Customer Solution Case Study
/ Dell Improves Application Deployments, Boosts Reliability, by Using Virtualization
“Using App-V helps us keep computers pristine. Virtualized applications are deleted from cache, and notrails are left behind. Computers are much morestable.”
Christopher Minaugh, System Engineer, User-Centric Solutions, Dell
As one of the world’s leading computer manufacturers, Dell is committed to technology excellence. To help ensure that the applications its own employees depend on run reliably, Dell uses Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) technology, which eliminates application-to-application conflicts and keeps operating systems clean. Application deployments are now faster, desktop PCs are much more stable, and user productivity is greatly enhanced.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published June 2010
Business Needs
Based in Round Rock, Texas, Dell is a Fortune 500 company that offers hardware, software, consulting, support, and managed services. The Dell IT Group supports about 2,000 applications and 120,000 desktop computers for the company’s employees.
During the 30-month life of each client computer, users install and uninstall many applications, and the IT Group was challenged by application-to-application compatibility and computer reliability issues. “We had computers that were less stable and harder to troubleshoot,” says Donnie Taylor, Team Lead for Systems Management and User-Centric Solutions in the IT Group at Dell. Fixing a computer often required reimaging, which took about one-and-a-half hours. Users typically did reimaging themselves, interruptingworker productivity.
To help ensure that installed applications would run reliably, Dell conducted regression testing, which required setting up a test environment and installing the applications—a process that could take a week. And because different applications require different versions of Sun Microsystems Java—which could not be installed on the same computer without conflicting—Dell IT staff had to do workarounds to run the applications. “We might install one on the desktop computer and put the other on a Citrix Systems terminal server. The Dell Citrix team would provision that application, which could take a week,” Taylor notes.
While some users pulled applications from a portal site supplied by Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007, Dell preferred to push applications so that they would be readily available to users. But the IT group had to implement whatever pushes it did slowly—taking two weeks to several months—to ensure that desktops were not destabilized by new installations.Dell wanted to simplify application deployments and enhance desktop reliability.
Solution
Dell believed that application virtualization could address its challenges, and it chose Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) technology. “We’re a big System Center Configuration Manager user, and the fact that App-V interoperates with it—without additional infrastructure—was a plus,” says Christopher Minaugh, System Engineer for User-Centric Solutions in the Dell IT Group. “App-V is part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP), which also includes Microsoft Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM). We wanted to use AGPM to more effectively manage changes to Group Policy.” Dell began testing AGPM in February 2010 and expects to put it into production by December 2010.
In February 2010, Dell IT staff began working with the Dell Packaging Factory, a consulting group that provides application packaging services to the IT Group and other businesses. Dell Packaging Factory began by sequencing five applications, including Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.2 and Adobe Flash Player 10.3. By June 2010, it had virtualized 65 applications, including Avaya Call Management System Supervisor 16 and Attachmate Reflection 14. In addition, Dell IT virtualized Microsoft Office Professional 2007 and Microsoft Office Professional 2010, the latter of which it sequenced using the App-V Deployment Kit for Office 2010. As of June 2010, Dell had deployed the App-V client to 120 desktop computers via System Center Configuration Manager 2007. It expects to have virtualized 200 applications and deployed the App-V client to all 120,000 computers by the end of 2010.
Dell is also upgrading its desktops from the Windows Vista and Windows XP operating systems to the Windows 7 Enterprise operating system, and had completed more than 24,000 deployments as of June 2010. “Windows 7 has fantastic performance and is incredibly stable,” Taylor says. Dell wants to take advantage of the 64-bit support in App-V to run virtualized 64-bit applications with Windows 7.
Benefits
By using Microsoft virtualization technologies, Dell is accelerating application deployments, improving desktop computer reliability, and enhancing user productivity.
Accelerates Deployment
Because virtual applications do not conflict with other software, application-to-application compatibility issues are no longer a concern. Applications can be deployed without having to run them on separate Citrix-based systems, speeding deployment by about 30 percent. And, although Dell will still conduct regression testing, since it is a best practice, the IT Group will not have to build separate testing environments or install and uninstall applications.
“Instead of waiting for users to pull applications from the portal, or spreading application pushes over weeks or months, we will be able to push more applications and updates out in about one-fifth the time previously required, without concerns about conflicts and crashes,” Taylor says.
Improves Desktop Stability, Control
Virtualized applications run on local computers without being installed; therefore, any changes to a computer’s application environment will not affect the operating system. “Using App-V helps us keep computers pristine. Virtualized applications are deleted from cache, and no trails are left behind. Computers are much more stable,” says Minaugh.
Dell also expects to benefit from improved control of Group Policy objects. Improperly configured Group Policy objects can affect computer reliability. “By using AGPM—and especially the version control and roll-back features—we expect to simplify Group Policy management and allow junior IT workers to handle changes, freeing up senior staff for strategic projects,” says Pat Pitre, Senior Systems Engineer for Dell.
Enhances User Productivity
Dell expects that, by improving application and computer stability, it will boost user productivity. “Our employees are self-sufficient and try to fix problems themselves. Once App-V is fully deployed, they won’t have to spend hours reimaging computers and dealing with application crashes that stemmed from compatibility issues,” Minaugh says.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published June 2010