The client (a government institution) has 2000 HP thin-clients spread over 14 locations in the Netherlands. The IT staff is located in the head office. Imaging the thin-clients always required that someone in the office got in their car and drove to the remote location. There (obviously) was a lot of time lost with this process. Even changing a minor setting wasn't possible without getting someone to drive to the location.
Our solution was to install an Altiris Deployment Server in each office, and two servers in the head office. The servers at each location connect every hour to the main server to get the latest jobs. Images and software that can be installed by the Deployment Solution is scheduled to synchronize every night.
IT staff is now able to go to every thin-client for every location, deploy an image, install software, or change a setting by using one single remote console.
The need for local support is gone, and nobody needs to travel to a office just to get a setting changed.
It is not only a time saver and therrfor a money saver, but now there is more room to introduce new software, services and settings.
The time for return of investment was almost 40 weeks, and after that it is a real money saver.
Users are no longer disturbed when maintenance is required. Distributing software or images can be done during off hours, and users do not notice any delays since maintenance takes place at off hours and the user is not able to work because his terminal is occupied.