TÜV NORD Group

Global Firm Reduces Hardware and IT Costs with Desktop Virtualization

TÜV NORD is one of the world’s leading technical service providers, renowned for its testing and certification expertise. The company needed a cost-efficient way to run older applications on new computers, and to simplify reporting from its India-based office. With Microsoft® Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V), TÜV NORD can easily support older applications and multiple operating system environments, and streamline IT management and processes.

 

Situation

With a workforce of more than 8,000, TÜV NORD is one of the largest technical service providers in Germany, generating revenues of €737.9 million (U.S.$947.4 million) in 2007. Its corporate divisions focus on mobility, aviation, certification, and energy and system engineering, as well as the academic, environmental, and international markets. The company maintains offices in 70 countries throughout Europe, Asia, and North America.

TÜV NORD realized it was facing several IT management and productivity challenges, specifically related to the use and support of older software. For instance, company employees who inspect nuclear power plants are required by law to use the same software to recalculate their findings whenever they re-inspect the plants. These follow-up inspections often take place years after the original ones. “Because we must use older software, which runs on older operating systems, we have to keep legacy computers in stock and maintained just for this purpose,” says Frank Boerger, Head of Client Management at TÜV NORD. “In many cases, users had to have two or three machines available. Maintaining the old hardware also takes a lot of effort and can be costly.” When older computers need a new power supply or network card, for example, IT often struggles to find the appropriate parts.

The company also experienced issues stemming from the fact that its subsidiary in India has its own network. According to Boerger, “They used a different application to enter data from their inspections than we have in central IT. In order for our certifications to be deemed compliant, we need all of the company’s SAP data to be consistent—and that meant using the same SAP. However, because a different IT department manages the India network, we couldn’t install our infrastructure there.”

Solution

TÜV NORD, which had been working closely with Microsoft during the company’s 2008 implementation of Microsoft® Application Virtualization, learned about another component of Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP)─ Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V). TÜV NORD realized it could use MED-V to help solve its older application and operating system support issues, and streamline integration with its India office.

Not only did Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization meet all of our needs, it integrates well with our other Microsoft solutions and is extremely cost-effective. Frank Boerger Head of Client Management, TÜV NORD

MED-V builds on top of Microsoft Virtual PC to run two operating systems on one device, adding virtual image delivery, policy-based provisioning, and centralized management. With MED-V, enterprises can upgrade to the latest version of the Windows® operating system even when some applications are not yet compatible.

In August 2008, TÜV NORD joined the MED-V Technology Adoption Program and began evaluating the product. The company’s evaluation consisted of two parts:  The first was an internal test where IT created a Windows XP image for an older version of a SAP application and ran it on a desktop computer with the Windows Vista® operating system. The second part focused on using MED-V to deploy and run a standardized version of SAP on the existing India infrastructure. “After a very successful test, we decided to move forward with MED-V,” Boerger notes. “Not only did MED-V meet all of our needs, it integrates well with our other Microsoft solutions and is extremely cost-effective.”

As soon as Microsoft released MED-V for production, TÜV NORD began rolling out the product in India and in the company’s central IT department in Germany.

Many Microsoft customers also use the Infrastructure Planning and Design guide for MED-V to outline the critical infrastructure design elements that are crucial to a successful implementation. It takes customers through a four-step process of designing components, layout, and connectivity in a logical, sequential order so that they can deliver managed virtual machines to end users. 

TÜV NORD has also been using Microsoft Application Virtualization, another component in the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, since 2007. Deployed to 8,000 desktops, the product has helped TÜV NORD reduce application time-to-deployment from one month to just one day, streamline application management, and minimize end user downtime.  (For more information about TÜV NORD’s use of Microsoft Application Virtualization, read the case study).

Benefits

Using MED-V, TÜV NORD created a cost-effective way to support its older applications, lower costs, and establish integrated, consistent reporting from its India inspection operations.  

It’s much cheaper to install a MED-V image on a client than to give an inspector in India a separate computer and Internet connection. Frank Boerger Head of Client Management, TÜV NORD

Support Older Applications and Multiple Environments
Employees that need to run older software for inspections and certifications can do so without having to use multiple computers. “Using MED-V, we can provide users with one physical machine that has separate virtual images for different applications, when needed,” notes Boerger. “This will make it much easier for employees to perform their jobs, and much simpler for IT to support.”

Boerger adds, “MED-V will be very beneficial as we upgrade more machines to Windows Vista, and eventually to Windows 7, because we’ll be able to run legacy applications that require an older operating system in Virtual PC images on the new desktops.”

Lower Costs
Without MED-V, TÜV NORD employees in India would have had to connect to the company’s Terminal Services system in Germany, which would have required significantly more bandwidth (4MB instead of 500KB) at an additional annual cost of approximately U.S.$585,000.

“It’s much cheaper to install a MED-V image on a client than to give an inspector in India a separate computer and Internet connection,” Boerger explains. “Moving forward, we anticipate that offices in some countries won’t need complete, local IT infrastructures. With MED-V, we’ll be able to provide what they need at a fraction of the cost.”

Streamline IT Management and Processes
TÜV NORD also expects to use MED-V to improve IT support and management. “In the past, if we had one installation server in India and inspectors on the other side of the country had a problem, they had to fly three hours to access the server and reload their computers,” Boerger says. “But now, they’ll be able to download a virtual image via the Internet and quickly resolve their problems, wherever they are.”

MED-V will be very beneficial as we upgrade more machines to Windows Vista, and eventually to Windows 7, because we’ll be able to run legacy applications that require an older operating system in Virtual PC images on the new desktops. Frank Boerger Head of Client Management, TÜV NORD

By enabling its employees in India to run SAP in a Virtual PC, TÜV NORD can standardize reporting for all of its inspections, which speeds the certification process. “Now that everyone will be able to access and input their data using the SAP software, we can eliminate the delays that previously happened,” says Boerger.

Microsoft Desktop Optimization

Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) for Software Assurance makes it easy for an organization to administer its application, offering tools for virtualizing and inventorying software installations, for managing group policies, as well as tools for system repair and data recovery.
 
For more information about MDOP, go to:  
www.microsoft.com/windows/enterprise/products/mdop.aspx

 

For More Information

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www.microsoft.com

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