As remote and hybrid work reshape enterprise IT strategies, organizations face an increasingly complex question: Which desktop and app virtualization model best fits their workforce needs—VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure), DaaS (Desktop as a Service), and/or RDSH? 

Each approach has its strengths, trade-offs, and ideal scenarios. Whether you're supporting a global workforce, onboarding contract employees, or powering task-based environments like call centers, the right solution depends on your business objectives, user needs, compliance posture, and budget. 

This post offers a practical deep dive into each model—Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), Desktop as a Service (DaaS), and Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH)—with detailed examples and industry-specific use cases. 

VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) – Best suited for complete control of images and customization of desktops. 

VDI is a virtualization model where user sessions run inside virtual machines (VMs) hosted on centralized servers, typically in a data center or private cloud. Each user gets their own VM with a full operating system (OS), usually Windows 10/11 or Linux. VDI deployments typically rely on a hypervisor, a connection broker (like Horizon Connection Server), and app management technologies (like Omnissa App Volumes). 

Understand VDI practitioner insights

• You manage and control the hypervisor, OS, images, applications, and security stack.
• Excellent for persistent desktops, custom app stacks, or GPU-accelerated workloads.
• Requires an enterprise-grade infrastructure stack (SAN/NAS, load balancers, endpoint clients).
• Profile management is key—roaming profiles or profile containers ensure fast logins and state persistence.
• Can be optimized for non-persistent use cases using cloning (like Instant Clones) and app management technologies. 

Understand what you’ll typically manage with VDI

• Gold images and snapshots
• Golden image lifecycle
• Pool configuration (persistent vs. non-persistent)
• Connection servers, and license servers 

Common VDI use cases 

Healthcare

Hospitals and clinics use VDI to give doctors and nurses secure access to electronic health records (EHR) across departments and shifts. For example: 

• A physician logs into a Windows VDI session from a thin client at a nurse’s station, then accesses the same Windows session from a tablet during rounds.
• Patient data stays inside the data center (while user access can be from the hospital floors or even remote offices), reducing the risk of breaches in HIPAA-regulated environments. 

Financial Services

Investment firms and banks use VDI to ensure: 

• High-performance virtual desktops for analysts running Excel macros, modeling tools, and Bloomberg terminals.
• Enhanced compliance and auditing through centralized data and user session logging. 

Research and engineering

• VDI supports GPU-enabled desktops for users running CAD tools or AI/ML models in automotive, aerospace, or life sciences.
• Data-intensive workloads can remain close to storage for better performance. 

DaaS (Desktop as a Service) – Best suited for agility and vendor-managed scale 

DaaS is a cloud-hosted VDI solution delivered by a vendor. Users connect to desktops or apps hosted in the provider’s cloud environment (for example Azure, AWS, or proprietary datacenters). Vendors typically abstract much of the infrastructure, including hardware, server virtualization, and DaaS infrastructure (connection servers, databases, etc.) and offer a management console for provisioning and monitoring. 

Examples include Horizon Cloud on Amazon WorkSpaces Core and Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure. Note that Horizon 8 can also be deployed on cloud infrastructure like Horizon 8 on Amazon WorkSpaces Core; however, the Horizon infrastructure will need to be customer-managed.  

Understand DaaS practitioner insights 

• No hardware to manage—you focus on image configuration, user profiles, apps, and entitlements.
• Uses multi-tenant control planes, with integration hooks for identity providers (e.g., Microsoft Entra ID, Okta).
• Desktops can be persistent vs. non-persistent, depending on the use case.
• Cloud-native features like autoscaling, power management, and multi-region deployment reduce complexity.
• Choose from preconfigured templates or bring your own images and tools (like Omnissa App Volumes or Omnissa Dynamic Environment Manager (DEM)). 

Understand what you’ll typically manage with DaaS 

• Base images or templates
• Identity and policy configurations
• Cost optimization (e.g., turning off idle desktops)
• Monitoring and diagnostics (vendor tools, Azure Monitor, CloudWatch, etc.) 

Common DaaS use cases 

Mergers and acquisitions

• A company acquiring a new business can onboard employees in days instead of months—without building new infrastructure.
• Virtual desktops can be deployed across geographies instantly using providers like Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure or AWS. 

Seasonal and temporary workforce

Retailers and tax firms often need to scale headcount rapidly: 

• During Black Friday or tax season, DaaS allows companies to provision desktops for thousands of temp workers for a limited time period.
• Once the season ends, these desktops are de-provisioned, avoiding unused infrastructure costs. 

Global expansion

A tech startup opening new offices in Latin America and Asia-Pacific, as an example: 

• Deploys DaaS to new employees via local cloud regions (while maintaining centralized management/controls)—without setting up data centers.
• Ensures consistent user experience and policy enforcement across regions. 

RDSH (Remote Desktop Session Host) – Best suited for cost-efficient app/desktop sharing 

RDSH is a multi-session Windows Server-based model that allows multiple users to log into separate sessions on a shared OS instance. Instead of full VMs, users get isolated sessions—ideal for basic tasks, internal apps, or high-density environments. 

Understand RDSH practitioner insights

• User density is higher than VDI.
• You’ll use Windows Server with RDS role services, including RD Session Host, Omnissa Unified Access Gateway (UAG), and Omnissa Horizon Connection Server.
• Ideal for task workers, call centers, labs, or legacy app hosting.
• RDSH can be used standalone or as part of a hybrid deployment with VDI (e.g., app publishing in Horizon). 

Understand what you’ll typically manage with RDSH

• Session host image configuration
• GPOs and session limits
• User profile handling (via DEM or folder redirection)
• App publishing and access policies
• Session broker and gateway scaling 

Common RDSH use cases 

Call centers and BPOs

• Hundreds of agents using the same few apps (CRM, ticketing, VoIP client) can share a single RDSH server.
• With nonpersistent sessions, user data isn’t retained, simplifying compliance and reducing storage needs. 

Education and labs

• Schools and universities set up shared RDSH sessions in labs, so students can access course tools without requiring dedicated desktops.
• Easy reimaging means labs can reset quickly between classes or semesters. 

Training environments

• Companies running short-term training sessions or certifications use RDSH to give users access to pre-configured environments.
• Rapid provisioning and teardown make it ideal for hands-on labs or certification bootcamps. 

VDI vs DaaS vs RDSH decision matrix for IT practitioners

Wondering whether to choose VDI, DaaS, or RDSH? Use this table to match your specific requirements—such as security, scalability, or user density—to the model that best fits your environment.

As you evaluate which desktop virtualization model best fits your environment—whether VDI for full control, DaaS for rapid scalability, or RDSH for high-density use cases—Horizon gives you the flexibility to choose or combine approaches based on your technical and business needs. With unified management, deep integration across platforms, and robust support for hybrid deployments, Horizon helps IT teams deliver secure, high-performance desktops and apps at scale.

Connect with our experts to design a strategy that aligns with your infrastructure, compliance requirements, and user experience goals.