If you’re shopping for DaaS or cloud desktops there are a few questions you should be asking potential vendors regarding price. Below we’ve created a handy slideshare to help ensure you’re comparing apples to apples.

1. Demystifying the Cost of
Desktop-as-a-Service

2. Raise your hand if you’ve heard
Desktops-as-a-Service (DaaS) can help your
organization trade capital expense for operating
expense, lowering the total cost of ownership for your
entire IT infrastructure?
But, have you heard about how
different pricing structures fuel
pay-as-you-go desktops?

3. It’s important to understand the
various DaaS options and the
wide price ranges available to
you.
If you’re shopping for DaaS
or cloud desktops there are
a few questions you should
be asking potential vendors
regarding price.

4. 5 Questions on Cost
What to ask DaaS
vendors about pricing.

5. Where are the desktops hosted?
Semi-private vs. public cloud.
1

6. About Semi-Private Cloud
The majority of DaaS offerings are provided by
companies who build a semi-private cloud in
their data center.
The costs associated with
building the data center can
place a high price tag on
DaaS in the semi-private
cloud.

7. About Public Cloud
To overcome the cost hurdles associated with
semi-private clouds, some DaaS vendors turned
to the public cloud as their hosting providers.
Public clouds are managed by
respected enterprises such as
Amazon and HP and provide highly
available and secure platforms for
hosting desktops.

8. 2 What are the licensing fees?

9. Semi-Private Cloud
Vendors that build their own data
center typically use well-established
virtualization platforms, such as those
by VMware or Citrix, and offer Microsoft
desktop operating systems, such as
Windows 7. Add-on licensing fees can
become quite expensive.
Public clouds, on the other hand,
include built-in Microsoft operating
system licenses for Windows Server
2008, which can be used along with a
Microsoft RDS CAL as a lower cost
cloud desktop operating system.
Public Cloud
About Licensing Fees

10. 3 What type of desktop
performance level do I need?

11. Most DaaS vendors offer a variety of
desktop performance levels such as
standard, premium, or super premium.
The more processing power and
storage you need the more
expensive your desktop will be.

12. For the best bang for your
buck, make sure your
requirements align with the
appropriate desktop
performance level.
$
$$
$$$

13. 4 Are there any long-term
contracts?

14. Yearly agreements have
become commonplace in the
DaaS space.
Don’t get locked into
unnecessary payment
terms and agreements if
you can help it.

15. 5 Is there a minimum
desktop usage?

16. If you’re a small business, minimum desktop
orders might make certain DaaS offerings cost-
prohibitive for your business.
Be careful of minimum orders
on the number of desktops.

17. It’s important to
understand the various
(and sometimes hidden)
costs of moving your
desktop environment to
the cloud.
Learn more with this free eBook
Everything you Need to Know
about Cloud Desktops as a
Virtualization Solution.
LeostreamDesktops.com