Airports operator BAA has cut 28% off the installation,
management and maintenance cost of 8,500 desktops by replacing PCs
with thin client terminals.
BAA implemented Citrix Access Suite after reassessing its IT
needs in preparation for the opening of Heathrow Terminal 5.
It had already consolidated its applications from 2,000 to 500, 199
of which will run on Citrix. These include the key business
applications running on the companys Oracle database. Since
implementing the system, calls to BAA s service desk are down by
11% and second calls for desktop support have been cut by 43%.
Kevin Mercer, BAAs services and support manager, said, Our IT
teams chose to move to server-based computing so that we could cut
costs and avoid having to update and recode legacy
applications.
BAA is using Wyse Winterms and mobile devices with Citrix as
well as PCs configured as thin clients. Citrix Password Manager
allows users to log on to applications with a single sign-on. To
ensure that the company s data sent over the internet is secure, it
uses Citrix Presentation Server and Citrix Secure Access
Manager.
Richard Jackson, Citrixs director of corporate accounts, said,
Previously BAA's average cost of a desktop was £1,000 because they
all had to be individually configured. Now, for literally a couple
of hundred pounds, they can get something that is at least as
powerful as an expensive PC.
BAA had to improve its control over its desktop estate, Jackson
said. The desktop overhaul was due in the main to the fact that
their systems were incredibly complex, he said.