Azure Virtual Desktop: More than a Windows Virtual Desktop re-brand?

In recent months, Microsoft relaunched Windows Virtual Desktop as Azure Virtual Desktop. The change has left some wondering: what is in a name? Is there anything different about Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD)? MSCloudNews reached out to Azure experts about the change.

For those that haven't followed the change closely there is a simple answer: AVD is different than WVD. Mahadeva Bisappa, Principal Architect at SPR, explained that AVD is more than a re-brand. It is an effort by Microsoft to provide a “desktop-as-a-service” with flexible pricing and configurations, as well as rapid provisioning.

Microsoft has updated AVD to integrate with Azure Active Directory for authentication and security management. [This] enables optimized compute resource utilization with host pools, enables seamless user profile management with FSLogix, [provides] capabilities [for] access to operating systems or modern web-browsers from anywhere with an internet connection, and provides a choice of [Office versions between] Windows 7 and Windows 11, as well as many Windows Server versions to be hosted on those Virtual Desktops. [You can] install Microsoft Office 365 and any custom software and make them available to the users quickly and[are] able to use them seamlessly.

AVD offers a way to migrate from on-prem physical computers to virtual computers at a low cost. According to Bisappa, Microsoft has positioned its cloud-based virtual desktop offering to overcome speed and processing limitations faced by physical computers when faced with certain workloads. AVD gives end-users a way to continue working on older hardware while accessing improved compute.

Microsoft partners, ISVs, and system integrators are still in the process of structuring business offerings around AVD as a component of broader digital transformation initiatives for clients. Robert Jolliffe, owner of MicroAge Kitchener explained: