[GRLUG] Amerisure ditches its PCs, goes all virtual

[Ben Rousch]

On Wed, Apr 7, 2010 at 10:06 AM, Casey DuBois <casey at grlug.org> wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 7, 2010 at 7:06 AM, Adam Tauno Williams
> <awilliam at whitemice.org> wrote:
>> On Tue, 2010-04-06 at 15:45 -0400, Casey DuBois wrote:
>>> One of our customers is doing this sort of thing but not purchasing
>>> thin clients, they are just re-purposing OLD computers.
>>> Are there any Open Source options to do this sort of thing?
>>> Thinking Schools could benefit.
>>
>> So he eliminated ~800 (maybe ~$0.5M in hardware) desktops and installed
>> 60 servers (with ESX) [probably about $250,000 up front] and spend ~$2
>> million on Citrix licenses.  Nope, we don't do that.  Because the ROI is
>> somewhere in the sub-basement or maybe the sewer pipes;   I wish it
>> wasn't since managing PCs sucks - but thin-clients are expensive and
>> limited.  Thin clients require the *same* software license as thick
>> clients [you still gotta buy the same M$-Office license] + the several
>> layers of licensing on the server side + the cooling and rack capacity
>> for *60* servers.  The power point he used to sell this project to his
>> board must have been awesome.

You may not save money on the actual hardware, but it sounds like he
saved a lot of money on IT support staff. I can see this especially in
a small extension office which previously had a small business server
and a dozen workstations to keep up. Now they just have an Internet
pipe to keep track of and a couple of spare thin clients that any
idgit can plug in.

It essentially eliminates all end-user hardware issues. Not having a
local C: for each user also eliminates a ton of virus, crapware, and
miscellaneous OS issues, which allowed them to reduce help desk staff.

You will also save money in energy efficiency since each thin client
uses less power than the real PC it replaced, and you can better
optimize energy and resource usage in a centralized data center as
compared to scattered small servers.

>>
>> I've been pro-thin-client since the first time I used an IBM X-station.
>> But they don't make sense.
>
> What are your thoughts on someone offering a managed version of the
> Back end hardware with Licensing and hosting?
> Would someone with the hardware and volume discounts for Citrix and
> such be able to make it work?
> Also thinking this person would be able to get some sort of discount
> on the Thin Clients.

This might open up thin clients to smaller businesses that can't get
the big volume discounts. It makes sense to me to outsource the
desktops to this extent assuming you can get a big, reliable Internet
pipe to the location.

>
> Casey DuBois
> 616-808-6942
> casey at grlug.org
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>

-- 
  Ben Rousch
  brousch at gmail.com
  http://ishmilok.blogspot.com/