Updated: August 29, 2023 (April 10, 2023)
Analyst ReportMicrosoft-Hosted Desktops: AVD and Windows 365
- Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365 Enterprise are Microsoft’s hosted services for providing VDI and remote desktops.
- The services share underlying technology and are the focus of Microsoft development, frequently benefiting from new capabilities and improvements.
- Remote desktops can be useful for supporting remote workers, accommodating user-owned devices, and offering secure, standardized environments with preconfigured applications.
- Azure Virtual Desktop provides the customization of traditional VDI at the cost of complexity; Windows 365 focuses on dedicated desktops with minimal infrastructure complexity.
- The services will eventually supplant the Remote Desktop Services role, and organizations relying on Remote Desktop Services should consider their technology roadmap.
Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) and Windows 365 Enterprise use Azure-hosted services to provide Microsoft-hosted remote desktops to end users. Although they share similar underlying technology, AVD and Windows 365 Enterprise have significantly different use cases and vary greatly in complexity of configuration and management. (For a summary comparison, see the chart “Comparing Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365 Enterprise”.)
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