the entire infrastructure before any session host gets deployed
  • Coordinate closely with your wider IT infrastructure and operations estate
4

Image Build and Packaging

  • Build, harden, and version golden images against the target session model
  • Package and thoroughly test business applications before real users arrive
  • Document exceptions carefully and agree a clear remediation path for each
5

Pilot and User Acceptance

  • Run real work with a group spanning roles, locations, and connection types
  • Collect feedback on sizing, policy, and image behavior under realistic use
  • Adjust the full environment carefully before wider release, not just after
6

Wave Migration and Handover

  • Move users in scheduled groups with clear onboarding guidance provided
  • Retain a rollback path, supported closely through our IT help desk services
  • Transfer monitoring thresholds and runbooks fully into stable steady state

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Products

Platform selection follows from the estate, not the other way round. Calance remains vendor-neutral during assessment, so the recommendation reflects where your applications, identity, and data already sit.

Platform
Delivery approach
Typically suits
Azure Virtual Desktop
Microsoft-managed control plane, single or multi-session Windows
Microsoft-centered estates with existing Microsoft 365 or Windows Enterprise entitlement
Windows 365 Cloud PC
Fixed per-user subscription, reduced configuration depth
Predictable per-seat pricing, minimal platform administration
Citrix DaaS
Broad brokering across cloud and on-premises resources
Complex mixed estates and existing Citrix investment
Omnissa Horizon
Enterprise virtualization across on-premises and cloud
Established VMware datacenters and latency-sensitive local workloads
Amazon WorkSpaces
Managed desktop delivery on AWS
Estates where applications and data already sit in AWS

Licensing entitlement differs meaningfully across these platforms and affects total cost more than most sizing decisions, which is why the entitlement position is verified before any architecture is proposed. Where the estate is Microsoft-centered, our Azure Virtual Desktop infrastructure services cover host pool design and ongoing operation in more depth.

Industries we serve

Healthcare and Genomics

Clinical staff move between units, facilities, and shifts throughout a single day. Virtual desktops keep the same secure session available at every workstation while keeping patient data off local devices.

Legal Services

Attorneys and staff work across offices, courtrooms, and client sites, often on devices IT doesn't fully control. Centralizing the desktop keeps case files and communications inside managed infrastructure.

Financial Services and FinTech

Contractors and distributed teams need access that can be granted and revoked quickly, tying entitlement to identity and supporting the audit trail compliance expects.

Construction and Engineering

Project teams split time between the office, job sites, and partner locations, often on personal or shared devices, and virtual desktops keep access consistent without extending the endpoint footprint IT has to secure.

Manufacturing

Shift-based and shared-workstation environments suit non-persistent desktop pools well, letting operators sign in from any approved terminal without carrying local data between shifts.

Sizing by User Workload Profile-done

Concurrency alone does not size an environment. A hundred concurrent call centre users and a hundred concurrent CAD users place entirely different demands on compute, storage, and network, which is why Calance profiles the user population by workload class before any capacity decision is made.

Workload profile
Typical roles
What the design accounts for
Task
Call centre, data entry, shift-based operations
High session density, non-persistent pools, standardized application set
Knowledge
Office, finance, administrative, and support staff
Balanced compute, Microsoft 365 and browser load, moderate session density
Power
Developers, analysts, and engineering support roles
Higher vCPU and memory allocation, often persistent desktops with local install rights
Graphics
CAD, design, imaging, and visualization users
GPU-backed session hosts, display protocol tuning, lower density per host

Why Calance for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Services - done

Desktop virtualization sits at the intersection of infrastructure, identity, Microsoft platforms, and security. Few providers operate credibly across all four. Calance has delivered in each of those areas for more than two decades, which is what a VDI program actually requires.

system

Four Practices, One Team

Infrastructure, Microsoft, cybersecurity, and help desk capabilities sit under one accountable partner, so identity, network, image, and support decisions are made together rather than negotiated across separate vendors.

incident

25+ Years of Production Environments

Founded in 2003 and part of the DTS Group, Calance runs infrastructure for enterprises in healthcare, automotive, manufacturing, and financial services, with a 90% client retention rate behind that record.

environment

Vendor-Neutral by Design

Calance holds partnerships across Microsoft, VMware, Citrix, AWS, and Cisco without reselling any single platform, so the platform recommendation reflects your estate rather than a licensing arrangement.

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Onshore Leadership, 24/7 Coverage

US-based architects own scope and design decisions while teams across the United States, Canada, and India provide follow-the-sun monitoring, so an environment is supported past business hours from day one.

Establish Workload Profiles and Concurrency Before Committing to an Architecture -done

A short conversation about your user profiles, application estate, and network conditions is usually enough to establish whether virtual desktops fit and what a workable scope looks like.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a typical VDI deployment take from assessment to production?

Assessment and design usually run four to eight weeks depending on estate complexity. Migration then proceeds in waves, so total duration reflects user count and application exceptions rather than a fixed project length.

What internet speed do users need for a usable virtual desktop session?

Standard office work generally functions on modest bandwidth, but latency matters more than raw speed. Graphics workloads and video calls need considerably more headroom, which is why connection quality gets tested at actual user locations.

Can employees work offline if their internet connection drops?

Virtual desktops require an active connection, since the session runs in the datacentre rather than on the device. Roles with frequent offline requirements are usually better served by managed physical devices.

What happens to users during a scheduled maintenance window?

Non-persistent pools allow hosts to be updated in batches while users work on remaining capacity. Persistent desktops require scheduled windows, communicated in advance, with drain modes preventing new sessions on hosts being patched.

Do virtual desktops work on Mac, Chromebook, iPad, or Android devices?

Yes. Most platforms provide native clients across these operating systems, plus browser-based access. Peripheral support and screen handling differ by client, so the experience per device type is validated during pilot.

Can existing laptops be reused as endpoints instead of buying thin clients?

Existing hardware can usually be repurposed, which often extends its useful life considerably. Whether to move to thin clients depends on management overhead, security posture, and where each device sits in its replacement cycle.

How many users can a single session host support?

Density depends entirely on workload profile, host sizing, and the application mix. Task workers achieve high density on shared hosts, while graphics users may need dedicated resources, so figures come from measurement rather than estimates.

What administrator training or knowledge transfer is provided?

Handover covers image management, provisioning, monitoring thresholds, and escalation procedures, with runbooks documented for the team taking ownership. Depth is scoped to whether your team retains administration or transfers it to Calance.

Can VDI be deployed for only one department rather than the whole organization?

Departmental deployments are common and often sensible. Starting with a group whose workload clearly suits virtualization builds operational history before wider rollout, and some organizations never extend beyond those roles.

How is antivirus and endpoint protection handled on virtual desktops?

Session hosts require endpoint protection like any other Windows machine, configured for virtual environments to avoid scanning storms across concurrent sessions. Exclusions for profile containers are set during image hardening.

What happens to a user's open work if their session disconnects unexpectedly?

Sessions typically remain active on the host for a configured period, allowing reconnection with work intact. Disconnect and logoff timers are set during design to balance user convenience against capacity consumption.

Can virtual desktops support dual or triple monitor setups?

Multi-monitor configurations are supported across major platforms, though each additional display increases bandwidth consumption and host resource use. Monitor requirements are captured during assessment because they affect both sizing and network planning.

Is a pilot phase mandatory, or can deployment go straight to production?

Pilots are strongly recommended. Real users across different roles, locations, and connection types surface sizing and policy issues that no test environment reproduces, and correcting those before wider release avoids disruptive rework.

How does VDI affect software licensing for business applications?

Some vendors license per device, per user, or per concurrent session, and virtualized delivery can change which model applies. Application licensing is reviewed during inventory, since assumptions here frequently produce unexpected costs.

What ongoing internal effort does a virtual desktop estate require?

Effort depends on the operating model agreed at handover. Organizations retaining full administration need dedicated capacity for image and capacity management, while co-managed arrangements transfer that workload while keeping architecture ownership internal.