Brisbane Airport readies ultra-thin client rollout

[Flashback]

Brisbane Airport readies ultra-thin client rollout - Strategy - Business - News - iTnews.com.au

Brisbane Airport Corporation is preparing to roll out virtual desktops to staff as it nears the end of a four-year drive to virtualise its two in-house data centres.
The airport operator has approved a "zero client" solution, under which staff will use thin clients built without a pre-loaded operating system to run services through its network.
Desktop services will run on a recently established Cisco Unified Computing Sysytem (UCS) environment within the airport's data centres.
The initiative came as the airport reached an 80 percent virtualisation level at its data centres.

 

[Sprucegoose]

and what the bloody hell does this all mean eh?

 

[SeatBackForward]

and what the bloody hell does this all mean eh?

They're using a shiny newer computer system...and they have the machine that goes PING now too.

 

[here2go]

It means they can spend a lot less on IT, as the terminal will simply be a window to a computer somewhere else. If you've Citrix, or Back to my Mac, etc., this will be pretty much how it will feel for the end user, except there will be no local support except to display the other end.
I know of at least Commonwealth Government department that is planning to do it. As OS and software improves, you only need to update a few machines, not every one. Brilliant!

Maybe they can spend the extra cash on reducing the time the cross runway is closed at BNE.

 

[Timba-Jet]

The company I work for is in the middle of rollout out virtual desktops to our Sydney office, and supporting BYOD.

Benefits in theory for the average joe blow; same OS, same version of MS office apps, quicker updated to latest versions (eg some orgs are still stuck on IE7).

 

[moa999]

also much cheaper clients (ie the desktop or laptop) as they do limited on device processing.
and a shiny new datacentre/blade server for the techies....

mind you, screw up one upgrade/change and the problem is a lot more widespread

 

[Flashback]

also much cheaper clients (ie the desktop or laptop) as they do limited on device processing.
and a shiny new datacentre/blade server for the techies....

mind you, screw up one upgrade/change and the problem is a lot more widespread

That's where change management comes into play, basic ITIL stuff there!

 

[here2go]

We're going back to the future! It's like the old monochrome green screen, except with BYOD your employer abrogates their OH&S responsibility by letting you bring your shiny toy to view it on, even if it is totally inappropriate.

 

[Mal]

We're going back to the future! It's like the old monochrome green screen, except with BYOD your employer abrogates their OH&S responsibility by letting you bring your shiny toy to view it on, even if it is totally inappropriate.

BYOD isn't that great. A big QLD based organisation who rolled out BYOD is apparently reviewing their decision. I've been told that basically staff members were getting the cash, buying the cheapest, nastiest device and then expecting the organisation to support it when it didn't work as expected.
IBM have also published how many issues BYOD is causing. Why IBM Turned Off Siri (and Dropbox and Lots Of Other Things) - Personal-tech - BYTE News - Informationweek It really isn't the rosy walk-in-the-park that many think it is.

 

[lovestotravel]

I know of a major company that tried these thin clients for 2 years and is now going back to full PC's for all users.

This is 5000 + Users...

 

[Simo]

Wonder what will happen when there network crashes.

 

[here2go]

Wonder what will happen when there network crashes.

Is it any different to now? No network, no access to DRMS or Network Drives, ERP, email, ticketing system, etc. A large organisation in designing a decent SOE would ensure nothing is stored on the desktop anyway (it's their information, not your computers), hence you'll be stuck. Thin client rollout simply means you can't even play Solitaire, whereas with BYOD you'll be able to play or use the device's productivity tools.

 

[richie9x]

and what the bloody hell does this all mean eh?

It means some sales person has gone in and sold them a whole lot of shiny new boxes. Promising a lower cost to operate and maintain their computer systems. To solve some of their current problems. Yet in the long run it will likely end up about the same cost. Although it may solve some issues it will likely generate new more exciting issues they have to work around.

 

[SeatBackForward]

It means some sales person has gone in and sold them a whole lot of shiny new boxes. Promising a lower cost to operate and maintain their computer systems. To solve some of their current problems. Yet in the long run it will likely end up about the same cost. Although it may solve some issues it will likely generate new more exciting issues they have to work around.

"Ah, I see you have the machine that goes ping. This is my favorite. You see we lease it back from the company we sold it to and that way it comes under the monthly current budget and not the capital account"

 

[harvyk]

mind you, screw up one upgrade/change and the problem is a lot more widespread

Yes, but also far easier and quicker to roll back, plus whilst I don't know what sort of design they are using, but most thin client server farm designs I've seen allow for some of the server farm to be updated with a change a few days earlier to the rest of the server farm, leaving the majority of users unaffected \ unchanged. That change can then be tested by a focus group who can easily be moved across to the unchanged portion of the server farm if something doesn't go right, or if the testing is a success, role it out to the rest of the users.

Not saying that is what will happen in this case, but for non business logic changes, this is a great way of ensuring changes to systems do not cause major disasters.

 

[harvyk]

It means some sales person has gone in and sold them a whole lot of shiny new boxes. Promising a lower cost to operate and maintain their computer systems. To solve some of their current problems. Yet in the long run it will likely end up about the same cost. Although it may solve some issues it will likely generate new more exciting issues they have to work around.

A well designed thin client system, especially when all the users are in the same geographic location (so network problems and speed issues are less likely to come into play), does in fact reduce the number of issues experienced by end users. I've personally been involved in the roll out of some very large thin client networks, including one that was rolled out across the companies entire Asia Pacific regional offices (I didn't actually get to visit any of the offices, I was most disappointed ). I can assure you (and I have the figures to back this up), with exception to one office, which had no end of communication faults (WLG I believe), the number of incidents reported to our help desk across the AP region reduced by a significant portion (I believe it was somewhere in the range of a 40% reduction in incident tickets).

 

[ChasingDaylight]

I'm not a fan. I work for a rather large multinational and we use HP thin clients at the moment with a citrix setup. I greatly dislike it, and would prefer a desktop with regular network drives any day of the week.

 

[serfty]

Why do 3270 and vt320 keep flashing through my mind reading this?

Posted on a wing and a prayer ...