Since its founding in 1985, A.T.U. has experienced steady growth. In its over 600 stores, its modern distribution centers and its company headquarters in Weiden in der Oberpfalz, Germany (Upper Palatinate, Bavarian area, not far from the Czech Republic) this international company now employees over 14,000 persons. Its well-integrated and innovative business model with “transparent workshops” allowed A.T.U to achieve sales in 2006 of 1.4 billion euro. As part of its expansion throughout Europe, the company plans to have over 1,000 stores by 2013. Yet without an economical and scalable IT infrastructure, this goal would be unrealistic. That’s why A.T.U. has been migrating step-by-step to server-based computing with thin clients.

Client/Server Computing Proves Too Inflexible
The original IT infrastructure at A.T.U. consisted of a typical client/server net work with fat clients. “It was an awkward setup with different generations of PCs and images, which required a lot of administrative time and effort, scaled very poorly and hampered our efforts to add stores,” reports Manfred Gerlach, IT manager at A.T.U. Since the process for replacing faulty or obsolete PCs was handled through our head office, we were experiencing a disproportionate increase in support costs. In fact, there was also a great need for standardization in the head office. Some of the workstations there even needed three PCs to run different applications.” Another issue was high power consumption: “The roughly 4,000 PCs in our stores were running around the clock. During office hours, some 1,000 fat clients were in use in the head office, and most of them were not being utilized enough.”

The customer Over 600 stores, over 14,000 employees Sales of over 1.4 billion euro (2006) Innovative business model: “transparent workshops”

A New Server-Based Computing Model
In early 2006, the company decided to find a way out of its fat-client problems by centralizing its IT system. After a proof-of-concept demonstrating the feasibility of the undertaking followed by a two-month period in which the project was put out to bid, A.T.U. hired IBM Global Technology Services GmbH as the general contractor for the project. The overall model was jointly developed by staff from A.T.U. and IBM Global Technology Services in a workshop in which the business requirements and the previous IT coverage were closely examined. The project then got underway in July 2006, when the server-based computing infrastructure based on Citrix Presentation Server 4.0 was launched. The new infrastructure model exclusively uses thin clients as end-user devices in the new store network. To make this possible right from the start, each new store will receive a distributed Citrix server to run the store applications currently still in use. “This interim solution is intended to function as a workaround for about two years,” explains Bernhard Panzer, team leader for network/servers at A.T.U. “The new standardized store application will be provided to all thin clients from our central server farm in Weiden.”

The challenge Implement a scalable IT infrastructure for the planned increase in stores to over 1,000 by 2013. Reduce power and support costs by switching over from PCs to IGEL Thin Clients

25% Reduction in Support Costs
The new infrastructure model will allow A.T.U. to achieve significant savings in administrative and support costs. “Since in server-based computing the applications only run on centralized terminal servers and don’t have to be locally installed and maintained, it’s a whole lot easier to roll out new applications,” Panzer explains, adding that “this is a fundamental prerequisite for opening new stores in Europe.” A.T.U has become Europe’s largest chain of automotive service and repair shops with attached automotive parts stores, with facilities in Austria, Holland, Italy, Czech Republic and Switzerland. “The conversion to server-based computing allowed us to provide new, comprehensive centralized services such as Internet, Intranet and e-mail in over 600 stores without creating a large downstream burden for our IT team. With the mixed PC system we had before, would have had to repeatedly install individual security patches, whereas we now can centrally manage the thin clients in groups by using the management software also supplied by IGEL. Firmware can now be globally updated in a scheduled manner. The result has been a 25% savings in support costs.”

A Cost-Effective Solution From IGEL
The thin clients for this project came from the German manufacturer IGEL Technology GmbH. “Our positive experiences with IGEL in past projects and with IBM as a general contractor made them the ideal choices for a joint project,” reports Dr. Claus Weigand, a consultant at IBM Global Technology Services GmbH. “In the final analysis, cost effectiveness of the IGEL solution was the decisive factor. The primary criteria for selecting this technology to be deployed in the project were the processor performance, monitor resolution and stability of the thin clients.” Bernhard Panzer confirms this statement based on practical evaluations: “Even the first tests with IGEL Thin Clients already went very well. Another advantage, as I see it, is the IGEL Remote Management Suite that comes bundled with the hardware. This software has proven its value, especially in preparing for roll outs. What’s more, the fact that thin client units are available in different designs means that we can be very selective and cost conscious when equipping our IT workstations.”

The solution Incremental introduction of server-based computing with 2,800 IGEL Thin Clients (Premium and Smart) Broad deployment of IGEL Thin Clients: as point-of-sale (POS) terminals, for digital services, Dualview use, etc. 25% savings in support costs; 30% savings in power costs by 2009

Digital Services: Added Value and Ready for The Future
Another source of added value for A.T.U is that IGEL models come with a comprehensive spectrum of digital services that will allow the company to develop other specific application areas: In addition to the ICA communications protocol mandatory for the Citrix environment, the IGEL models also support VoIP through thin client or ThinPrint, a solution for bandwidth-optimized network printing. A.T.U. is already evaluating their future potentials. In addition, the IGEL units feature integral smartcard readers that permit smartcard-based authentication and roaming solutions to be implemented quickly and economically. Another important feature is the ability to connect two displays to them. “We’re deploying the IGEL-5200 LX Premium model first because of its Dualview function,” Panzer notes. “Since IGEL has also offered Dualview in its economical smart series, we’ve been using the IGEL-2110 LX Smart as the standard model in the head office and in our stores. So far, we’ve got about 150 Dualview workstations, which are mostly used in our call center and in requirements planning.” Another digital service being considered is the MPlayer that’s part of the firmware. “This feature would let us do other things in the future such as stream sales and informational videos right to the POS.”

Management Solution Accelerates Rollout
After a three-month implementation phase for the Citrix environment based on 120 blade servers, the rollout of the thin clients started in 2007. A.T.U. used its own logistics system to distribute the devices to its stores. “The locations got their thin clients over night, right along with their usual supplies of parts. We were also able to shorten the whole process by using the bundled IGEL Remote Management Suite to preconfigure the IGEL models. To facilitate this, the manufacturer made the MAC addresses of its devices available for use as a CSV import. After being set up and physically connected, the thin clients get their settings directly from the server and are immediately ready for operation.” By 2009, A.T.U. plans to roll out a total of 2,800 IGEL Thin Clients. 500 of them are intended for the head office, especially for the call center and administrative units such as cash auditing, the A.T.U Card department, accounting and requirements planning. After a pilot project in 2008, the thin clients will also be deployed in the stores as POS terminals. 

Power Consumption to Drop 30% by 2009
In the first phase of the project, lasting to about 2009, only new stores will be equipped with thin clients. Once this is completed, the existing ones will be gradually converted. Although in this phase there will also be a distributed terminal server in addition to the thin clients in the estimated 150 new stores, A.T.U. will already benefit from a significant decrease in power usage during this transitional period. “Until the replacement of the legacy systems in the stores and the removal of the distributed servers, we’re still going to have fat clients in 550 older stores. By then, we’ll have 500 thin clients in place in our head office,” Panzer reports. “The less power required by the thin clients and the timed shut off of the devices will reduce our power consumption by 30%. This will mean an annual savings of 230,000 euro compared to our previous PC-based infrastructure. At the same time, this is also an environmental consideration because the reduced power usage will also reduce our indirect share of CO2 emissions by 981 tons. After the elimination of the distributed terminal servers and the gradual replacement of the PCs in our older stores, we estimate that we’ll then be saving about 50% compared to the prior arrangement.”

The Best Conditions for Further Growth
IT manager Manfred Gerlach is pleased with the first results of the project: “The strategic decision to go with server-based computing with Citrix and IGEL has proven to be correct in all areas. It looks like the initial investments will pay for themselves in about three to four years. Once the migration is finished, we’ll be only purchasing new equipment for our stores based on the thin client concept. Our goal is to open 50 new stores using around 400 thin clients each year. Thanks to our new scalable infrastructure, the IT aspects of this expansion program should go smoothly and easily.”