Building materials supplier Jewson is rolling out software to 430
branches using application service provider Futurelink.
The roll-out - seen as a pilot to an eventual 8,000-seat
implementation - is expected to cut costs, not just in terms of
capital expenditure but also in network management.
Branch managers at each of Jewson's locations will have access to
the company's Peoplesoft HR software to enter employee details and
a suite of Microsoft Office 2000 software.
According to Jewson IT infrastructure manager, David Hall, a cost
of ownership projection was carried out and the ASP option compared
favourably to a Citrix-based client-server model run in-house.
"The greatest advantage was found to be manageability -
installation is set by the network administrator from a single
location and the end-user cannot alter the configuration on the
terminal," said Hall.
"We are still working out the final shape of the service level
agreement with Futurelink," he added.
The main challenge which Hall faced in the implementation was the
need for extensive pre-roll-out testing.
"With this model you need to pilot every ingredient. We are dealing
with a very complex environment consisting of both ours and our
partner's hardware and software.
"In those circumstances it is safer to assume nothing will work
until you've tested it," he said.
Antony Adsheadantony.adshead@rbi.co.uk