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We are a school district exploring a VDI project and have run into some questions related to requirements for graphics processing in a virtualized environment. &nbsp;Our graphics-intensive applications will not be running on the virtual desktops, however, we may have some occasional use of 3D applications such as Google Earth and Google Sketchup. &nbsp;The predominant use of the desktops will be document collaboration in the cloud, MS Office, and network file access, along with browser-based tools for streaming media and accessing other dynamic content, some of which will most likely be up to 720 or 1080p. &nbsp;<br />
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Based on this information: <br />
1. Is it necessary for us to include NVIDIA's K1 cards in the servers? <br />
2. If so, what are your thoughts on outfitting all of the servers w/ these GPU cards based on the usage above? &nbsp;Or would it be sufficient to just add them to, say, 2 servers if we think the use of 3D will be limited?
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We are a school district exploring a VDI project and have run into some questions related to requirements for graphics processing in a virtualized environment.  Our graphics-intensive applications will not be running on the virtual desktops, however, we may have some occasional use of 3D applications such as Google Earth and Google Sketchup.  The predominant use of the desktops will be document collaboration in the cloud, MS Office, and network file access, along with browser-based tools for streaming media and accessing other dynamic content, some of which will most likely be up to 720 or 1080p.  

Based on this information: 
1. Is it necessary for us to include NVIDIA's K1 cards in the servers? 
2. If so, what are your thoughts on outfitting all of the servers w/ these GPU cards based on the usage above?  Or would it be sufficient to just add them to, say, 2 servers if we think the use of 3D will be limited?

GPU Cards Necessary for Desktop Virtualization?

VMware, a software company founded in 1998,  was one of the first commercially successful companies to offer x86 virtualization. The storage company EMC purchased VMware in 1994. Dell Technologies acquired EMC in 2016. VMware’s parent company is now Dell Technologies.

VMware has many software products that run on desktops, Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS, which allows the virtualizing of the x86 architecture.  Its enterprise software hypervisor for servers, VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi), is a bare-metal hypervisor that runs directly on the server hardware and does not require an additional underlying operating system.

VMware

Virtualization is the act of creating a virtual (rather than actual) version of something, including (but not limited to) a virtual computer hardware platform, operating system (OS), storage device, or computer network resources. Virtualization is usually the creation of a system that executes separate from the underlying hardware resources, or the creation of an entire desktop for systems located elsewhere, similar to thin clients.

Virtualization

Servers are computing devices that are similar to desktop computers in that they have the same basic components, but are significantly different in size, configuration and purpose. Servers are usually accessed over a network, and many run unattended, without a computer monitor, input device, audio hardware or USB interfaces. Many servers do not have a graphical user interface (GUI), and are configured and managed remotely. Servers typically include hardware redundancy such as dual power supplies, RAID disk systems, and ECC memory, along with extensive pre-boot memory testing and verification. Critical components might be hot swappable, and to guard against overheating, servers might have more powerful fans or use water cooling.