Manchester hospital virtualises desktops
Allows staff to access their apps from any authorised PC
By Antony Savvas | Computerworld UK | Published 06:24, 16 August 12
University Hospital of South Manchester (UHSM) is moving 4,500 staff to a thin client desktop system to increase flexibility and save money.
The Citrix thin client system is supported by a Cisco UCS blade server infrastructure. The hospital has deployed AppSense user virtualisation technology to support the migration and minimise disruption to users.
Desktop virtualisation through the thin client model allows staff to access their specific applications and files on any authorised PC in the hospital, and UHSM said the move will allow it in the future to more easily adopt cloud access and a BYOD (bring your own device) strategy.
Mark Wright, head of service management at UHSM, said: “Our students and staff have been able to continue their work without disruption.
“It will also support our future IT strategies as we will already have virtualised the user, so this means we can deliver a consistent and personalised user experience no matter what changes we make."
A specific nominated device-centric IT system is inflexible and slows the user down while increasing management overheads, said Wright.
Tower Hamlets Council is also migrating its workforce to a more flexible working environment through desktop virtualisation, enabling over 4,000 personnel to work from any location via any computing device.
