Inevidesk vs HP Z Rackmounts

Inevidesk was developed to make high performance, powerful GPU accelerated virtual desktops accessible to the wider AEC industry; tackling well known historical issues around excessive pricing, over provisioning and underwhelming performance (hello VMware, hello Azure!). 

We have put VDI back on the table for organisations of all sizes, enabling them to take full advantage of the benefits of virtualisation technology that perfectly meets the modern requirements for agile, powerful and resilient working capabilities. 

Because we beat other comparable VDI solutions so emphatically, our main competition actually arises from the physical workstation market: specifically, HP's Z range, which offer rack mountable standalone workstations to enable server room or datacentre hosting of workstation resources. 

In that respect, we both offer a similar potential: the lifting of fixed workstations out of the office, the secure centralisation of workstation and server resources, and the ability to connect remotely using any kind of remote desktop technology (yes, you can use HP Anyware with Inevidesk if you wish).  

We're also similarly priced (our VDI platform is very close to the price of a physical workstation) and offer similar configurable specifications to support everything from basic CAD through to high end rendering. 

So far, so much the same. But Inevidesk pulls ahead (really, way ahead) in this contest. Let’s talk about why we’re the better solution…  

Space

Very simply, we pack more resources into much less space. To be precise – seven virtual desktops in either a 2U (mid spec) or 3U (high spec) chassis. Compare that to HP, who fit seven of its Z2 Gen9 minis into 5U or seven of their Z4 rackmounts into 7U of space. 

If you wanted 35 workstations, this would take 10 or 15U of space with Inevidesk. It would take 25U or 35U of space (close to filling a full-size server rack) with HP - see below left for how this would look.  That's a big difference when looking at the space in your server cabinet. Or the additional costs from your data centre.  Check out the graphic below right to see the comparison of vdesk numbers in a full cabinet.

Power

Virtualisation allows us to be much more power efficient, with our maximum power draw around a half of HP's devices (when comparing the Z2 mini to our mid spec) or a third (when comparing the Z4r to our high spec). In an age of fluctuating energy prices that is a clear advantage.   

And of course, there are important environmental benefits here that shouldn't be ignored by any responsible organisation (it will help with your ISO 14001 credentials too - especially if you host with us and our 100% renewable power supply). 

An additional point to note is that the Z2 minis do not have dual power supply for redundancy. A critical requirement for centrally hosted infrastructure. 

Installation

Simply put, installing an Inevidesk pod is a breeze. Slot in the rails, slide in the pod and you are good to go. HP rack installations are, by all accounts, a bit fiddly. And of course, you need to rack each device individually. That is time that could be better spent. 

Deployment

Here again is where virtualisation rules. Simply install your software onto a template via our administration portal, then clone this to create your vdesks. Each clone takes around two minutes to create. Whether you use imaging software or not to deploy your physical workstations, this is going to save a lot of IT admin time and enable you to deploy machines much more rapidly. 

Management

We've put a lot of care and consideration into our administration portal. Why? Because we have been IT administrators ourselves: we know the pain points and we want to address these.

This is why we have Active Directory syncing, maintenance mode with VNC access, automatic domain joining, activity logging, remote power control and simple, easy to use tools for managing users and vdesks with a clear, illustrated guide for reference. 

Development

We're still a small company. So, we're light on our feet and responsive to demand. We designed Inevidesk specifically for the AEC sectors and, as we receive feedback and requests from our growing client base, we rapidly iterate to improve our service and add new features. We can ship new features in weeks. No big tech company is going to move as fast (unless they want to break things). 

Expertise

To build on the last point, Inevidesk has been designed for specific needs of both end users and system managers. This is not generic tech that we are offering to our customers. This is a highly refined, sector specific product. And when customers talk to us about their needs or any problems they are experiencing, we immediately understand. And respond. Our customers therefore feel exceptionally safe in our hands. 

In a very obvious way, this is a contest between David and Goliath. A small, skilful upstart against a global, big tech giant. Just getting visibility in the past few years has been an incredible challenge for us. But we are persistent. And our aim is true. Each of the points above a polished and well-aimed stone to hit home and to make clear that Inevidesk is - by far - the better solution.