Which computing model makes more efficient use of servers and the network: streaming software to clients that run applications locally, or Virtual Hosted Desktops, which rely on remote processing on a virtualized server? Intel Information Technology compared the impact on servers and the network for both models.

We designed and executed an application script to simulate a realistic workload based on standard office applications. We utilized identical server, network, and client configurations for both computing models to minimize any performance differences due to hardware. In addition, for network utilization testing, we included "traditional" clients with the Operating System (OS) installed locally and evaluated the impact on the network when these clients ran locally embedded applications and when applications were streamed to them.