What is a virtual desktop?

What is a virtual desktop?

A virtual desktop is a complete Windows computer that runs on a server instead of on the machine in front of you. You reach it over the internet from a browser or a Remote Desktop client, and everything about it - the programs, the files, the settings, the open windows - lives on the server and stays there between sessions.

An Infosaic virtual desktop is a fully functioning vanilla Windows 11 computer with its own dedicated IP address, unmetered traffic and full administrator rights, delivered the moment you sign up. The device you use to reach it only has to draw the screen.

Virtual desktop

The machine itself: a Windows installation running on our hardware that you sign into and work at. Also called a cloud desktop or cloud PC.

Desktop as a Service (DaaS)

A virtual desktop sold as a monthly service, with the hardware, the hosting platform and the Windows license included in the price. This is what Infosaic sells.

VDI

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure - the general term for running desktops on central servers rather than on individual PCs. DaaS is VDI that somebody else runs for you.

Windows 11 license

Every plan ships with a pre-activated Windows 11 license inside the monthly price. There is nothing to bring and nothing to buy separately.

Infosaic Cloud

The name for the platform the desktops run on: Hyper-V hosts, storage and network managed by Infosaic, in a compliance-audited data center with redundant carriers.

What is the difference between VDI and DaaS?

VDI is the technology: desktops running centrally on servers. A company can build its own VDI, which means buying the servers, the storage, the licenses and the people to run it all, and it is a serious project.

DaaS is VDI delivered as a service. The provider owns and runs the infrastructure and you pay per desktop per month. Infosaic is a DaaS provider: you sign up for a desktop and it is on screen in a browser a few minutes later, with nothing to build.

What are the benefits of a virtual desktop?

The desktop is reachable from any device with a browser, so the computer in front of you stops mattering: a Mac, a Chromebook, an iPad or a five-year-old laptop all give you the same Windows machine. Files and programs stay on the desktop rather than on whatever hardware happens to be nearby, which is also where the security benefit comes from - a lost laptop has nothing on it.

Hardware refreshes stop being your problem, the Windows license is inside the monthly price, and the machine is a server-class host rather than a desk PC. With Infosaic the desktop also has a dedicated public IP and unmetered traffic, is delivered instantly rather than provisioned, and comes with support around the clock.

Dedicated IP

A public internet address belonging only to your desktop, not shared with anyone else. Useful for services that whitelist by address, and for reaching the machine directly.

Unmetered traffic

No bandwidth cap, no fair-use threshold and no overage charge. Move as much data in and out of the desktop as the work needs.

Instant delivery

The login reaches your inbox the moment the sign-up completes. There is no provisioning queue, no build window and no approval step.

Persistent desktop

A desktop that keeps your files, programs and settings between sessions. All Infosaic desktops are persistent.

AI agent ready

A desktop an AI agent can drive on its own: always on, administrator rights, a dedicated IP, unmetered traffic, and separate from your own computer. Every plan qualifies; the AI agent ready page covers the setup.

What is a virtual desktop used for?

Most commonly, to replace an office PC outright: the mail client, the browser, the spreadsheet, the accounting package and the industry software all open on a machine that is the same from the office, from home and from a hotel. It is also the cheapest way to keep one Windows-only program reachable from a Mac, to give a seasonal hire a proper machine for a season, or to give an AI agent a computer of its own to drive.

The heavier uses - large accounting files, serious spreadsheet models, line-of-business applications, development toolchains, data work - are what the larger packages are built for. The plan pages and the use-case pages under each of them describe where each size stops.

How does desktop virtualization work?

A physical server - the host - runs a hypervisor, which divides its processors, memory and storage among a number of virtual machines. Each virtual machine has its own Windows installation, its own share of the host's processor and memory, and its own drives, and behaves as a separate computer. Nothing inside one virtual machine can reach another.

Infosaic runs Microsoft Hyper-V. When you sign up, a Windows 11 virtual machine with the plan's memory, cores and drives is yours, and the login lets you open its screen over an encrypted connection from a browser or a Remote Desktop client.

Hypervisor

The software on a host that runs virtual machines. Infosaic uses Microsoft Hyper-V.

Host

The physical server a set of virtual desktops runs on. Managed by Infosaic.

vCPU / virtual core

A share of a physical processor allocated to your desktop. More cores let more things run at once without competing.

RAM

Working memory. When a machine runs out of it, programs slow down sharply, which is usually what people feel as a slow computer.

System drive

The 80 GB drive holding Windows and the programs you install.

Data drive

A separate drive for your files, so they are not competing with Windows for space.

Administrator rights

The permission level that lets you install software and change any setting. Included on every Infosaic plan.

Provisioning

The industry term for preparing a machine before a customer can use it. There is no provisioning wait on an Infosaic desktop.

What are the types of virtual desktop?

Persistent desktops keep everything between sessions; non-persistent ones are reset to a standard image each time and are used where nobody needs to keep anything, such as a training room. Infosaic desktops are persistent.

The other distinction is single-user versus multi-session. A Windows 11 desktop is licensed for one interactive user at a time, which is what Infosaic provides: one desktop per person. Multi-session setups run several people on one Windows Server and need a different license, a different product and a different price.

Persistent desktop

Keeps files, programs and settings between sessions. All Infosaic desktops are persistent.

Windows 11 LTSC

The Long-Term Servicing Channel edition of Windows 11: the same system, security-updated monthly, without the Store, Copilot, widgets and bundled apps, and without feature upgrades. The Light package runs it; Basic, Standard and Advanced run standard Windows 11.

Non-persistent desktop

Reset to a standard image at the end of each session. Infosaic does not offer these.

Single-user desktop

One Windows 11 machine for one interactive user at a time - the Infosaic model, and the only arrangement within the Windows 11 license terms.

Multi-session

Several users sharing one Windows Server through Remote Desktop Services. A different product with its own licensing; not what the virtual desktop plans are.

Desktop image

The standard Windows build a new desktop starts from. Infosaic desktops start from a vanilla Windows 11 image and are then yours to change.

How do you connect to a virtual desktop?

Two ways. A browser link opens the desktop in a tab with nothing to install, on Windows, a Mac, Linux, a Chromebook, an iPad or an Android tablet. A standard Remote Desktop client gives the same screen with fuller device redirection - local printers, the clipboard, the microphone and camera.

Closing the window disconnects you and leaves everything running. Signing out of Windows closes your programs. The difference matters when a long job is running: disconnect and come back to it.

RDP

Remote Desktop Protocol - the standard Windows way of connecting to a machine and seeing its screen. Clients exist for Windows, Mac, Linux, iPad and Android.

Browser access

Opening the desktop through a web link instead of a client. Nothing to install; works on any modern browser.

Session

One period of being connected. Closing the window ends the session but leaves your programs running on the desktop.

Disconnect

Closing the connection while leaving the Windows session, and everything in it, running.

Sign out

Ending your Windows session properly, which closes your programs. Different from disconnecting.

Clipboard redirection

Copy and paste working between your own machine and the virtual desktop.

Printer redirection

A printer attached to your own machine appearing inside the desktop so you can print to it.

Where does the desktop run, and on what?

In a compliance-audited data center with redundant carriers, redundant power, N+1 cooling and a staffed operations center. The data center page describes the building; the terms below are the ones that page uses.

Redundant carriers

Several independent internet providers feeding the data center at once, with traffic blended across them. If one has an outage, its traffic moves to the others automatically.

Automatic failover

Routing that shifts traffic away from a failed provider or path on its own, without a person having to act and without the connection dropping.

N+1

One more unit of capacity installed than is needed, so a failure changes nothing. Infosaic's data center cooling is N+1.

UPS

Uninterruptible Power Supply - battery power that carries the load in the seconds between a mains failure and the generators starting.

A and B feeds

Two independent power paths to the same rack, so a failure on one side leaves the machines running.

Man trap

A two-door entry booth where the second door will not open until the first has closed, used to stop people following each other in.

NOC

Network Operations Center - the staffed room that watches the alarms around the clock.

What about compliance, refunds and billing?

The data center maintains a PCI, HIPAA and SSAE Type II certified network covering its colocation services. Infosaic signs Business Associate Agreements for customers handling protected health information. There is no contract, the price is per desktop with no platform fee and no per-user charge, and there is no minimum term.

PCI DSS

The payment card industry's security standard. Infosaic's data center maintains a PCI certified network covering its colocation services.

HIPAA

The US health information privacy law. There is no HIPAA certification body; Infosaic signs Business Associate Agreements for customers handling protected health information.

BAA

Business Associate Agreement - the contract a healthcare customer needs in place with a service provider before putting patient data on it.

SSAE 18

The attestation standard under which SOC reports are produced. A SOC report is the deliverable; SSAE is the standard it follows.

SOC 1 and SOC 2

SOC 1 covers controls over financial reporting; SOC 2 covers security, availability and confidentiality. Type II means the controls were tested over a period rather than at a single date.

Money-back guarantee

A conditional refund on a customer's first desktop order, described on the money-back page. It does not apply to accounts that breach the acceptable-use rules.

How is a virtual desktop different from a VPS or a dedicated server?

A virtual desktop is a machine a person sits in front of and works at. A VPS is a Windows Server you administer, sized and licensed for running websites and applications that answer requests from the internet. A dedicated server is a whole physical machine rented to one customer for workloads too large to share hardware. If a person is going to look at the screen all day, you want a desktop.

VPS

Virtual Private Server. A Windows server you administer, sized for running websites and applications rather than for a person working at it.

Dedicated server

A whole physical machine rented to one customer, with no other tenants on the hardware.

Shared hosting

Website hosting where many sites run on one server, each isolated from the others.

How does Infosaic support your virtual desktop?

Support is included on every plan, around the clock. Because Infosaic manages the hosting platform, the storage and the network, support covers the layer under your desktop rather than stopping at it. You look after the desktop; we look after everything it runs on.

Support

Included in every plan at no extra cost, 24 hours a day, covering the platform under the desktop as well as the desktop itself.