Примеры внедрения VMware
IBM и VMware: более 20 примеров совместных проектов по виртуализации

IBM и VMware: более 20 примеров совместных проектов по виртуализации

Действуя по тому же принципу поиска совместных примеров внедрений как и в двух предыдущих записях, на сайте IBM мне удалось обнаружить 28 соответствующих случаев, например, таких как Bell Canada. Здесь стоит отметить, что в реальности у IBM таких проектов существенно больше, но, видимо, производство кейсов поставлено не на такой бурный поток… 🙁

Bell Canada

Overview

This case study shows how Bell Canada used IBM BladeCenter®, IBM Director and VMware to implement a virtual desktop solution. After successfully deploying 400 desktops for a remote call center, the company has grown the solution and is now hosting 1800 virtual support desktops.

Business need:
Bell Canada had an initial requirement to deploy 400 standard desktops to enable a remote call center, and an ongoing requirement to meet the company’s support desktop deployment needs.

Solution:
Bell Canada implemented an IBM virtual client solution with IBM BladeCenter®, IBM Director and VMware ESX server.

Benefits:
Bell Canada achieved reduced desktop deployment time, easier maintenance, more control over desktop consistency and security, and shorter restoration times.

Case Study

It was just another day at the office for Mihailo Karamarkovic, Executive Consultant/Infrastructure Architecture at Bell Canada. The company needed to deploy 400 new desktops to enable a new remote call center location, and they needed it done in four weeks. Karamarkovic knew it was time to think outside the box.

Part of Bell Canada Enterprises, one of Canada’s largest communications company, Bell Canada provides local and long distance phone service, wireless voice and data services, Internet access, satellite television and a host of other solutions and services to Canadian homes and businesses. Providing support to millions of customers is the job of Bell Canada’s complex network of call centers—some in Canada, some beyond. “The challenge,” says Karamarkovic, “is that every support desktop has to be exactly the same. It’s a standard locked-down desktop with 72 applications, many of them hard-coded legacy applications.”

Deploying 400 of these workstations was going to be costly and cumbersome, not to mention time intensive. With the deadline looming ahead and the requirements of the desktop environment limiting their options, Karamarkovic and his team ultimately decided on a virtualized desktop solution. Using IBM BladeCenter and VMware ESX Server, the team successfully deployed all 400 desktops on time.

“We had no choice but to be creative,” says Karamarkovic. “We implemented a virtual solution that we’ve never used before, and now we’re very proud of it.” Karamarkovic’s team had experience with IBM blades and knew they would get the performance they needed. Since then they’ve added more blades, for a total of 20 BladeCenters, and are now hosting more than 1800 virtual desktops. They use IBM Director to help manage the hardware and IBM Tivoli® Provisioning Manager to roll out software updates.

Ongoing benefits

Karamarkovic says he and his team have seen several key benefits to the virtual desktop solution—and deployment time is a big one. “Not only did we meet the initial requirement within four weeks, but deployment time is substantially decreased on an ongoing basis. We can have a standard virtual desktop ready in a couple of hours. It used to take a minimum of two days, assuming we already had a physical machine.”

Another major benefit is the ease of maintenance. With the desktops essentially residing in the data center, the team has better control helping them to achieve high levels of consistency and security. The infrastructure is also designed for high availability. With VMware VMotion and two blades on standby, restoration should be quick, easy and transparent to the user.

The implementation of virtual desktops was a cost-effective move for Bell Canada. It was also a smart one. “It’s a pure infrastructure solution. We can deliver all the applications they need, and we can deliver them at an accelerated pace.”

Products and services used

IBM products and services that were used in this case study.

Hardware:
BladeCenter

IBM – Bell Canada answers the call with an IBM virtual desktop solution (27.10.2006)

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