BKK Hoechst strengthens the defensive power of its IT environment: Server based computing with IGEL Clever Clients optimizes administration and operational capabilities.

The success story of BKK began in 1890. Hoechst AG was established as a social service to protect workers in case they became ill. Of the initial 2,160 members, membership of the Hoechst AG has grown to over 162,000. BKK Hoechst is a flexible and customer oriented insurance company with a reputable fiscal policy. With that in mind, the IT-management of the BKK tries to remain cost efficient, adding value to the business. Since 2002, BKK has gradually migrated to a server based computing (SBC) environment in order to reduce overall IT costs.


The Customer

• Customer oriented insurance agency with 162,000 insured
• 14 branch offices country-wide
  

Migration for good reason

Since July 2005, the system has been running in its second generation with Windows 2003 and Citrix Presentation Server 4.0. The original implementation of its system in 2002 was based upon Windows 2000 and Citrix MetaFrame XP. The move to the new generation was a result of the company moving at a snail’s pace: The bandwidth of the frame relay network at 128 Kbit/s was exhausted and not scaleable.

Instead of a cost intensive build out, BKK invested in a sustainable and scalable infrastructure. In order to gradually reduce the costs, the existing PCs were operated as fat clients with the Citrix ICA client software. In order to learn the truth about the cost saving potential of server based computing, BKK Hoechst introduced the thin clients last year. In its first test at the beginning of 2004, various providers were evaluated including IGEL. 'We chose this time frame for the test because the PCs had to be replaced anyway', stated Frank Schlüter, director of IT.


Users opt for the Thin Client Model

BKK Hoechst had two main requirements of the thin clients: The first was a display resolution of 1280 x 1024 pixels. This was based on the minimum requirement of the CRM KV software, a CRM enhancement of the central host application, ISKV. The second requirement lay in the support of the Citrix Metaframe Program Neighborhood. 'IGEL was the only provider that could give us the desired graphics resolution as well as the Program Neighborhood integration at a good cost-to-performance ratio', declared Frank Schlüter. In order to not take any risks with user satisfaction, the employees were committed to testing relevant IGEL models daily. The employees voted for the powerful IGEL 564 LX Premium. 'User acceptance was more important to us than low capital outlay,' stated Frank Schlüter. 'The premium series from IGEL is ideal for our users because they are optimized for our graphic intensive demands, visually pleasing, and overall flexible.'


Gradual Rollout

Meanwhile, over 70% of the 300 workstations were reconfigured using IGEL Thin Clients. The director of IT completed the rollout of the server based computing environment pragmatically: 'The priority for us was the locations and departments within the headquarters, thus including IT, where the support costs were the highest.'


The Challenge

• High graphic demands of the Thin Clients as well as support for the Citrix Program Neighborhood
• Linking all of the branch offices to the central IT structure
• High Job Rotation (turn over?) requires quick and secure authentication
  

High Availability and flexibility

The IGEL Thin Clients offer important options for the future, for example, an integrated smartcard reader. 'Before server based computing, the complex job rotation required several user profiles to be maintained on the PCs and the users required different ways of authenticating.' With the introduction of the IGELs, we could finally centralize all of the profiles so that the users only had to authenticate once. In the future, we will be able to just insert a smartcard and either the individual workstation or a previously interrupted session will appear on the screen.

Another feature utilized by Frank Schlüter is the availability of his printers. 'We have configured the devices with the help from the internal print server functionality so that we can stage our network printers through a serial connection on the IGEL device in an emergency.' Likewise, they have also increased the security and the capabilities of the infrastructure. 'The IGEL Linux Model allows us to reduce our financial and timely expenditures for virus protection to practically zero. Also theft of the devices via a break-in would not be profitable because without a network connection, the Thin Clients cannot function and therefore are not attractive for resale.' Losses of terminals are completely unproblematic according to Frank Schlüter. A preconfigured device can be shipped to the work place and the employee can install it him/herself.


The Implementation

• IGEL-564 LX Premium for graphic intensive requirements
• Integrated smart card reader for user authentication
• Reducing financial and timely expenditures towards virus protection to zero
• Administrative savings of around 70 % through the thin client architecture
  

Cost Efficiency for the Future

Overall, the IT Director estimates the administrative savings through server based computing via the thin clients around 70%. He attributes this number particularly to the economic utilization of bandwidth and an approximate 50 percent reduction in administrative expenses. In particular, he notes the administration of local user profiles devoid of certain data protection measures and the administration of Windows 2000 and/or NT 4.0 systems. Furthermore, a relevant portion of the smaller administration costs is attributed to the management software of the thin clients provided free of charge by the manufacturer. 'The IGEL remote management suite is a very powerful tool that can execute typical functions such as configuration of the IGELs or firmware upgrades efficiently and automatically. Because of the capability to efficiently pre-configure the devices, we could complete a roll-out in two weeks. 'In my opinion, a deployment and installation of around 100 Igel Thin Clients per week in different locations is realistic,' explains Frank Schlüter. 'That, along with the associated future of security, availability, and administration easement are all important factors into furthering our success here at BKK Hoechst.'


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