Case Study - Citrix VDI in a Box & NComputing Thin Clients

Case Study - Citrix VDI in a Box
& NComputing Thin Clients
Citrix VDI in a Box with NComputing thin clients
streamlines desktop delivery at Attwater Group and
Custom Composites
“We found Vitalize Consultancy whilst researching VDI technologies for SME’s. Since we
engaged we have been delighted with the depth of their knowledge and high levels of
customer service. Vitalize were able to supply the entire solution and provided effective
project management throughout the implementation and beyond.”
Steven Eland, IT Manager, Attwater Group.
Summary
The Challenge
Deliver a secure Windows 7 desktop to users at a satellite office
Ensure a rich user experience
Extend the life of PCs
Deploy thin clients to manufacturing zones
Streamline the support and management of the solution
Remove the need to visit the satellite office for routine IT support
The Solution
Two Dell R420 rack servers
Citrix XenServer (free edition)
Citrix VDI in a Box 5.2
Microsoft VDA licenses
NComputing n500W thin clients with vSpace Management Software
Packaged Services from SDG
The Benefits
Simplified desktop management and support
Improved control
Improved user experience
Improved ROI from PC estate

About Attwater Group and Customer Composites
Attwater & Sons Ltd is a world class manufacturer and supplier of industrial laminates, electrical insulation
materials and machining services. Custom Composites Ltd manufacture a complimentary range of reinforced
composite and carbon fibre tubes.
Together the companies supply into diverse industries such as aerospace, military, automotive, sports and
leisure, white goods and power generation.
Attwater & Sons Ltd History - A life in industrial laminates
Founded in 1868 Attwater & Sons Ltd are the UKs longest established manufacturer of industrial laminates.
Their moto, “Progress Through Innovation” is core to their continued success and growth. The company work
with and deliver quality advice and solutions to some of the world’s blue-chip companies in a diverse range of
industries.
In 2009 Attwater Group acquired two UK tube manufacturers, Custom Composites Ltd and Shannonvale
Plastics and consolidated all of group’s tube making activities at one plant in Rochdale, Lancashire.
http://www.attwater.com

The Challenge
The Attwater Group faced two IT challenges:
Deliver Microsoft Dynamics AX to the remote site
Simplify the IT infrastructure and desktop support
Attwater and Custom Composites are located at separate sites, linked via ADSL. With core IT infrastructure
and support located at the Attwater site the challenge was to deliver Windows desktops to users at Custom
Composites via their LAN to LAN VPN to reduce the need to travel to the satellite office for IT support.
There is also a need to provide external developers with access to a Windows desktop running a set of applications.
The ability to deliver this centrally was key to benefit from improved management and security.
Both sites are used for manufacturing and are therefore harsh environments for IT equipment. It was therefore
a goal to use stateless thin clients, rather than PCs where possible.
The Solution
Vitalize worked with Steven Eland, IT Manager, at Attwater to design the solution which comprised of two Dell
R420 rack servers. The initial solution was designed to support 20 users running Windows 7. Each server was
sized to support 20 users using the Citrix VIAB 5.2 sizing tool.
CPU Cores 6
Memory
48GB
Disks 4 x 300GB 15k SAS RAID 0
The two servers are identical and load balanced together so that in the event of a server failure the remaining
server will continue to operate.
Citrix XenServer, a free HyperVisor was installed on the Dell servers, the NICs were bonded and VDI in a Box
5.2 was imported. N+1 redundancy was then set up by configuring the grid.
The next stage was to create a Windows 7 image in XenServer and import into VDI in a Box. The image was
then optimised to reduce memory usage and the required applications were added. This “golden image” then
automatically synchronised with the second server in the grid.
Template Policies were then applied to allow Attwater to deliver different user experiences to their users based
upon their AD user / AD Group or subnet.
Vitalize supplied Attwater with packaged services from SDG to ensure that the solution was built to the best
standards. SDG are the leading Citrix distributor in the UK. Their highly training consultants have many years’
experience of VDI implementations and have direct access to Citrix when required.

“The SDG consultant was incredibly knowledgeable and enabled us to shadow him so we could see how VIAB
was configured. They also assisted with our Microsoft KMS server which acts as the method of licensing the
desktops”. Steven Eland, IT Manager, Attwater Group.
Attwater chose to implement NComputing thin clients in the manufacturing sites which cope much better than
PCs in a harsh environment as they have no fans to suck in dust. The N500W thin clients are connected via a
Wi-Fi network through the VPN and supported centrally via the management software. The N500 thin clients
ship with a VESA mount and can be fitted to the back of the TFTs.
Existing PCs were also configured with the Citrix HDX client were also utilised to further reduce support and
administration.
“The NComputing thin clients are small and powerful and offered incredible value for money. We have been
delighted with the technical support that we have received from NComputing to assist us with the optimum
configuration.” Steven Eland, IT Manager, Attwater Group.
“We found Vitalize Consultancy on a web search when searching for VAIB. We have been delighted with the
depth of their knowledge and high levels of customer service. Vitalize were able to supply the entire solution and
provided effective project management throughout the implementation and beyond.” Steven Eland, IT Manager,
Attwater Group.
About Citrix VDI in a Box – An all in one VDI Software Appliance
VDI-in-a-Box is an easy, affordable, all-in-one desktop virtualisation solution that makes the benefits of desktop
virtualization available to organisations of all sizes. You can start with as little as 10 users and scale to meet
demand. VDI-in-a-Box provides built-in high-availability and eliminates over 60 percent of traditional VDI
infrastructure — including management servers and shared storage (SANs) – by creating a grid of off-the-shelf
servers using local storage.
The solution enables Windows® administrators to rapidly deliver centrally-managed virtual desktops to any user,
on any device with the same rich high-definition end-user experience as the enterprise class XenDesktop — all
for less than the cost of PCs. With VDI‐in‐a‐Box, you can give your workers the freedom to work from
anywhere while instantly lowering costs and improving security.

About Citrix VDI in a Box – An all in one VDI Software Appliance
VDI in a Box is an easy, affordable, all-in-one desktop virtualisation solution that makes the
benefits of desktop virtualization available to organisations of all sizes. You can start with
as little as 10 users and scale to meet demand. VDI in a Box provides built-in highavailability
and eliminates over 60 percent of traditional VDI infrastructure—including
management servers and shared storage (SANs) – by creating a grid of off-the-shelf
servers using local storage.
The solution enables Windows® administrators to rapidly deliver centrally-managed virtual
desktops to any user, on any device with the same rich high-definition end-user experience
as the enterprise class XenDesktop —all for less than the cost of PCs. With VDI in a Box,
you can give your workers the freedom to work from anywhere while instantly lowering
costs and improving security.
The images below illustrate Citrix VDI in a Box, the all in one VDI software appliance, the
traditional barriers to VDI, the complexities of an enterprise VDI solution and the simple,
yet powerful VDI in a Box solution.

NComputing – Affordable thin clients for Citrix
NComputing, Inc. is the fastest growing desktop virtualization company in the world, with
more than 50,000 customers and 20 million daily users in 140 countries. They serve
customers large and small across education, government and various industry sectors,
helping transform their use of computing.
NComputing’s innovative and award-winning technology gives customers an impressively
quick time-to-value, extremely high performance and the most affordable desktop
virtualisation solution available today. Their products represent technology breakthroughs
as a result of their passion and focus on finding innovative ways to deliver the highest
performance and quality at the lowest possible cost.
Customers benefit from solutions that deliver an uncompromising end-user experience
with a price to performance ratio that is truly unparalleled in the market.
NComputing have two thin clients ideal for VDI in a Box, N400 and N500 devices. The
N400 is an entry level device that supports Citrix HDX and local software multimedia
re-direction. The N500 runs Citrix HDX and multimedia on the chip, delivering amazing
multimedia.
The vSpace Client enables IT Managers to extend management and security to existing
and even end user’s PCs, laptops etc. All thin clients and the vSpace clients are managed
by vSpace Management Center.

The Result
The Attwater Group and Custom Composites now has a powerful solution that enables them to
deliver:
Quick and efficient desktop delivery to remote offices / users
A system that is simple to support, upgrade and add new applications
A system that is scalable and can be extended quickly and affordably
They are excited about the potential they have to expand the use of VDI in a Box and thin clients
within the organisation.
About Vitalize Consultancy
Vitalize Consultancy specialise in the provision of Citrix VDI in a Box solutions, along with
complementary technologies. Vitalize provide excellent customer service, backed by many years’
experience, working in the VDI sector.
http://www.vitalizeconsultancy.co.uk
About Citrix VDI in a Box
VDI in a Box is an all in one software appliance that runs on off the shelf servers and utilises local
storage, without require a SAN. It therefore does not require a large investment in hardware and
you can start with as little as 10 users.
http://www.citrix.com/English/ps2/products/product.aspcontentID=2316437
About NComputing
The N series NComputing thin clients are the ideal choice for a thin client connecting to VDI in a
Box. Starting at below £100 they are affordable, offer low energy consumption and come with a
free VESA mount. They can be centrally managed with the vSpace Management software. The
vSpace Client software can also be used to enhance the management of legacy PC or BYOD.
http://www.ncomputing.com/products/nseries
Vitalize Consultancy Ltd
Cinnamon House
Cinnamon Park
Crab Lane
Fearnhead
Warrington
WA2 0XP
Tel: 01925 661749
Fax: 01925 800033
e-mail info@vitalizeconsultancy.co.uk