The London Borough of Merton has announced that itis deploying Citrix technology to reduce costs and provide staff with a flexible working environment. Implemented by IT consultancy Thintech,the UK Citrix Partner for Capita, the solution not only allows staff to access critical applications from any location via any device, but will also enable the Council to potentially become a shared desktop provider to other London councils.
Merton Council’s workforce is greatly dispersed, with many individuals either being positioned offsite or moving from location-to-location as and when needed. With the UK Government pressurising the public sector to meet efficiency quotas and reduce costs, the Council approached Citrix technology as a solution to the costs associated with maintaining a PC estate spread across various locations.
As such, Merton Councilis deploying Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop technology, supplied by Thintech,to offer a range of desktop virtualisation technologies via the Citrix FlexCast model, including hosted shared desktops and client-side virtualisation. Used in combination with Citrix Receiver, XenApp and XenDesktop willallow Merton staff to benefit from Bring-Your-Own-Device schemes, using Android, iPhone and iPad devices to access work applications, documents and rich-media on the move, as if they were in the office. The Council’s use of Citrix NetScalerwill also allow employees to access a cloud-based internal network where server-based resources and personal desktops can be securely stored.
The project, currently in its advanced stages, is being deployed across a PC estate of 1,750 users. Once the project is complete, the benefits will extend to a 2,000-strong user base. The Council then plans to become a shared services provider, allowing other councils to merge theirIT infrastructures with that of Merton’s to reap the benefits of virtual computing technology.
Richard Warren, Head of IT Service Delivery at London Borough of Merton said: “Since implementing Citrixsolutions through Thintech, we’ve been able to ensure that our staff haveaccess to the information they need wherever they are, whatever the device they use. We have also achieved significant efficiency savings through the initiative by consolidating office resources, meaning that we now needfewer office buildings available for our staff to hot desk from. By consolidating our sites, not only have we saved money on office space, we’ve also been able to reduce the management overheads associated with running the PC estate.
“The flexibility this technology provides truly allows Merton to become a forward-looking local authority at the forefront of innovation, and allows us to subsequently share our technology with other authorities.”
“The challenges Merton were faced with – high administrative overheads and a dispersed workforce – are not uncommon within the public sector but are easily solved by the flexibility of virtual desktops,” said DavidBibby at Thintech.“The solutions are easily managed and will also allow the Council to simplify their existing network infrastructure so that the IT department can focus on the core network.”
“Desktop virtualisation is a technology that provides much more than vital cost efficiencies in a time of economic pressure,” said James Stevenson, Area Vice President, Northern Europe at Citrix. “Merton Council can now provide its employees with the tools they need to get the job done, wherever they are. The flexibility, mobility and productivity experienceoffered via cloud services technology means that the Council can run a slicker, streamlined operation that other authorities can follow.”
About London Borough of Merton
Visit Merton Council’s web site for further information http://www.merton.gov.uk/
About Citrix
Citrix (NASDAQ:CTXS) transforms how businesses and IT work and people collaborate in the cloud era. With market-leading cloud, collaboration, networking and virtualization technologies, Citrix powers mobile workstyles and cloud services, making complex enterprise IT simpler and more accessible for 260,000 organizations. Citrix products touch 75 percent of Internet users each day and it partners with more than 10,000 companies in 100 countries. Annual revenue in 2011 was $2.21 billion. Learn more at www.citrix.com.
