At the central headquarters of Messer Austria in Gumpoldskirchen, you find an overlap of IT generations. The inventory includes both ten year old PCs incorporating special cards for the control of gas chromatographs and ultra-modern Thin Clients with a black design. With regards to Thin Clients, Messer Austria had no doubts whatsoever. At present, 75 of the 150 IT users in Austria have access to a Server Based Computing (SBC) solution hosted in Germany with little need of support or maintenance.

Messer Austria functions as the Central and Southern European head office for the international Messer Group, which includes 31 companies at the present time. In Austria today, Messer Austria has six production sites and about a hundred gas centres. More than 230 employees work to produce and market various kinds of industrial gas. Moreover, in IT matters the company has acquired specialised knowledge as a pioneer. At the start of 2002, the first Server Based Computing architecture was introduced within the Group, two years ahead of the German head office international roll-out. Messer Austria was able to set up the cost-effective distributed system and associated central software maintenance facilities, with the help of three application servers under Windows 2000 and Citrix MetaFrame. A fundamental reason for the introduction of the SBC architecture, mentions Christian Kraus, Messer Austria’s Head of IT, is lowering the cost of software maintenance in comparison to the classic Client/ Server environment. 'Centralised maintenance on the servers saves us the laborious tasks of distributing and updating the local software with the help of special tools.'


The customer

• A specialist in the field of industrial gas for more than 100 years
• Six sites in Austria with around 100 gas centres
• Over 230 employees in Austria, 4400 employees worldwide.
  

Pan-European SBC roll-out since 2004

In parallel to the installation of Server Based Computing in Austria, Messer Group GmbH commissioned the service provider Accenture to set up a central data centre for the whole group located in the small town of Kronberg in the Taunus region. The purpose of the new data centre, Christian Kraus says, is to replace the national infrastructures, and in the long term to provide a unified IT base for the Group. In May 2004, the servers went into operation on the foundation of Windows 2003 and Citrix MetaFrame XP. Since then, access has been progressively extended to other European sites, all of which will eventually be included. Messer Austria went over to the new system in February 2005 and the Austrian Citrix servers were taken off the network. 'The full cost saving potential of Server Based Computing can only be realised with Thin Clients,' says the IT Manager. 'First of all, the procurement costs, at around 300 euros per unit, are around half the outlay required for an adequate workstation PC. Moreover, we can count on the Thin Clients having a useful service life of six to seven years about twice as long as the PC. In any case, since our PCs were approaching the end of their lifecycle, it was the obvious choice.' When it came to the selection of a suitable operating system, the IT Manager relied on the experience of his German colleagues, who at this point had already evaluated a trial installation at the Bechtle Company. Christian Kraus favours the Microsoft CE operating system with a Linux alternative.


The challenge

• Simplification of the IT infrastructure within the international Messer Group
• Progressive switchover to Server Based Computing at all European locations
• Central management of the Thin Clients at field offices and administrative headquarters was essential
  

Management software decisive for choice of manufacturer

Perhaps the most important criteria for the choice of Thin Clients, in the eyes of Mr. Kraus, was central management. He then proceeded to try out an IGEL Clever Client with IGEL’s Remote Management Suite, which forms part of the standard delivery. Since February 2005, 75 users have been working with Linux-based IGEL-364 LX Compact models. 'We wanted management software that would be intuitive and easy to use, but at the same time would give us all the necessary functionality without restrictions. As a result, today we can administer all Thin Clients at our field offices and at central headquarters from a central point - a cost-effective solution. In addition, we have one or more pre-configured units on hand at every site, which the user can easily fall back upon in case of a system crash. Before the implementation, we always had to make lengthy support trips.'

Prior to the first configuration of the equipment, Mr. Kraus used the management tool for a firmware update. 'We connected several units by means of a switch. Within just a few minutes, the Thin Clients had been updated.' Other features the Thin Clients were expected to provide were USB connections for external CD-ROM drives, digital cameras and memory sticks. 'The IGEL Compact offers three USB ports, two of them on the front panel, which are easy to access. In addition, to prevent unauthorised use, all the relevant interfaces can be locked by the system administrator.'

Integrated Program Neighborhood support could likewise be a significant factor for Messer Austria. While the central applications were made available to users on the national SBC system via Published Applications, the roll-out of the central German SBC architecture provided a web front end as a desktop. To avoid the expense of additional training, Christian Kraus insisted that Austria should continue to be served on the basis of Published Applications. Thanks to the integrated Program Neighborhood support offered by the IGEL equipment, they could possibly be independent of these special provisions.


Cost savings

Today Messer Austria has a mixed environment consisting of 75 IGEL Clever Clients, 45 Notebooks and some 30 Fat Clients carrying special applications, which are not worth transferring to the SBC environment or because of their age, cannot be adapted. Replacement of the old workstation PCs has so far enabled Messer Austria to cut its administration costs by 20% in comparison with the cost of support on the old system. This is partly attributable to the centralised administration of the slim devices, and partly the result of the higher level of system availability. 'Swit- ching to Thin Clients is, for us, just a logical next step,' explains Christian Kraus. 'And there are significant benefits in relation to space requirements and security considerations. With the help of IGEL’s devices, we have managed to set up a cost-effective and largely uncomplicated IT environment, for which we no longer need to have any specialised expertise available at the various sites.'


The solution

• Installation of 75 IGEL-364 LX Compact units, with 20% savings in IT support costs
• Centralised administration with the help of IGEL’s Remote Management Suite. By 2008 the Messer Group will be using 500 to 600 IGEL Clever Clients on the international level
  

Forerunners for the continued roll-out?

By the start of 2008, Christian Kraus says, it is expected that the international SBC network of the Messer Group will have been extended between 1700 and 1800 users. He estimates that by that time something like 500 to 600 Thin Clients will be in use. Mr. Kraus sees this as a great opportunity for the Group: 'To take advantage of the full potential of Server Based Computing, it makes sense in the long term that the roll-out should also involve a standardisation of central management and the end device infrastructure. In my opinion IGEL’s equipment, along with its powerful management software that is easy to operate, would be ideal for the purpose.'


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