Multi-session efficiency
Several users share a single Windows 11 multi-session host, dramatically reducing the compute you pay for compared with one machine each.
Azure Virtual Desktop
Virtual desktops that scale with your shift patterns
Azure Virtual Desktop lets several people share one Windows host, scales down when nobody is working, and publishes individual applications as well as full desktops. It is the right answer at scale - if it is designed properly.
Multi-session
Windows 11 multi-session lets several users share one host, which is where the savings come from.
Auto-scale
Hosts start before shifts and shut down after, so you stop paying for an idle overnight farm.
App or desktop
Publish one application to a user group, or a full desktop - or both.
What it is
Virtual desktops without running the infrastructure yourself
Azure Virtual Desktop is Microsoft's managed virtual desktop platform. Microsoft runs the connection broker, gateway and diagnostics; you provide the session hosts and the design. Combined with Windows 11 multi-session and FSLogix profile containers, it delivers a consistent desktop to a large workforce far more efficiently than one virtual machine per person - which is exactly why the design and the scaling rules matter so much.
What you get
Included with Azure Virtual Desktop
Scaling that follows the roster
Host pools grow before a shift starts and drain down afterwards, so overnight and weekend spend collapses.
Published applications
Deliver a single line-of-business application to a user group without handing them a whole desktop.
FSLogix profiles
User profiles follow people between hosts properly, so logins are fast and settings persist across sessions.
Conditional access enforced
Entra ID conditional access, MFA and device compliance gate every session, with no data leaving the session host.
Real usage insight
Azure Monitor for AVD shows session performance, host health and where users are actually experiencing slowness.
Design decisions that decide the outcome
Most disappointing AVD deployments were sized on a guess
Users-per-host, host size, storage tier for profiles, image build, scaling schedule and region placement all interact. Get them right and users prefer it to their old laptop. Get them wrong and you get slow logins, laggy Teams calls and a bill nobody expected.
- User density modelled from actual application behaviour, not a vendor table
- Golden image built, versioned and updated on a defined cycle
- Profile storage sized and tiered so logins stay fast under load
- Scaling plans matched to real shift and roster patterns
- Teams media optimisation configured so calls run locally, not through the session
- Region and network path chosen for latency from where your people actually are
Active sessions
Peak 142 / capacity 180
Median logon time
Target under 30s
Hosts running
Auto-scaled to demand
Overnight spend
Drained to 2 hosts
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Windows 365 for simplicity, predictable per-user cost and smaller teams. AVD for scale, shift-based workforces, multi-session efficiency and situations where you need fine control over the image and the infrastructure. Plenty of organisations run both - AVD for the contact centre, Cloud PCs for the professionals.
Users need an eligible Windows licence - included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium, E3, E5, A3, A5 and F3 among others - and then you pay Azure consumption for the session hosts, storage and networking. There is no separate per-user AVD fee.
Yes, with media optimisation configured. That offloads audio and video processing to the local device instead of routing it through the session host. Without it, calls are poor and hosts get hammered - it is one of the first things we check on environments we inherit.
Usually. Applications that will not install cleanly on modern Windows are often precisely why organisations adopt AVD - the application runs in a controlled, published environment rather than on every desktop. We test yours during the design phase.
Next step
Talk to us about Azure Virtual Desktop
Tell us what you are running today and what is prompting the change. We will come back within one business day with a straight answer about whether this is the right move for you.
- A 30-minute call with an engineer who works on this daily
- An honest view, including when the answer is “you do not need this”
- Fixed-scope pricing if you decide to go ahead
Enquire about Azure Virtual Desktop
One business day response, from someone who can actually answer the question.
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