Different user scenarios, standardized management – Deutsche Börse Systems uses IGEL thin clients on the trading floor, for system monitoring and at its international server sites.

Whenever a stockbroker determines the fair market price of a security on the German Stock Exchange (Deutsche Börse) in Frankfurt, he has to be able to depend 100% on the IT system. In the worst case, critical failures can bring trading to standstill. Preventing such risks has been the job of Deutsche Börse Systems AG (DBS) since 1997. With over 1,000 employees, DBS is responsible for all of the IT systems used by the world’s largest stock exchange organization. In doing so, the DBS not only designs, builds and operates the technological infrastructure of the German Stock Exchange but also looks after 16 other exchanges around the world. A special focus of its operations in Frankfurt is ensuring the availability of end devices on the trading floor. It is there and in other application areas that thin clients ensure a secure, reliable and efficient computing environment.

Workstation PCs Too Extensive and Expensive
Since 2005, the workstations used by brokers have been among the responsibilities of Deutsche Börse Systems. “There were certainly some things there that needed improving,” recalls Jürgen Schneider, master in computer science at Deutsche Börse Systems AG. The workstations were equipped with PCs, and the central trading system was server-based. For handling such a simple job, the PCs were simply overkill, susceptible to mechanical failures and required a lot of ‘care and feeding.’ “In particular, the regular installation of security patches or the system restarts after crashes took up a lot of time and effort. To solve these problems and to permanently cut the maintenance and support costs, which were quite high, we recommended that the Deutsche Börse implement thin clients.” Schneider also identified two other areas in which thin clients would be a viable alternative for workstation PCs: as service terminals at the access points in the international computing centers and as a multi-screen workstation for system monitoring. In addition, the DBS was seeking a way to decrease the amount of heat generated by end devices and increase their ruggedness. Furthermore, for licensing reasons the thin clients had to be Linux-based and be able to provide various terminal emulations, especially since the stock-exchange workstations access an IBM 3270 mainframe system.

The customer Responsible for the entire IT system topology for Deutsche Börse Systems AG Provides support and service for 16 additional exchanges (access points) worldwide Over 1,000 employees

A Persuasive Solution from IGEL
Compared to PCs, thin clients have very compact and passive designs without any moving parts like drives or cooling fans. In order to combine these desirable advantages with a large degree of future-readiness, DBS was looking for a solution that offered the greatest possible flexibility and could be managed in a standardized way for three application areas. Michael Gruth, manager of systems and network support for DBS, describes the selection process: “After examining various test units, we found that the German manufacturer IGEL Technology had the most persuasive solution. IGEL’s different models all come standard with an extensive suite of firmware offering a great variety of digital services including terminal emulation, which is especially important for our purposes. What’s more, the units can be very easily, conveniently and uniformly grouped, administered and managed with the management solution that also comes with them.” Gruth mentions another critical factor in their favor: The fact that IGEL thin clients can be operated without having any contact with the management server. “This ability to have autonomous, standalone operation is a very important feature to us because a large-scale failure of end devices could endanger trading. Unlike with some of the competing units with streaming models, the IGEL firmware is stored on a compact flash chip in the device itself. This means that all the functions are available at any time. Although the firmware is updated from a central location, a fail-safe mechanism ensures that the update process will always be error-free.”

The challenge Reduce the time, effort and expense for support and maintenance services Consolidate terminals and PCs for stock broker workstations; include solutions for system monitoring and server administration (OpenVMS) Standardized management across all devices

On the Trading floor: High Availability, Low Temperatures
Of all the criteria to be fulfilled by the thin clients to be installed at the some 250 user locations at the stock market, the most important one was for the thin clients to permit basic access to the host-based applications serving the stock market while  having the smallest possible footprint. Based on this, Gruth determined that the IGEL model that would be most suitable was the IGEL-3210 LX Compact because its design would make it easy to install in the workstation ‘cabinets’ used by the brokers. “The simple, clean lines of this compact unit made them easy to fit in place. The workstations used by the brokers are fitted with a table top and a hooded section, which contains a low-glare monitor. The IGEL thin-client units can be placed behind it in the cable slot that also serves as a cooling duct.” This unobtrusive installation also reduces the amount of heat generated compared to the heat load from the PCs that had previously been installed. “We don’t need to have any additional cooling, which improves the indoor climate and also saves money. In fact, every IGEL thin client saves us at least 50 watts, compared to a PC.” Even more important to Jürgen Schneider than the power savings of about 4,000 Euro annually are the much shorter service and setup times: “Because they can be preconfigured using the IGEL Remote Management Suite, the devices can be exchanged in only five minutes. In contrast, installing a PC at a workstation took at least an hour. This time advantage also helps us in other ways, such as with our emergency service plan. Using our current stand-by reserves of approximately 130 IGEL thin clients, we can set up a complete emergency service location for back-up stock exchange operations within only three days.”


Access Points: A Trusted Management Environment
The second operational area for the IGEL thin clients are the 16 branch offices/access points located in large European and international cites like London, Paris, New York and Singapore. At these offices, the IGEL thin clients are replacing the previous maintenance terminals in the computing centers. “Until now, we had been using text-based VT520 terminals to access the OpenVMS-based systems. Since these terminals have gotten scarce, it just made sense to replace them with the versatile thin clients,” Schneider reports. “At each location we have two redundant IT racks that are located far apart from each other along with dedicated maintenance terminal for each one. The IGEL thin clients access the server through the PowerTerm integrated terminal emulation suite, which we had already been using on our administration PCs. With the VT100 protocol and the display export function in OpenVMS, an IGEL thin client turns into a reliable display system. A definite bonus compared to the previous scenario is the Mozilla Firefox web browser, which is part of the firmware. This digital service is also available to our administrators at our
access points.” Just like at the home exchange itself, the availability of the end devices is also critical at the satellite locations, as Gruth explains: “Since we almost always remotely administer the servers in the computer centers, it can be that no one actually sets foot in some locations for more than two years, and so when someone finally does enter a server room there, the device has got to function. The IGEL thin client gives us a most reliable administrative environment.”

System Monitoring: Efficient Multiviewing
For its third scenario, system monitoring, DBS selected a thin client model that IGEL had originally developed for using multiple monitors and other high-end graphical requirements: the IGEL-7304 LX PanaVeo, which is fitted with a Matrox EpicA (T4) graphics card optimized for thin clients. Among other things, this card allows simultaneous connection of up to four monitors as well as a screen resolution of up to 2048x1536 pixels. At DBS, the four connected LCD televisions run at a 1920x1200 resolution. To provide redundancy, another thin client was also purchased as a reserve unit. “Before this, we were using two PCs per workstation, which are now being replaced by one remotely administered IGEL thin client.” With this step, the consolidation and standardization being achieved with the new end-device infrastructure also includes workstations for monitoring server failures. “The IGEL PanaVeo model is managed with the same management solution that we also use to administer IGEL Compact models at the stock exchange workstations and at the international access points. Instead of using special management server as before, all we need today for management is a standard PC, which is also kept redundant. Beyond that, the IGEL solution offers us different options for managing the profiles; in our case, we use an SQL database to do this. The data records are automatically and economically backed through the central server.”

High Ratings for Performance and Support
The changeover to the IGEL thin clients took about 20 mandays to accomplish. In addition to their fast and easy migratability, Gruth has special praise for the fast response times and support from IGEL personnel. “We’d been well aware of IGELs’ great willingness to implement customized solutions for its customers. In our case, for promotional and image purposes, the stock exchange logo was even used for the image displayed during boot-up, instead of the standard one, which is a nice touch. Aside from small details like special fonts and special key assignments on keyboards, we hardly had to make any changes to meet our specific needs. Both the users and the administrators are equally impressed with the solution. The firmware has now been running for 18 months with complete stability and the reduction in our support load is clearly evident.”

The solution IGEL Compact for stock exchange in-house workstations and remote access points IGEL PanaVeo with Multiview for monitoring system IGEL Remote Management Suite: eliminates the need for a management server and for different database formats

Table: Environmental Impact of TCs Compared to PCs
Power consumption PC1)	68 W
Power consumption TC1)	16 W
Power savings per thin client compared to a PC2)	52 W
x 8 hours per day	416 Wh
x 220 workdays per year	91.5 kWh
Annual power savings3) from:
- 1 thin client workstation	13.7 €
- 250 thin client workstation	3.973 €
Amount of CO2 emissions4) prevented per year with:
- 1 thin client workstation	57.65 kg
- 250 thin client workstations	16.72 tons
Percentage reduction in power usage and CO2 emissions	76.5 %

1) Average share of share of effective power
2) Server-based share (host application) is the same when using PCs and TCs
3) Based on electricity rate of 0.15/kWh
4) Production of one kWh of the German power mix releases 0.63 kg CO2 Source: Fraunhofer UMSICHT: Environmental Comparison of PC and Thin Client Desktop Equipment (http://it.umsicht.fraunhofer.de/TCecology/index_en.html)

Note:
UMSICHT is the short name for the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology in Oberhausen, Germany (UMSICHT = Fraunhofer-Institut für Umwelt-, Sicherheits-und Energietechnik).