TÜV NORD Group

Testing Services Provider Streamlines Workstation Management and Application Delivery

To do their technically demanding jobs, the scientists and engineers at TÜV NORD—one of Europe’s leading technical services providers—need reliable technology environments. Managing 8,000 desktop, portable, and mobile computers, the IT department at TÜV NORD was challenged by lengthy testing processes, difficulty running multiple versions of applications, and downtime during repairs. The company wanted to accelerate application deployment, eliminate application conflicts, and create a uniform software management infrastructure. To streamline a migration to Windows Vista® and simplify IT management, TÜV NORD integrated Microsoft® Application Virtualization 4.5 with System Center Configuration Manager 2007. Now the company has reduced the time it takes to deploy new applications, controlled application access, reduced downtime, and simplified workstation management.

 

Situation

One of the largest technical service providers in Germany, TÜV NORD Group offers expertise in nearly every area of technical safety, environmental protection, and the assessment of management systems and products. More than an inspection organization, TÜV NORD provides a wide range of consulting, testing, and service activities in the Systems, Mobility, Certification, Energy, and Systems Engineering sectors. With more than 8,000 employees in 70 countries throughout Europe, Asia, and America, and 2007 sales revenues of U.S.$947.4 million (Euro 737.9 million), TÜV NORD is a world leader in the consulting and testing services industry.

With Application Virtualization, we give users the flexibility to run the applications they need without any risk of conflicts. And IT has accelerated application packaging and time-to-delivery. Joerg Umland IT Administrator, TÜV NORD

TÜV NORD is a fast-growing company with experienced technology users, mostly scientists and engineers. And to do their technically demanding jobs, TÜV NORD users must have reliable technology environments. “All their work depends on computers,” said Arne Bertgen, IT administrator for the Client Management Infrastructure Team at TÜV NORD. “If their computers aren’t working well or if users don’t have the software they need for projects, they cannot be effective.”

The Infrastructure Team manages client software and systems, application packaging and delivery, and maintenance of TÜV NORD desktop, portable, and mobile computers. Managing 800 applications for 8,000 computers, the eight-person team faced several formidable challenges.

TÜV NORD created and deployed application packages to appropriate servers, and used Microsoft® System Center Configuration Manager 2007 to deliver them to client computers. The deployment process was cumbersome, and lengthened by comprehensive and complicated application-testing procedures. “Testing was critical to ensure that applications worked properly on the clients and that no other applications were affected by the new installations,” said Joerg Umland, IT administrator at TÜV NORD. “It could easily take up to one month, depending on how widely used the application was going to be. If it was a package such as Microsoft Office, which would be used by many people on many computers, we did extensive testing to ensure everything worked.”

Approximately 60 percent of TÜV NORD’s employees use portable and mobile computers. For those employees, accurate testing was critical to ensure that they could use their applications when on the road. “They need to be able to take their laptops to customer sites and know that everything will work just right,” said Bertgen.

Many TÜV NORD users write their own macros and programs, which created compatibility challenges. If the IT department installed an updated version of the Microsoft Office system on a user’s computer, the user might not be able to safely run a program she had written that is dependent on an older version of Microsoft Office or conflicts with the updated application, causing crashes or other damage to the computer or the network. To work around this challenge, the company provided users specific times to switch between applications, but the process was complicated and users could still only run one application at a time.

According to German law, TÜV NORD employees responsible for re-inspecting nuclear plants and other technical systems must use the same software versions used on original inspection projects so that they can accurately confirm results from the original tests, which often took place many years earlier. Finding the older applications and getting them to run on computers that might have newer programs installed was challenging for the IT department.

The more applications TÜV NORD installed, the more time the IT staff was spending fixing problems that resulted from application conflicts, usually having to re-install the full machine when a user experienced problems, creating downtime. If a user really needed a computer, he could log onto another device, but because TÜV NORD installed only a standard image with basic programs on its computers, the user might not have access to the specific applications needed. “The impact on users was enormous because they might have to go a day before getting their machines back,” said Bertgen.

TÜV NORD had also just completed three major acquisitions and was assuming responsibility for managing all of the new employees’ computers. The company was planning to upgrade all of its desktop, portable, and mobile computers to the Windows Vista® operating system and Microsoft Office Professional 2007. The company needed to ensure a smooth migration of all its personal computers to the new environment so it could improve the way it managed applications and minimize user downtime.

Solution

On a visit to the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington in 2007, IT staff from TÜV NORD learned that the company could use Microsoft® Application Virtualization (App-V) 4.5, a solution in the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance, to help reduce application deployment costs, enable delivery of applications as services, and better manage and control the desktop environment throughout the enterprise. The company immediately invited Microsoft to TÜV NORD’s office in Germany for a full briefing on the solution.

By virtualizing the applications, we enabled people to continue using Office 2003, and then begin using 2007 at their own pace. This is a great example of how we achieved a smooth migration to Windows Vista with Application Virtualization. Joerg Umland IT Administrator, TÜV NORD

In October, 2007, TÜV NORD began testing one Application Virtualization server hosting the database and contents for 20 computers in the IT department. To evaluate the application-packaging process, TÜV NORD sequenced 10 applications, including Adobe Reader. “There were no applications that didn’t work,” said Umland.

After the successful test, TÜV NORD rolled out App-V 4.5—along with Windows Vista and Microsoft Office Professional 2007—to 450 computers in the central IT department and in the company’s Netherlands office. “The Netherlands employees were used to Office 2003,” says Umland. “They told us, ‘You can roll out Windows Vista and Office 2007, but only if you find a way to let us use our older Office version, too.’”

Using App-V 4.5, the IT department virtualized Office 2003 while physically installing Office 2007, so users could run both versions on the same computer. “By virtualizing the applications, we enabled people to continue using Office 2003, and then begin using 2007 at their own pace,” said Umland. “This is a great example of how we achieved a smooth migration to Windows Vista with Application Virtualization.”

While TÜV NORD was deploying App-V 4.5 in November 2007, Bertgen participated in the System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 Technology Adoption Program to help the company integrate the two solutions. “We were eager to get them working together so that we could have a single, uniform infrastructure for distribution,” said Bertgen. “It makes things easier if we don’t have to manage two infrastructures. And with just eight people in our group, the more we can simplify our processes, the better. Now we can deploy both virtualized and installed applications using the same procedure.”

In February 2008, TÜV NORD began integrating System Center Configuration Manager 2007 with App-V 4.5 at all local software distribution points, managing both physical and virtual applications seamlessly through a single infrastructure. TÜV NORD is evaluating the use of Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 to help protect the System Center Configuration Manager infrastructure and help monitor the health of the entire information environment.

TÜV NORD staff use the Microsoft Application Virtualization Sequencer, a wizard-based tool, to package each virtual application. After sequencing the application, IT administrators use System Center Configuration Manager to distribute it to the individual computers. Because most of the company’s users are mobile and need to be able to access complete applications without reconnecting to the network, TÜV NORD wanted entire applications to reside in the client cache, fully available at first launch. Rather than streaming portions of an application’s code, TÜV NORD uses System Center Configuration Manager to push entire applications to all computers.

Deployment and integration of the new solutions proceeded smoothly. TÜV NORD quickly installed App-V 4.5 on 5,300 computers and virtualized more than 50 of the 200 applications that will be virtualized when the deployment is complete. The company expected to have App-V 4.5 installed on 8,000 computers by the end of 2008.

Benefits

By integrating Application Virtualization with System Center Configuration Manager 2007, TÜV NORD has simplified application packaging and client management, accelerated time-to-delivery, created a uniform software delivery and management infrastructure, and enabled employees to have much more flexibility in which applications they run. “With Application Virtualization, we give users the flexibility to run the applications they need without any risk of conflicts,” says Umland. “And IT has accelerated application packaging and time-to-delivery.”

Testing now takes one to two days at the most. With Application Virtualization, we can go from request to deployment in just a few days, instead of the month it could take with locally installed applications. Joerg Umland IT Administrator, TÜV NORD

Reduced Time-to-Deployment

Using the Application Virtualization Sequencer, IT administrators can create stable application packages quickly and safely. In fact, packaging virtual applications takes just one or two hours, depending on the complexity of the software. “It’s amazing how fast and reliable packaging is with the Sequencer,” Umland said. “You don’t have to worry about what’s going on with things like registry entries, and if you’re familiar with how an application behaves as a locally installed application, you can leverage that knowledge in the sequencing process.”

Physically installed applications can fail on computers for many reasons. With App-V 4.5, administrators can deploy applications easily, without time-consuming installation failures. Testing is also much faster and simpler than it used to be. When sequencing is complete, an IT administrator simply performs a test launch, copies the application to a System Center Configuration Manager 2007 distribution point, and deploys the application to several computers. The company no longer has to test against other applications because there’s no risk of affecting other applications on the client. “Testing now takes one to two days at the most,” said Umland. “With Application Virtualization, we can go from request to deployment in just a few days, instead of the month it could take with locally installed applications.”

Streamlined Application Management

Because Microsoft Application Virtualization enables any application to run alongside any other, TÜV NORD users can run different versions of the same software on the same client. This not only helped the company streamline its migration to Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system, it makes it easy for users to run applications that are required for particular projects, even if newer versions of the applications are running in the standard client image.

Controlled Application Access

In the past, TÜV NORD distributed all applications to machines, making the users dependent on specific computers in order to do their jobs. It also meant that anyone who logged onto a particular machine could use the software on it, even if they weren’t licensed for it. Now, virtualized applications are assigned to users, instead of machines.

“When users log onto the network, they get their particular applications, independent of the machine they’re using. If other people who aren’t authorized for those applications log on that machine, the software won’t run for them,” said Bertgen. “This is important for licensing because we have many applications licensed to one person, and we have to make sure that only that person can use the application.”

Enhanced Continuity, Reduced Downtime

In the event of a disaster, users can access their virtualized applications on-demand from other computers without major interruptions to their work. Because all applications—both virtualized and locally installed packages—are stored in servers at the distribution points, they are all readily accessible from System Center Configuration Manager 2007. However, with locally installed applications, users have to wait for de-install and re-install processes to complete before they can resume work. With App-V 4.5, users receive notification that new programs are available, see the icons on the desktop, and click on them to launch the applications. Because there is no installation process, it takes just a few minutes.

The IT department uses the same process to help accelerate application repairs, since it no longer has to reinstall the entire client. Users can clear their cache, and quickly refresh problems applications. If a workstation needs to be examined by IT, the user can instantly access needed applications by logging into the network from another computer.

Simplified Workstation Management

In addition to recently completed acquisitions, TÜV NORD expects to be involved in more mergers and acquisitions in the future. After a merger, the IT department at TÜV NORD has to support additional computers, but because the added computers aren’t running the company’s standard image, the IT staff used to have difficulty supporting those new users. “With Application Virtualization, we can make clients operate independently of their original configurations,” said Umland. “This makes it much easier to support new employees after an acquisition.”

Whether the new users are Spanish or Danish, or if their computers run Windows® XP or Windows Vista, IT can simply deploy the App-V 4.5 client with the company’s standard virtualized applications, and the added computers will run the applications just like the company’s existing computers.“We knew we would have to assume responsibility for managing a lot of new employees’ computers, so we turned to Application Virtualization to address these issues,” said Frank Boerger, Head of Department, Client Management at TÜV NORD.

Windows Vista
Windows Vista can help your organization use information technology to gain a competitive advantage in today’s new world of work. Your people will be able to find and use information more effectively. You will be able to support your mobile work force with better access to shared data and collaboration tools. And your IT staff will have better tools and technologies to enhance corporate IT security, data protection, and more efficient deployment and management.

For more information about Windows Vista, go to:
www.microsoft.com/windowsvista

 

For More Information

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www.microsoft.com

For more information about TÜV NORD Group products and services, visit the Web site at:
www.tuev-nord.de