SAP Belgium Education Center

SAP Education Center Improves Service with Sun Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Software and Sun Ray Virtual Display Clients

SAP is a leading business software company with more than 41,000 customers worldwide. The company also delivers training on SAP solutions to its customers, employees, and partners through SAP Education. Participants can take advantage of e-learning products and onsite training at 1 of 77 global training centers such as the SAP Belgium Education Center at SAP Belgium & Luxembourg.

Customer Challenges

Increase number of students without adding physical space
Reduce noise pollution
Cut heat production and related energy costs
Increase flexibility

Solution

To improve efficiency, SAP Belgium Education Center replaced its Fujitsu Siemens Esprimo E training center workstations with Sun Ray virtual display clients from Sun Microsystems. With Sun Ray technology, SAP delivers multiple virtual desktops to users at its training center. As a result, hundreds of users can work concurrently with different desktop operating systems managed on a single, centralized platform.

Business Results

More enjoyable learning environment
Increased capacity
Improved flexibility
Reduced administration and energy costs

Products and Services

Story Details

SAP wants to help customers take full advantage of their investment in its business software solutions. The company offers a range of learning products and services, with options for onsite training at centers around the world. To meet the growing demand for training services, the SAP Belgium Education Center sought to use its resources more efficiently. For example, the center needed to accommodate more users but had limited space to do so. Installing new workstations would also incur additional costs, including increased energy consumption and cooling requirements. However, SAP Belgium Education Center did not want to be limited by its desktop infrastructure. Instead, it looked for a flexible solution that would reflect SAP's image as a leading global IT company.

To help design its new solution, SAP Belgium Education Center turned to Dataman International, a Sun Advantage Partner that had worked with another SAP Education Center. After a thorough analysis of existing technology, the team decided to consolidate the center's hardware infrastructure with a virtual desktop solution from Sun Microsystems.

" As an innovative IT company it, is only logical that we offer our trainees state-of-the-art training facilities. The solution of Sun Microsystems, a world leader and trendsetter in the field of hardware, fits in perfectly with the desired image of our company. "

— An Vranken, Assistant Training Manager, SAP Belgium Education Center

SAP Belgium Education Center replaced its workstations with new desktop infrastructure that includes Sun Ray virtual display clients, Sun Ray Server Software 4 running on the Solaris 10 Operating System, and VMware ESX Server Software. The Center chose the Sun Ray virtual display clients because they are compact, energy-efficient, and cooler than desktops. Without the noisy cooling fans of a PC, the silent thin-clients are also more appropriate for an education environment.

The Sun Ray virtual display clients are not installed with a resident operating system or applications. Instead, the clients connect to Sun Ray Server Software 4, which allocates virtual desktops to users from the VMware virtualization platform. Thus, SAP Belgium Education Center trainees use one device to work with SAP applications on a variety of operating systems, including Windows XP.

In addition to providing more flexibility to users, the new desktop infrastructure delivers benefits that include significantly reduced power consumption and cooling needs. For example, the 233 workstations consumed 30 kilowatts of power even when idle. In contrast, the entire virtual desktop infrastructure from Sun Microsystems consumes only 17 kilowatts while running at full speed.

By using virtual desktops instead of workstations, SAP Belgium is reducing administration costs. In addition, by replacing bulky workstations with compact client devices, the center now has more physical space available for students. SAP Belgium can also serve more users without increasing hardware and associated maintenance costs.

Equally important, SAP Belgium can now ensure high availability for its systems and software. For example, if a virtual display client fails, users can simply move to another client device to resume the session. “The solution counters all the disadvantages of the earlier desktop configuration,” says An Vranken, assistant training manager at SAP Belgium Education Center.

By implementing a virtual desktop solution from Sun Microsystems, SAP Belgium Education Center delivers training services more closely aligned with its image as a technology leader. The center can move forward with more reliable, flexible training services that support SAP innovation in business software.