Virtual Desktop

Galliard Homes, a leading UK property development company have decided to implement VESK, virtual hosted desktops, throughout the company...

Galliard Homes develop commercial and residential properties in the UK and overseas.  Each development requires an onsite presence of Galliard staff to facilitate the construction and management of each site.  Traditionally, each site would require an onsite server, IT support and rather expensive desktop computers.

Virtualising the IT infrastructure allows each remote site to connect to VESK, centralising applications, processes and management.  Rather than having to backup each site individually and transferring files over broadband/3G connections, each user simply connects to VESK where they can access all of their programs and data and share large files without having to transfer them.

All data is now stored in ISO9001 compliant datacentres with Intrusion Protection Systems, fully managed Cisco firewalls, and is stored underground safe from fire, flooding, theft and any other natural disaster.

At present Galliard have virtualised 75 desktops and are set to virtualise a further 100 in 2010.  Desktop virtualisation has reduced licensing costs of standard Microsoft Office and Windows products, has reduced PC power consumption by around 45% and IT management costs by around 40%.

Galliard onsite staff can access their VESK desktop from home or on the move, while others have restricted access from the office only, or access within work hours only.  Now all applications are managed centrally, new applications planned for 2010 need only be installed and tested once in order to be accessed by all 200 staff.  Security has been increased, costs have been reduced, accessibility increased and the entire IT system has been future proofed.  Upon new release of each application, VESK will upgrade IT programs to the latest version, whether it's Microsoft Exchange, Blackberry Enterprise Server, Microsoft Office 2010 or Windows 7 as an ongoing process.