Digital Workplace: Mobile working with Citrix from the GIA Cloud
The digital revolution is taking place in the workplace. A central element of this is the technical conversion of the "Digital Workplace". GIA Informatik AG therefore entered into a strategic partnership with Citrix.
The requirements of large companies and SMEs regarding a modern and mobile workplace are increasing: More and more employees are working on the road or remotely in their home offices. Applications and data must be secure and easily accessible worldwide. That is why the Cloud-Specialist GIA Informatik AG from Oftringen has set up its own Citrix Cloud in its data centers in Switzerland. With Citrix Netscaler as a load balancer, it ensures the high availability of the infrastructure.
Graphics-supported desktop for CAD applications
Companies can use standardized desktops. Or they strive for a virtual desktop solution (VDI), in which each user receives a dedicated, virtual workstation. Graphics-supported desktops for CAD applications are special here, with data enabled by graphics cards with Nvidia Grid technology: In the conventional form, the graphics power is located directly in the client - but this requires relatively expensive workstations. Citrix now also offers this power in a shared environment, where the graphics-intensive applications run.
Interesting billing model
SMEs interested in Citrix should first consider whether expanding their IT infrastructure is their core competence. If this is not the case, it is advisable to look for a partner who offers flexible IT services and modular billing models with a price per month and user. The services can be scaled up or down at any time.
- Another advantage is GIA's membership in the "Qualified Multitenant Hoster Program": Those who already have laptops and pay for Office and Windows licenses for them do not have to pay for them a second time - for the VDI machines.
- Citrix also extends the usage time of the existing hardware. A three- to four-year-old, slow laptop no longer has an impact on performance, since the server is responsible for this.
- In addition, there are two USB sticks, the "Hedgehog Thin Stick" and the "UD Pocket Stick", which companies can plug into any device, start the Citrix applications, and they are already on their company desktop. Since the performance comes from the stick or the Citrix environment, it is independent of the available hardware.
Easy switch to the Citrix Cloud
What is the process for an SMB to move to the Citrix Cloud? There are usually two approaches to the requirements:
- Employees should be able to work on a mobile basis.
- There are special applications that the company wants to install on the devices only for certain employees.
To satisfy the need, GIA's four-person Citrix team establishes a VPN connection to the customer and requires access to its identity management - usually AD services (Windows). The remaining tasks run in a standardized manner:
- Terminal servers (virtual machines) are installed in the customer environment.
- Access to the infrastructure, login and ensuring availability are already in place.
- After that, GIA's cloud specialists define the groups of users.
- Two-factor authentication is recommended for these.
- Finally, they log in to the cloud and work with their desktop as usual.
Author: Andreas Siegrist is Lead ICT Architect and Leader of the Solution Architecture Team at GIA Informatik AG. His activities range from strategic IT planning to innovation management, project management and presales. www.gia.ch
