Thin End of the Wedge? Research on UK Housing Association Desktop IT Strategy

UK Housing Associations are adopting a thin client desktop infrastructure to improve management and security while cutting costs, industry research has revealed. Improved security resulting from greater control of employee access to data was the third main advantage reported by 32% of respondents to the research, conducted by Winmark on a sample of 50 UK Housing Associations on behalf of IGEL Technology.Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for IGEL-Logo.jpg

Reading, UK. November 12th, 2013. UK Housing Associations are adopting a thin client desktop infrastructure to improve management and security while cutting costs, industry research has revealed.

 

60% of UK Housing Associations are using thin clients, with 43% of these associations using them for more than 90% of their desktops. In addition, 28% said that were very likely to increase their thin client usage in the next 24 months by buying more devices or by converting their existing desktops to thin clients.

 

Primary benefits reported
46% of IT Managers believe central management is the primary benefit of a thin client infrastructure, citing ease of management and greater control. 42% stated cost as a key benefit including cost of support, ownership and lower costs of replacing outdated machines.

Improved security resulting from greater control of employee access to data was the third main advantage reported by 32% of respondents to the research, conducted by Winmark on a sample of 50 UK Housing Associations on behalf of IGEL Technology.

 

Housing Association desktop and infrastructure landscape
Larger Housing Associations, with housing stocks of more than 1000, are using thin clients much more than smaller Housing Associations. With 76% of staff at larger Housing Associations using thin clients compared to 25% at the smaller Housing Associations.

 

Citrix was the primary server-based computing or virtual desktop software provider with a dominant 63% of the associations surveyed, VMware followed with 23% and Microsoft Terminal Services with 17%.

 

Of those that use thin or zero clients, the dominant providers are Dell Wyse with 46%, followed by HP with 23% and IGEL Technology with a 17% share.

 

Future challenges
When asked about future desktop challenges, IT managers reported that on average 15% of their users currently have a need to regularly use multimedia services and they saw this figure rising to 24% of users over the next 24 months.

 

Perceived barriers to thin
The top three barriers reported by IT managers were Continuity (26%), Flexibility (24%) and Connection issues (22%). With Continuity, respondents were concerned about a technology outage resulting in all staff being unable to work. Flexibility issues referred to concerns about the ability to convert all software applications for a server-based or virtual desktop environment. Connection issues referred to concerns about the level of bandwidth required to successfully deploy an efficient server-based or virtual desktop solution.

 

"This research demonstrates an IT maturity and depth of understanding of the desktop infrastructure by the IT managers of the UK's Housing Associations," said Simon Richards, IGEL Technology Managing Director for UK & Ireland. "The research found that the experience of those that have deployed thin clients is very positive. The largest organizations, in particular, have embraced the benefits a centrally managed desktop infrastructure with thin clients can offer. We look forward to benchmarking the results against next year's survey to understand if these trends are replicated across the entire sector."

 

The research findings will be discussed further at the IT in Housing Conference and Exhibition at Olympia Conference Centre in London from November 19-20. For an executive summary of the research findings visit IGEL Technology at the conference at Stand 8 or go to:http://www.igel.com/ES_Housing

 

About IGEL Technology
A world leader in thin client solutions, IGEL Technology helps organizations improve the agility, efficiency, and security of their virtual desktop and application delivery systems. IGEL produces one of the industry's widest range of thin clients, based on Linux and Microsoft Windows, allowing customers to access a broad spectrum of server-based infrastructures and applications. IGEL also offers a powerful and intuitive management software for easy deployment and administration of thin clients throughout any size organization. Partnerships with industry leaders like Red Hat, Citrix, VMware, and Microsoft ensure that IGEL provides the most up-to-date technology and trustworthy security to clients in industries that include Healthcare, Education & Research, Public Sector, Financial, Insurance, Retail, Logistics, and Manufacturing. IGEL has offices in the United Kingdom, Australia, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, Germany, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Singapore and is represented by partners in over 50 countries worldwide. To learn more, visit www.igel.co.uk or follow us on Twitter:twitter.com/IGEL_Technology

 

Editorial contacts:
IGEL Technology GmbH
Dr. Frank Lampe
Hanna-Kunath-Str. 31
28199 Bremen
Tel.: 0421 / 52094 1300
Fax: 0421 / 52094 1399
E-Mail: [email protected] 
Web: www.igel.com

 

Amber Group
Paul Smith
Tel: +44 (0)7770 828525
Email: [email protected]

Enhanced by Zemanta

Resources

Recent Assets

  • purple-car.png
  • IGEL_3rdPartyDatabase_sm.jpg
  • hp-t620.png
  • screencap016(526 x 702).jpg
  • Top100Logo2013.png
  • DieterTolksdorf2_web.jpg
  • hp-portfolio.png
  • mt41 (2).png
  • mt41 (1).png
  • IGEL_Gebaeude_small.jpg

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Staff published on November 23, 2013 10:05 AM.

NComputing showcases N-Series transforming economics of desktop virtualisation at Citrix Mobility Europe was the previous entry in this blog.

mPOS - Thales secures ROYALGATE's revolutionary new mobile card acceptance solution is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Categories

Monthly Archives