Nutanix adds Azure Virtual Desktop support for AHV

Nutanix has added support for Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid on its AHV hypervisor, allowing organisations to run Azure Virtual Desktop session hosts on premises while using Microsoft’s cloud control plane.

The support marks the general availability of Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid with Nutanix AHV. It extends a deployment model for companies that want to keep desktop workloads and data in their own data centres while still using Azure services for identity, access and session brokering.

Nutanix worked on the initiative as a launch ecosystem partner, helping bring Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid support to AHV. Under this setup, the Azure Virtual Desktop control plane stays in Azure, while session hosts run on Nutanix infrastructure in customer environments.

Azure Arc connects those session hosts to the Azure environment. Users authenticate through Microsoft Entra ID, while organisations continue to manage identity, policy and related controls through Microsoft’s cloud environment.

At the same time, customers retain direct control over virtual machine capacity, lifecycle management, networking, storage, disaster recovery and automation on AHV. Nutanix is positioning the model for organisations with regulatory, operational or economic reasons to be selective about where desktop workloads run.

The approach is likely to resonate in sectors such as government, financial services and healthcare, where data residency and digital sovereignty rules can limit…