Citrix Case Study Cambridgeshire Constabulary

Summary

Centralis worked with Cambridgeshire Constabulary to implement a secure remote access portal which provides secure, conditional access to sensitive information and systems.

About the Customer

The force is divided into three divisions, or basic command units (BCUs): Peterborough (Northern), Huntingdonshire (Central) and Cambridge (Southern). Its headquarters are situated at Hinchingbrooke Park on the outskirts of Huntingdon.

With 700,000 residents to protect, Cambridgeshire Constabulary has over 3,000 members of staff, from officers on the beat to senior detectives working on highly secure databases of sensitive information. There are 48 stations in the network.

The Challenge

Cambridgeshire Constabulary already used Citrix Presentation Server to deliver applications to personnel within their office locations, but wanted to extend access to users outside of the secure network.

The Remote Service Portal – due to become force-wide in 2008 – is designed to provide delivery of force applications to neighbourhood police and teams, according to Tracey Hipperson, Head of ICT at Cambridgeshire Constabulary.

"The fast-moving nature of our organisation means that there is often the need for a distributed group of people to be accessing information,” Hipperson said. “We wanted to extend our use of Citrix beyond just our main stations, to those working from home or remotely who needed applications delivered to them with a high level of security."

The need to deliver confidential and sensitive applications to a small number of personnel – up to 150 concurrently – resulted in the decision that there should be two new farms built, based on Presentation Server 4.0, with the specified sensitive applications only installed on one of the farms to provide another level of security.

The Centralis Solution

Cambridgeshire Constabulary worked with Citrix Platinum Solution Advisor Centralis to design, build and support the Remote Service Portal project. Initial discussions with Centralis determined that remote connections to the new Citrix installations would be managed using Novell Access Manager, with authenticated users presented with a web page containing links to Presentation Server.  

This would enable authorised users to obtain access to Cambridgeshire Constabulary applications from anywhere, as long as Internet access and a standard web browser were available.

"We needed an adaptable and flexible solution,” Hipperson said. “The system allows us to restrict printing or local saving of data, ensuring we can protect sensitive information while allowing people to be productive when not based in the office."

The Benefits to the Customer

The ability to deliver applications to desktops anywhere has resulted in a far more efficient use of hardware. Over time, the Constabulary will reduce the reliance on high-specification laptops in favour of thin client devices that allow staff to access critical information from any desktop.

Hipperson is also already looking into how mobile devices will expand the Remote Service Portal even further.

"The future cost savings, thanks to the reduction in the need for maintenance and replacement of hardware and the added flexibility in working, will have a positive effect on our IT infrastructure and the Force as a whole," she said. "I have already handed back my laptop thanks to Citrix – we’d be lost without it now."

Related Links

Case study coverage: http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2008/02/26/229589/cambridge-constabulary-rolls-out-remote-service-portal.htm

Cambridgeshire police website: http://www.cambs.police.uk/

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