Desktop Virtualization in Healthcare Forecast to Grow More Than 40% in 2013

New survey shows deployments in healthcare set to outpace all other industries; Strong trend toward thin and zero client endpoints in hospitals is helping to drive rapid growth.

August 27, 2012 – Lexington, Mass. – Imprivata®, the leader in secure access and collaboration for healthcare, today announced the results of a new survey on the adoption and use of virtual desktop technologies in healthcare.  Building on its 2011 survey on the same topic, Imprivata fielded the 2012 survey to IT decision makers in organizations throughout North America, generating over 500 responses. Results of the Desktop Virtualization Trends in Healthcare 2012 survey show that adoption of desktop virtualization in hospitals is expected to grow by 44% in 2013, a rate higher than all other industries covered in the survey.

The survey identified a major shift toward the use of thin and zero client endpoints in hospitals with more than 70 percent of the survey’s healthcare participants identifying this as their chosen endpoint strategy. Strong authentication (70 percent) and single sign-on (50 percent) are also being widely adopted. Polled about their main reasons for deploying virtual desktops, hospital IT leaders cited desktop roaming across shared workstations, as well as other factors including remote access and desktop manageability.

“Virtualized desktops are particularly well suited to the highly mobile workforce in the tightly regulated healthcare industry,” said Ed Ricks, CIO at Beaufort Memorial Hospital.  “Fast, secure access to personal desktops that follow users throughout their shifts, combined with the increased security and decreased maintenance that result from data never being stored on the device, have made virtualized desktops very appealing to both care providers and IT.  With the benefits being so clearly understood, it is no surprise that the technology is being rapidly embraced in healthcare.”

“Desktop virtualization is substantially changing the way healthcare is delivered,” said Ed Gaudet, Chief Marketing Officer at Imprivata.  “Combined with Imprivata No Click Access, desktop virtualization enables clinicians to securely access patient information whenever and wherever they need it.  Together with partners such as Citrix, VMware, Teradici, Samsung and Wyse, Imprivata is uniquely positioned to help hospitals leverage the power and productivity of virtual desktops.”

“With the continued automation of the HDO clinical IT environment, particularly the increased introduction and continued optimization of electronic health records (EHRs), and increased mobility, HVD deployments can help simplify (from a user perspective), secure and streamline access. …Recently, single sign-on (SSO), strong authentication and HVD have found synergy — collectively providing a seamless authentication and access experience for clinicians in some hospitals.” – Barry Runyon, Gartner, Hype Cycle for Healthcare Provider Technologies and Standards, 2012

Based on Gartner’s qualification of Server Hosted Virtual Desktops (SHVD) including VMware View and Citrix XenDesktop, versus Server Based Computing (SBC) including Citrix XenApp and Microsoft RDS, this year’s survey examined the breakdown and usage of the two types of technologies across all industries. Survey results showed that the use of virtual desktop technologies has grown steadily, with more than 40 percent of respondents indicating they use SHVD today, with 59% of respondents forecasting the use of SHVD within 12 months.  Respondents also indicated that the use of Server Based Computing within healthcare will continue to rise, growing from 60% to 70% adoption within 12 months.

Other key findings in the 2012 Desktop Virtualization Trends in Healthcare report include:

  • Both SHVD and SBC adoption set to rise within the next 12 months
  • 36% of respondents indicate more than half of their users, more than any other industry, will use SHVD within 12 months
  • 70 % of respondents are using strong authentication (e.g., ID proximity badges or fingerprint biometrics) to access SHVD
  • 50% of respondents are using application single sign-on today, with a further 17% planning use it within 12 months.
  • Usage of SHVD by role:
    • Physicians – 62.3%
    • Nurses – 58%
    • Administrative staff – 55%
  • Hospital departments with highest use of SHVD:
    • Patient Care Units – 54%
    • Emergency Departments – 43.5 %
    • Administrative Departments – 43.5%

Supporting links:
To get a copy of the full 2012 Desktop Virtualization in Healthcare report, click here.
VIDEO: Beaufort Memorial use Imprivata, VMware View and Samsung zero clients to streamline care delivery.

About Imprivata
With more than 2 million users and 900 healthcare customers, Imprivata is the #1 provider of secure access solutions for healthcare, government, finance and other regulated industries.  By strengthening user authentication, streamlining application access and simplifying reporting across multiple computing environments, customers realize improved workflows, increased security and compliance with government regulations.

Imprivata has received numerous product awards and top review ratings from leading industry publications and analysts, including the Frost & Sullivan 2012 NA Customer Value Enhancement Award for healthcare IT, the #1 rating in 2010 Best in KLAS and Category Leaders report. Headquartered in Lexington, Mass., Imprivata partners with over 200 resellers, and serves the access security and collaboration needs of customers around the world. For more information, please visit www.imprivata.com or follow us on Twitter at @Imprivata.

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