IBN-groep

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IBN-groep, based in the Netherlands, employs disadvantaged people whose requirements make it challenging for them to find work in the country’s wider economy. These people regularly have to rely on forms of employment subsidized by the government. The company’s day-to-day operations are controlled by teams of administrative personnel and support staff working from multiple offices and their own homes across the North Brabant region.

Despite the company understanding the value of an adaptable working environment, its Windows XP desktop environment offered limited flexibility. When administrators and support staff traveled between offices they logged in to the network using company-owned laptops or spare PCs and while working at home, they accessed back-end systems using a VPN connection on their computers. The problem was that these people often moved between the company’s six offices in a single day, and they had to log in and out at each site, costing them valuable time. Plus, despite having the VPN connection, the PCs at home were not as secure as IT personnel wanted.

When the company launched a migration program to roll out Microsoft Dynamics NAV, the IT team used it as an opportunity to introduce greater flexibility across the desktop estate. The team wanted an infrastructure that enabled people to quickly and easily reach files and applications from a range of client devices. The idea was that regardless of their location, employees could gain instant access to their previous desktop session. And when on the road, they could access the desktop just as quickly and securely via a mobile device.

As part of a review of possible desktop solutions, IBN-groep saw a demonstration of Sun Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Software 3 technology working with Sun Ray 2 Virtual Display Clients. The exercise, provided by Sun partner, DHS Informatisering, crystallized the IT team’s thinking. A Sun VDI Software infrastructure would enable IBN-groep to deliver flexibility while reducing TCO, maximizing desktop ROI, simplifying management, and maintaining security. Furthermore, with Sun Secure Global Desktop Software, employees could access applications securely through a Web browser from any location using work laptops or personal PCs.

Ted van Zutphen, supervisor of system administration for IBN-groep, says, “When compared with virtual desktop software from Citrix, we saw that the Sun solution came closer to our business needs. The Sun solution integrated tightly with our existing VMware environment. In addition, the open architecture of Sun VDI Software gave us the flexibility to deliver multiple desktop operating systems, while Sun hardware ensured sufficient performance to support a large number of virtual machines.”

Sun and DHS Informatisering helped IBN-groep design a scalable and fully redundant Sun VDI Software architecture for its 166 desktops. At the heart of the infrastructure are two Sun Fire X4450 servers to deliver the virtual desktops. Alongside those are two Sun Fire X4150 servers running MySQL Enterprise, which act as as broker machines and support the Sun VDI Software and Sun Secure Global Desktop Software. All the servers run on the Solaris 10 Operating System, and Sun Ray 2 Virtual Display Clients are at the front end. Van Zutphen says, “We saw that the Sun hardware was incredibly well designed. We were impressed by how much power was packed into just a 2U form factor with the Sun Fire X4450 servers.”

By the end of June 2009, IBN-groep had installed the first 38 Sun Ray 2 Virtual Display Clients at its main office in Uden. A number of employees were also testing Tadpole M1400 thin client laptops from General Dynamics for accessing the Sun Secure Global Desktop Software and using Active Identity tokens for secure authentication. Van Zutphen comments, “The clients work a lot faster than a PC, and during the trial of Sun Secure Global Desktop Software people said they never wanted to go back to the old way of working.” Although the organization is keen to move to thin client devices as early as possible, one of the key strengths of the Sun Secure Global Desktop Software is that it supports mixed thin-client and PC access as part of phased migration. This makes it easier for IBN-groep to manage costs and wider infrastructure goals over a sensible time frame.

Once a bandwidth upgrade to the company’s data lines is completed in October 2009, IBN-groep plans to roll out the remaining display clients. Even though company administrators will use more than 90% of the Sun virtual display clients, some of the disadvantaged people will also be able to use the clients to access lists of job vacancies.

As soon as the Sun Ray 2 Virtual Display Clients are spread across the organization’s offices, employees who travel between sites will save up to 45 minutes a day because they will have instant access to desktop sessions. And as a result, employee productivity will increase. Simply changing from PCs to Sun Ray 2 Virtual Display Clients will reduce power consumption across the desktop estate and significantly lower TCO. What is more, because the Sun Ray 2 has a mean time before failure of 22 years, IBN-groep will increase ROI across its client estate. By centralizing data on the Sun servers, the company is simplifying desktop management, ensuring greater IT performance. Plus, the Sun Secure Global Desktop Software makes accessing the back-end systems from outside the network more secure. Van Zutphen says, “Soon we will have just one location with active data, and the rest of our desktop infrastructure will be terminals, so administration will be easier and more cost effective.”