During 2009 a number of key business requirements, including relocation to a state of the art New HQ in Manchester meant that IT had to find a desktop solution that reduced carbon emissions, helped support business growth and reduced costs. The Co-operative chose to leverage existing investments, in-house skills and partnerships. Having reaped the benefits of virtualising their server estate and after many years of using Citrix technologies they embarked upon proving the concept of Virtualising the Desktop and Applications.
The Co-operative realised early on, one of their biggest challenges would be the delivery of the 1400 applications and engaged Strategic Technologies & Solutions at the proof of concept stage. The technical solution and business case for a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) was successfully proven and planning for the migration commenced.
The VDI Solution stack is based on an adoption of the following technologies:
- Citrix XenApp®, XenDesktop®, XenServer®, Provisioning Services™ (Desktop)
- Microsoft App-V (Virtual application deployment and management)
- AppDNA Apptitude (application compatibility and lifecycle management)
- AppSense (Environment Management & Application Control)
For this innovative and thought leading approach, The Co-operative was awarded the prestigious Citrix Innovation Award 2010
Working in Partnership with Strategic
Strategic Technologies & Solutions have become part of the virtual desktop & project team imparting on going advice and support on the platform and assisting with migration and delivery of the applications and users.
For more information regarding the project, See AppDNA Case Study
Click here to see Computing Weekly Coverage
Key Solution Benefits:
- Anticipated saving of over £1.5m per annum on simplified desktop maintenance & support
- Estimated £500,000 saving per annum on reduced energy costs
- Carbon footprint reduction of 35% by 2017
- Significant improvements in flexible working & productivity
Company Overview
The Co-operative Group is the UK's largest Co-operative with a reported annual revenue (2010) of £14bn. The groups businesses include, food retail, funeral services, financial, inurance & travel (to name a few), and it employs over 120,000 people.
