Virtual desktop infrastructure, or VDI technology as it's come to be known, is a technique for hosting virtual work station images. It's really similar to a terminal service environment, in fact, it depends on thin client technology just like a terminal services environment does. The big difference is that a terminal services environment uses a single server operating system and multiple users log onto that operating system and each establishes their own individual session. With VDI, you've got a server that is actually hosting multiple virtual desktop operating systems.
This was first published in August 2008