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Citrix XenApp Case Study - Higher EducationUniversity of the Arts London |
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Citrix design by Centralis for Europe’s largest Arts University “We have seen improvements in performance and reduced support calls, particularly in the delivery of some of our most widely used applications.” Kevin Garner, Head of Technical Services, UAL |
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| Case Study Features: Citrix XenApp 4.5, Citrix NetScaler, Managed Desktops, Centralisation, Remote Access, Centralis Consultancy & Managed Services | |
Summary
This case study examines a new deployment of Citrix XenApp by Centralis, which has helped the University of the Arts London to connect 21 sites, improve application performance and cut support calls by over 50 per cent.
About the Customer
University of the Arts London (UAL) is Europe’s largest Arts University with over 21,000 students spread over 21 sites across London, a creative capital city.
The University comprises 6 leading Art and Design Colleges – Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London College of Communication, London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Art.
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" Our aim was to streamline and improve our IT provisions for staff and students across the campus. " |
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Kevin Garner, |
Former students of the University have
gone on to become world leaders in their chosen fields. Graduates
include, fashion icons Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen, in design
Sir Terrence Conran. In 2008 the British film Atonement, which was
directed by University of the Arts London graduate Joe Wright, won an
Oscar for production design, two Bafta awards and a Golden Globe for
Best Picture.
The Challenge
In 2003, the University made a significant investment in provisioning managed desktops to it’s staff by partnering with independent consultancy Centralis to deploy Citrix Presentation Server 3.0 and Windows 2000 Desktops for staff across its campus. Since then, the Citrix deployment at the University has continued to grow, in terms of both user numbers and sites.
This has brought new IT challenges and problems, in particular with printing from individual terminals, slow logins and application performance. Managing and resolving these issues on a day-to-day basis placed ever-increasing demands on the IT support service.
Consequently towards the end of 2005, the University again called on Centralis’ expertise in implementing a solution that would respond to the growth in demands and problems being faced with the current system.
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" We have seen improvements in performance and reduced support calls. Before the project we were receiving an average of 192 support calls a month from users. This has gone down to 87. " |
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Kevin Garner, |
The Centralis Solution
The project needed to be exceptionally well-planned and managed. As there was little in-house Citrix expertise, and given the long-standing relationship with Centralis, the University approached the team again.
After discussions, Centralis proposed building a new Citrix XenApp 4.5 and Windows 2003 proof of concept environment to confirm the ability to deliver and maintain applications across all 21 sites.
The proof of concept was deployed across a range of areas including finance, registry and senior management. It was successful and following a rebuild of the system, the solution was rolled out across all departments in July 2008.
The Benefits to the Customer
Centralis approached the project with the aim of minimum disruption to regular operations. This meant deploying the solution at night and/or over weekends when the process would least impact users.
Implementation took place over seven days in a staggered roll out with one Citrix Farm updated each night, with a total of six farms being upgraded and one new farm provisioned.
At present, there are seven Citrix Farms supporting staff at 21 sites. “Our aim is always to streamline and improve our IT provisions for staff and students across the campus,” said Kevin Garner, Head of Technical Services at UAL. “We have seen improvements in performance and reduced support calls, particularly in the delivery of some of our most widely used applications.”
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" We have received extremely positive feedback from our users about the new solution which greatly improved their working environment and its seamless deployment. " |
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Kevin Garner, |
“Before we embarked on the project, we were receiving an average of 192 support calls a month from users particularly related to printing or application issues, Garner continued. “Since July, this has gone down to 87 and we are even finding in some instances improved performance on the Citrix platform over individual PCs.”
Next steps
Moving forward, the University is developing a solution that allows users to access the University’s managed desktop from remote locations.
UAL is currently working with Centralis to implement Citrix NetScaler which will allow access to applications and servers from anywhere via a secure login.
“We have received extremely positive feedback from our users about the new solution which greatly improved their working environment and its seamless deployment. This type of positive feedback helps to justify and support similar projects and I’m sure we’ll have the same success in the future,” concluded Garner.
Related Links
Case study coverage: http://www.itpro.co.uk/609880/europe-s-largest-arts-uni-halves-support-calls
UAL website: http://www.arts.ac.uk/