Disclaimer: This post is based on industry best practices. "Siemens," "TIA Portal," and "SIMATIC" are trademarks of Siemens AG. Always validate VDI configurations with the official Siemens Virtualization Guide.
What happens if your lead engineer’s laptop dies during a plant shutdown? With a vDesktop, the “instance” of TIA Portal is still running on the server. The engineer grabs a spare laptop, logs in, and is back online in 30 seconds. Downtime is minimized.
While Siemens doesn’t sell a product called “vDesktop,” the industry has embraced running Siemens software on from Citrix, VMware, or Microsoft (Azure Virtual Desktop). Here is why every automation engineer should care. What is a “vDesktop” in an Industrial Context? A virtual desktop decouples the software (TIA Portal) from the hardware (your laptop). You run a powerful virtual machine in a data center or on-premise server. You then access that machine from any thin client, old laptop, or even a tablet. 5 Reasons to Move Your Siemens Environment to a vDesktop 1. License Liberation (The Floating Model) In the past, if you needed to program a PLC, you had to walk to the dongle. With a vDesktop, you host your Siemens dongles (or use NU answers) on a central server. Any authorized engineer can log in from anywhere and access the fully licensed TIA Portal. No more “Who has the USB key?”
Enter the —often searched for as a "vDesktop Siemens" solution.
Unlocking Flexibility: The Power of a Virtual Desktop (vDesktop) for Siemens Engineering