Wyse Thin Computing Helps Expand International Bank Into New Sustainable London Headquarters

Standard Bank Adopts Wyse Green IT Client Virtualization and Now Consumes One Third the Energy
 
LONDON, UK. – 1 Sept 09 - Wyse Technology, the global leader in thin computing and client virtualization, today announced the successful deployment of a major virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution at the new City of London headquarters of Standard Bank, a leading African banking group focused on emerging markets globally. Designed to fully support the specialist demands of the bank’s back office and administrative team among others, the new system utilizes Wyse thin computing and VMware virtualization technology to meet the tough energy efficiency targets determined by the new building’s sustainable design.

Following rapid expansion, Standard Bank decided to relocate its international division’s head office to new offices at 20 Gresham Street in the City of London. The building is built to high-quality specifications and has a BREEAM Excellent rating for sustainability. 

The parameters for air conditioning and power supply are strictly defined within the building and the majority of the floors are designed for one person per 10 square meters.  The number of people occupying the building meant that on two floors the bank needed to have one person per 7 meters. This meant the bank had to find ways of reducing the heat output by the office IT and the power supply.

Working with Wyse Technology and its partner CAE, Standard Bank designed a new virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution based on Wyse thin clients running ThinOS, Wyse TCX virtualization software, and VMware View.   Thin clients consume a fraction of the power and emit less heat than a PC, while virtualization software enables the equivalent –and often improved - access to personalized data and applications. 

The solution is designed to ensure end users notice no difference in performance to the previous system. Standard Bank utilized the Wyse TCX virtualization software to support USB connections at each thin client, as well as enabling the rich multi-media applications used by banking staff.  Key specialist applications like SunGard Front Arena and Bloomberg were virtualized, taking advantage of Wyse TCX to run effectively on a thin client.  The ability to access personalized settings and data on any thin client within the bank supports flexible team working, while VMware also supports remote and home working. 

Joel King, IT architect, Standard Bank said, “Selecting the latest PC technology meant that the desktop IT could just about meet the criteria but it was a very tight fit and left no room for error.  By consuming a third of the electricity, thin client computers gave us much more flexibility and combined with VMware and Wyse virtualization software we realized that we had a viable solution for delivering the applications and performance we needed within the building’s environmental parameters.”

The bank completed the move to 20 Gresham Street in August 2009 with around 600 users on the new system.  More users will be migrated to VDI over the coming months. The move to VDI meant the bank avoided the extra cost of a new air-conditioning system and the new infrastructure is proving easier to manage on a daily basis because issues can be resolved remotely and quickly.

“The VDI solution was instrumental to our successful move to 20 Gresham Street. The impact of the solution not working out would have seriously upset our plans and added significant additional costs and delay. So we’re extremely pleased that the solution is delivering what we set out to achieve within such a tight timescale," added Joel.

David Angwin, director of marketing EMEA , Wyse Technology said, “Standard Bank have pushed what can be achieved with VDI on a large scale and the results are extremely impressive.  They’re really raising the bar on how our thin computing software and hardware can be applied with VMware to support rich multimedia applications used by a demanding set of end users working in a fast-moving work environment.”