Co-op to build 3,000 virtual desktops, ditches VMware for Citrix, Hyper-V

The move is part of an ongoing wider cost consolidation, carbon footprint reduction and flexible working strategy

The Co-operative Group will fit its new Manchester headquarters with 3,000 low power thin client devices and laptops running desktop virtualisation software rather than desktop PCs and workstations over the next two years.

The move is part of an ongoing wider cost consolidation, carbon footprint reduction and flexible working strategy that will also include a refresh of the storage area network (SAN) at a later date.

"We were always going to do desktop virtualisation, and there is a big business case around streamlined support," said Dave Murrell, head of servers, storage and desktops at The Co-operative Group.

"The green angle was important plus the human resources guys were pushing flexible working policies quite hard."

Legacy PCs will be gradually retired and replaced with up to 3,000 thin client devices and laptops running Citrix XenDesktop desktop and application virtualisation software, with a successful trial on 250 HP thin client devices already completed.

Citrix XenDesktop uses the Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) protocol and a Citrix Hypervisor to provide a window onto virtual machines (VMs) running on datacentre servers.

The Co-op has used Citrix XenApp to deliver virtual applications to branch offices and homeworkers for many years, and is also using VMware's ESX server for server virtualisation.

But it will now switch to using a combination of Citrix XenServer and Microsoft Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 following the recent technology collaboration between Citrix and Microsoft.

"We started off with VMware but it [VMware] started playing games on discount levels which we were not happy with," said Murrell.

"XenServer became a no-brainer for financial reasons as well as support, and we have a big datacentre licence for [Windows 2008] Hyper-V going forward anyway, so we will move away from VMware."

The standard VM specification will be quite low, but will package the Windows 7 app with Microsoft Office, Exchange and various other applications like Java based payroll and HR software.

Employees may be able to use legacy systems in the short term before the office move, to a new building just across the road from the old one, forces a hardware refresh.

“Obviously, we did not go near Vista, but if their old XP machines are serviceable we will get a new image deployed to them at least until we move to the new building,” said Murrell.

"We do not want loads of people with shopping trolleys wheeling stuff [PCs] across the pelican crossing on the ring road."

After running Altiris software management and auditing tools just within its Manchester HQ, the Co-op estimates it will save £1.5m in software licensing costs just by getting rid of applications it had paid for but never used, while the thin client pilot scheme saw 108 legacy applications virtualised.

"Our current legacy [application] estate is pretty horrendous to be honest – we have far too many apps," said Murrell.

"I wish I had the resources to really push the boat out in the future and do a deeper dive on software total cost of ownership (TCO)."

Murrell does not envisage meeting any additional security issues by deploying virtual desktops and applications. Each standard VM will host Kaspersky anti-virus tools, and access NetApp file shares protected by Symantec security tools, with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) virtual private network (VPN) policing the Citrix Access Gateway.

"We think we are taking a realistic approach – we have been independently assessed by happy hackers [external security testers] and we just have to remain vigilant," he said.

"There may be additional measures we can take to give us an extra level of security in the background, but I cannot say we are overly worried about it."

The Co-op is also planning to review its current data storage facilities to handle those 3,000 virtual images, specifically looking to scale up the capacity and performance of its current HP EVA virtualised storage arrays.

"The biggest trial is trying to find appropriate storage resources that do not see any degradation in input/output per second (IOPS) when handling virtual images," said Murrell.

"We are paying serious money but there is not a lot out there – we have been asked to put something in place by 2012, and pay for it over the same period, so we may have to spend a lot of money on a storage solution which may or may not be OK, and which we might have to refresh again by 2012."

The server hardware to support desktop virtualisation rollout has already been upgraded as part of an earlier datacentre revamp, with HP ProLiant BL490 blade servers replaced by BL460s because of their higher RAM complement and high performance solid state disks, and the whole facility kitted out with a 10GbE network.

Deploying centralised virtual, rather than physical, desktop PCs on such a large scale is also expected to deliver considerable savings on desktop support.

More significantly, the Co-op may also save up to £1.53m per year on desktop PC upgrade costs, and £459,000 a year on lower server, storage and desktop PC energy bills.

"The big driver there is not really the money, though that comes in handy, as the property services division pays the energy bills as opposed to the IT department," said Murrell.

The Co-op has publicly stated its intention to reduce its total carbon emissions against 2006 levels by 35 per cent by 2017.

Its new HQ building, set to be completed in 2012, is designed to comply with BREEAM Outstanding environmental best practices.