Sector: retail
As an organisation operating over many retail locations, Francis Alukkas faced a growing number of IT challenges. In particular, the existing, bulky desktop PC hardware was proving to be a drain on resources due to the rising running costs, taking up too much valuable space as well as operational issues including maintenance, virus and management problems. Furthermore, to support the company’s ongoing showroom expansion plans, Francis Alukkas also recognised the need for a reliable and class-leading I.T. infrastructure that not only made economic sense, but was scalable, offered centralised and remote management as well as excellent security and green credentials.
The solution and benefits
In order to provide the reliable, manageable IT infrastructure, Francis Alukkas needed to find the right hardware solution that complemented its existing IT environment. After conducting a series of tests on competitor thin client devices, Francis Alukkas choose the VXL ‘Itona’ range of desktop thin clients, in particular, Win7 ‘C Series’ models. These space-saving thin client devices feature a fan-less design with no moving parts for an extremely reliable operation. In addition, as no local configuration is required, this also minimises maintenance work and ensures further cost savings. Importantly, the switch to VXL thin clients as opposed to traditional PC desktops also had a beneficial effect on the company’s annual IT capital expenditure and due to thin client’s lower power consumption, also ensured greater electricity savings.
Summary
“In the end, there were many key factors as to why we decided on VXL” said Santo Antony, Alukkas’s, IT Director, “The outstanding performance and suitability of the thin clients was very important, but it was also VXL’s excellent customer service and feedback that was the deciding factor” he added. Francis Alukkas has to date deployed approximately 135 VXL desktop thin clients, with embedded, licensed win7 OS across its ‘Smart Retail’ showrooms and the company’s technology refresh strategy is to eventually replace all personal computer based work stations, with VXL thin client desktop devices as the business fulfils its growth plan.