Utility company Scotia Gas Networks (SGN) has gone live
with software to boost performance, reduce server software
licensing costs and improve security across its Citrix thin client
IT infrastructure.
SGN is a joint venture between utility firms Scotia and Scottish
and Southern Energy. Its six-month implementation of AppSense's
Performance Suite to manage 1,500 users across 60 sites was
challenging, said SGNtechnical architect Angus McAllister.
McAllister, who implemented Citrix systems at Scottish and Southern
Energy, said, "The technology has moved on. There was a lot to
catch up on. There was a commercial constraint as well - we had to
get approval from partners in a compressed timescale."
SGN chose AppSense because it needed the ability to prevent
applications hogging CPU and memory resources, and to limit
application execution, he added.
This is useful where, for example, a zero-day virus enters the
system undetected - something that has happened to the company in
the past. Appsense's application manager uses "trusted ownership
checking" and will disable any executables that cannot
automatically verify ownership by an administrator.
McAllister said the deployment has also enabled the company to cut
costs by buying fewer server software licences from third-parties
such as Microsoft.
AppSense Application Manager lets the company set usage
restrictions based on users, client names and IP addresses. This
reduces the number of licenses that need to be purchased by proving
that only certain users can access an application.
"There is a good deal more work to do as applications come online,
and to optimise and fine tune the technologies, but the reporting
capabilities of AppSense are quite extensive. Our users get a
consistent experience now," said McAllister.