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“Training takes just 10

minutes and that’s more

about the Microsoft

upgrade, rather than the

use of the technology.”

Howell Huws

Head of Business Technology

Hammersmith & Fulham council

Customer Case Study

To deliver transformational change, the council worked with its service provider, H&F

Bridge Partnership (HFBP), to devise a cloud strategy to help accelerate shared

services and flexible working practices, while also helping enable a smooth

transition from Windows XP to Windows 7.

Solution

After scoping initial technical requirement, HFBP recommended a solution based

on the Cisco® Desktop Virtualization Solutions. That evaluation was based on

several factors, including the platform’s ability to virtualize and package around 300

applications, something that the legacy solution could not do.

At the core of the VDI solution is a VCE Vblock 300 System, an integrated, ready-

to-install architecture comprising Cisco computing and network devices, VMware

virtualization software, and EMC storage technologies. The platform runs Cisco Unified

Computing System™ (UCS®) Blade Servers with Intel® Xeon® processors, built to

handle the most complex application sets.

The solution also included the Atlantis Computing ILIO Diskless VDI, allowing the

council to reduce its dependency on back-end shared storage, and instead tap into

the Cisco UCS server memory footprint. This approach delivers expansive storage I/O

capacity for increased performance at reduced cost with improved hosting density of

virtual desktops per server. Atlantis Computing ILIO is part of the validated reference

architecture for Cisco Desktop Virtualization Solutions.

Hosted across two data centers, in an active/active configuration for seamless data

recovery, the VDI platform complies with strict Government data security requirements

and is also cost effective and easy to manage. There are discrete domains for data

with differing levels of mandatory protection, covering Impact Level 2 (IL2) and IL3

respectively. It also needed to provide an integrated architecture, not just to deliver

desktop-as-a-service, but also future collaborative applications, such as voice and

video, all within a unified workspace.

“Cisco Desktop Virtualization the management of virtual desktops significantly,”

says project manager Adam Evans, responsible for delivering the end-to-end

project for the council. Cloud networking is fully optimized by a high-speed

10Gbps low-latency LAN comprising Cisco Nexus® 5000 and 1000V Series

Switches. First-line defenses have been further strengthened by Cisco ASA

and Application Control Engine firewalls, which allow encrypted WAN links to be

provided back to the main council office to secure sensitive citizen data. Replacing

the aging council PC estate, and completing the end-to-end Cisco architecture, is

the Cisco 6215 Client.

Results

The new Cisco platform has been an instant hit. Currently deployed to 1300

employees, that figure will shortly rise to 2700, which is around 85 percent of total

H&F users. With the shared services project, around one-third of employees operate

across borough boundaries and spend up to two days a week working at offices run

by the other councils.

“It’s a pull rather than push effect,” says Howell Huws, head of business technology at

H&F. “Early adopters like the new service because booting up, logging in and launching

applications is much faster. Hearing this from colleagues rather than IT makes others

ask if they can have it too. People want it as quickly as we can get it out to them.”