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MAY 2008
VIRTUALIZING IT SAVES MONEY AND CURES HEADACHES
I was having coffee with one of my clients the other day in
beautiful Santa Rosa, Calif., when he said something which
pleasantly surprised me: “Fred, your company is like a magical
aspirin! My executive meetings are now about increasing our
effectiveness instead of discussions about who to hang for last
week’s e-mail system failure.”
My client is the CEO of a $15,000,000 non-for-profit business
with offices distributed throughout most of Northern California.
DirectApps developed a custom state-of-the-art workflow
automation Web solution that enabled his organization to manage
all aspects of their government and local programs. Now, he
wanted to focus his funds and energy on providing best-of-breed
training, housing and support for his clients - but there was an
enormous hurdle. He was constantly caught up in the
time-consuming battles and frustrations of upgrading, enhancing
and managing a complex IT department on a limited budget and
with very few resources. He had two frazzled IT folks trying to
manage the various challenges associated with a geographically
distributed organization, including Internet connections,
security, software loads and PC standardization. Daily headaches
ensued!
My client wanted to know if DirectApps could help manage all of
their core IT functions and processes (printers, desktops,
laptops, connectivity, screaming users, unhappy managers, etc.)
AND save the organization some money in the process. I suggested
launching full virtualization of their IT assets using
DirectApps’ Virtual Networking Services.
What is IT
virtualization?
Simply put, IT virtualization is a combination of thin-client
technology and home grown management and monitoring services
that moves the IT function from our client’s local
infrastructure into our data center. DirectApps owns a
state-of-the-art tier-4 data center in seismically neutral
Sacramento, Calif. All local PCs are then simplified to a thin
client running over an Internet browser. Connectivity is
achieved via a dedicated network link or a virtual private
network (VPN) depending on the size of the remote office and the
services available in the area.
DirectApps’ engineers create standard desktop images based on
organizational roles to ensure data security and integrity.
On-site training is provided to familiarize the users with the
new remote environment. This process is simplified by the fact
that the users are already familiar with the applications – it’s
usually just a matter of showing them how to leverage some of
the new and exciting ways to share documents, collaborate,
leverage corporate calendaring and other functionality commonly
available to Fortune 500 companies.
Our client decides IT
virtualization is the right solution for them
As their IT services got migrated to the DirectApps’ facility,
our engineering and Help Desk services kicked in to provide
direct, customer-friendly assistance. Our Help Desk has the
ability to shadow a user’s virtual desktop providing them the
ability to walk them through problem resolution – effectively
training the user on how to identify and solve problems. All of
our support engineers have attended advanced training technique
classes to ensure their communication style is educational and
never threatening or uncomfortable.
While our Help Desk supports the clients, DirectApps' network
engineers are constantly monitoring all aspects of the client’s
network – from a remote printer in Eureka, Calif., to a laptop
remotely accessing a virtual desktop in Reno, Nevada. Having
formed strong strategic alliances with telecommunication
providers in most of the continental U.S., DirectApps has top
priority when it comes to correcting networking and
telecommunication issues – further assisting our clients when
connectivity is lost. Finally, our disaster recovery team can
provide secondary access to an alternative facility should the
client wish to have guaranteed operational support 24/7.
DirectApps can service the IT needs
of organizations of all sizes
All this fancy technology and managed services – which we are
all so proud of – results in a seamless and reliable virtualized
IT experience for our clients. We have clients of all sizes,
from 15 – 2,800 users, leveraging this powerful service. When
you remove the “geeky” part of virtualization I guess it simply
boils down to taking care of their headaches. For now, I am
happy to be their “technological aspirin!”
for more information
about virtualized it, contact fred at (916) 787-2200 u.s. pst.
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