ComputerWeekly: The Co-operative Group cuts costs with Citrix XenDesktop & AppSense User Virtualization

Oh the joys of Google Alerts and Twitter feeds… Today, on this cold, cloudy and wet Friday morning I was graced with a little ray of sunshine to brighten up the start of the weekend.  I saw an article over on ComputerWeekly.com about how The Co-operative (the world’s largest consumer-owned business) is cutting their desktop costs through the use of desktop virtualization technology from Citrix and user virtualization technology from AppSense.

I was already aware the Co-operative are a joint AppSense and Citrix Case Study, and we have even done joint webinars together with Microsoft too, but I like this article as it shows the cost savings available through successful desktop virtualization based on best in breed technologies, and how with careful planning and internal champions the new systems are embraced by the users.

Key highlights include:

Managing the virtual environment

• Managing licences was key to the project. The Co-op uses AppSense’s Environment Manager and Application Manager as part of its Citrix XenApp environment to standardise its management tools.
• Cawson said the management tool helps look after applications to meet any governance and compliance issues around licensing. The company decided to use AppSense’s Environment Manager and user personalisation instead of XenDesktop directly to provide “greater control and granularity”.
• “AppSense Environment Manager delivers a personalised experience every time our users log on, making it impossible for them to decipher between a traditional PC and their virtual one,” he added.

You can read the article here – Case study: Co-operative Group cuts costs with desktop virtualisation ahead of office move

and the AppSense PDF Case Study here – World’s largest consumer-owned business selects AppSense to effectively manage the user experience in new desktop virtualization environment

You can learn more about how AppSense and Citrix are working together as part of the Citrix Desktop Transformation Model White Paper on AppSense User Virtualization and the Proof of Concept Kit here

 Cheers

Gaz