// END-USER INSIGHT //

The new VDI platform supports agile working yet is optimised to run GPU-intensive architectural applications like Revit, Rhino, Enscape and SketchUp – crucial to delivering customer projects on time, in what is an everdemanding industry.

“ Architecture is a heavy user of graphicsbased IT. Building Information Modelling is now adopted pervasively, producing large volumes of data and consuming substantial compute. Clients recognise the technology improvements so the expectations about the visuals and data provided are growing,” said Dave Moyes, Partner, Information and Digital Systems at SimpsonHaugh Architects.“ Ten years ago, we might have created 500 drawings for a project. Today, it’ s at least double. Projects are increasingly complex and time scales are tight. The pressure to be quick and agile while creating quality design proposals which optimise a client’ s brief is therefore considerable. It is no exaggeration to say that ICT to support this is indispensable.”

SimpsonHaugh’ s ICT strategy involves keeping technology simple for staff to use. The business is project delivery and‘ time charge’ based. ICT system availability is paramount given downtime has material impact on this.

UK-managed service provider and digital workspace consultancy, ebb3, was selected to support with the rollout and has been instrumental in the design, implementation and management of the VDI environment. ebb3 also provides SimpsonHaugh technical second and third line support.

“ The transition to VDI is being phased. SimpsonHaugh is running a hybrid environment – both virtual desktops and physical desktops – so as to capitalise on its existing investment in expensive workstations,” explained Jav Fiaz, ebb3’ s Technical Architect & Senior Platform Engineer.“ A key project goal was to keep the compute and data as close as possible to minimise latency which we’ ve delivered.” using ControlUp’ s DEX platform identifies which applications are hogging resources so that remedies can be considered like adding RAM, GPU or‘ throttling down’ software which is compute intensive.”

SimpsonHaugh is experiencing significant benefits through the combination of VDI and ControlUp’ s DEX platform:

1. Potentially £ 1.79 million lost earnings saved. VDI has resulted in a huge reduction in IT downtime equating to approximately 17 % of SimpsonHaugh’ s 2023 turnover. This is based on 15 % gain in hours per week multiplied by 80 architectural staff over the course of a 38-week year, using an average hourly rate of £ 105. Time savings result from less break-fix, fewer hardware and software issues with files and applications opening faster.

2. Annual overall ICT investment maintained through the VDI implementation – no significant spikes in hardware cost, with VDI giving certainty that systems are guaranteed to work.

3. Huge productivity gains for staff, with superior work / life balance realised. Architecture is a vocation. SimpsonHaugh’ s employees are passionate about what they do. Citrix enables people to work easily from home – just as if they were in the office – while juggling their personal lives more advantageously.

4. Staff cannot tell if they are working on a physical machine or via VDI – a

GUARANTEEING THE END- USER EXPERIENCE IS VITAL.

Moyes added:“ If virtual desktops aren’ t resourced properly – and applications freeze or suffer from latency – staff will blame the‘ new system’. Guaranteeing the end-user experience is vital. Monitoring in real-time

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