25 November 2008: London-based IT Solutions provider Plan-Net has helped Notting Hill Housing Group (NHHG) successfully implement a virtual desktop solution that has not only reduced costs and space requirements, but has improved the IT service to users and helped NHHG to meet its carbon footprint targets.

Notting Hill Housing Group (NHHG), one of the largest providers of affordable housing in the UK with a portfolio of 19,000 homes, used a solution based on VMWare VDI to provide a complete, unmodified virtual desktop that behaves just like a normal PC. In addition, Leostream, a Desktop Connection Broker, and WYSE thin client terminals were brought in to facilitate direct access to the hosted desktops.

Plan-Net supported the implementation of VMWare virtual desktops for 100 of Notting Hill Housing’s 550 seats and gave NHHG the ability to roll out the rest with minimal effort. With a set-up time for new and upgraded users as low as 5 minutes, the migration has proved time and cost effective with minimal disruption to staff - living up to NHHG’s ‘love where you work’ standards.

Crucially, the new virtual desktop environment has not involved any changes to applications or the desktop environment. Administrators can allow users to install applications, customise their desktop environment and use local printers and USB devices. And users also get better support because Help Desk technicians can perform tasks remotely that would normally require an in-person visit.

“Although the initial cost for setting up each user was around £50 more than a traditional PC, we are estimating the savings over the next five years at £500 per head. And with the advanced power management solutions, we will also hit our eco-friendly targets,” said Andy Paynton, Head of ICT at NHHG. “Of course these benefits are important to NHHG, but perhaps even more important are the improvements for users. For example, a log-on time of around 25 seconds, compared to more than five minutes previously has already led to a dramatic improvement in productivity. Add to this the ease with which support staff can provide upgrades, fix issues and improve usability and the operational benefits are clear.”

“With much of NHHG’s desktop equipment coming to the end of its life and less space available for IT, storage and maintenance, a virtualisation approach was the ideal solution,” said Will Rodbard from Plan-Net. “And the results speak for themselves. As well as improved IT services and cost savings, virtualisation is helping NHHG to meet its carbon footprint targets because the new thin client terminals use significantly less power than a traditional PC.”