“In terms of the environment, which is something very close to the town'sheart, HP Thin Clients consume considerably less energy than PCs: 30watts compared to 200 watts, which has drastically reduced ourelectricity bills,” Marc Cohen, head of Computer Services, Rosny-sous-Bois

HP customer case study: Rosny-sous-Bois town hall and the town's schools introduce HP Thin Clients

Industry: Public Sector

In the year 2000, the town hall at Rosny-sous-Boisdecided to modernise its computer architecture. Itsdecision relied on the gradual implementation of HPThin Clients as new equipment was bought toreplace the old. Today, it has clearly been a success.There are more than 250 terminals distributed acrossthe 20 communal buildings, with more than 100installed in schools.

When your IT support team is made up of just threepeople, what do you do to ensure consistentmanagement of a fleet of computers that is growingall the time? And within a town hall where thecomputer network is poorly utilised and where thetown council hopes to pursue the use of industry-specific applications? This is the situation that MarcCohen, head of computer services at the town hall inRosny-sous-Bois, was faced with when he arrived. Inno time he decided to utilise a centralisedvirtualisation system from Citrix based on serverslinked to HP Thin Clients. After an initial test thatproved the technical side of things would work, HPwas selected to provide the equipment.

Objective:In the year 2000, the town hall in Rosny-sous-Bois decided to modernise its computerarchitecture. Its aim was to replace all the PCswith HP Thin Clients.

Approach:• The town hall at Rosny-sous-Bois called upon

HP to standardise its computer architectureboth for its internal needs and for its schools.

• HP t5730 Thin Clients communicate with theHP ProLiant servers to ensure service,equipment quality and ease of IT support.

IT improvements: • 600 per cent reduction in workstations’

electrical consumption thanks to HP ThinClients.

• Ease of deployment.

• Ease of administration.

• Lightweight equipment.

Business benefits: • Virtualisation has resulted in a cost saving of

€150,000 per year.

• Standardisation of computer support.

• Economical to purchase.

• Performance and flexibility.

• Modernisation of the town's computer system.

Rosny-sous-Bois installs HP Thin Clients inits administration buildings and schools

Marc Cohen's initial analysis proved the reliability,service, quality and ease of configuration of HPproducts. Today, there is a fleet of 30 physical HPProLiant DL380G5p servers managing all theapplications for the municipal services, apart fromthe design office (which has workstations and an HPserver). Many of the fleet servers are connected to250 HP Thin Clients distributed across 20 communalbuildings by means of an Ethernet network. There aremore than 50 industry-specific applications, plusadministration functions, which are now accessiblefrom any workstation.

Financial and technical benefits“Thanks to this solution, which involved ‘virtualising’the workstations, we were able to first estimate thenachieve a saving of €150,000 per year compared toinstalling 300 PCs, a third of which would have to berenewed every year,” explains Marc Cohen, “notforgetting that an HP Thin Client was and remainsmuch more affordable than a PC. What is more, theHP terminals are extremely flexible, with simple,customisable updates using excellent administrationtools.” As soon as they connect, all users can accessa user-friendly Windows environment andapplications as a function of their accesspermissions. The result is that IT support for the thinclients is considerably reduced and adding anindustry-specific application is merely a question ofupdating the fleet of servers.

Marc Cohen emphasises that “we can also takecontrol of a workstation remotely in conjunction withthe user if they have a problem with an application,or close the terminal if they are not there, all from ouradministration console. Finally, in terms of theenvironment, which is something very close to thetown's heart, Thin Clients consume considerably lessenergy than PCs: 30 W compared to 200 W, whichhas drastically reduced the electricity bills.”

Thin Clients for schoolsAs the use of HP terminals at the town hall was asuccess, the idea came about of deploying them inschools. This made sense as the public office wasresponsible for IT support for the existing PCs and

they had to be returned to the town hall for reasonsof costs and equipment becoming obsolete. For MarcCohen, it is very simple: “if we want the schools tohave the same tools and the same internet accesswith a minimum of IT support and security, we needto apply the same principles as those in force at thetown hall.” As a result, each of the seven schoolgroups in Rosny-sous-Bois now has a dedicatedcomputer room with an HP ProLiant DL120 G5 serverlinked to an Ethernet Local Area Network (LAN) with15 HP t5730 terminals.

Each server is installed with the HP Image Managerapplication, which allows each workstation to bedisplayed virtually. As soon as it is switched on, itgoes to the server to find its personalisedconfiguration, which cannot be changed. If there areproblems, the terminal merely needs to be rebootedto restore it to full working order. These updates arecarried out remotely on the dedicated classroomservers from an administration console managed bythe IT team.

There are now more than 100 Thin Clients installedin the schools, and no physical intervention isrequired. Because of the savings made, the numberof Thin Clients can be gradually increased in thecomputer rooms from 18 to 20 terminals, not tomention the increasingly high-performanceperipherals. There is also a central filtering solution which prevents the children accessingbanned sites.

Working towards a web-oriented environment In 2010, Marc Cohen, who now heads a team of six,will be carrying out a comprehensive migration of thetechnical architecture. The users of the HP ThinClients at the town hall will use an intranet and aweb interface to open ‘applets’ corresponding to theindustry-specific applications. The HTML environmentwill considerably simplify the use of the computersystem. Not only that, but some of the physical HPservers in the computer room will themselves bevirtualised in order to increase their processingcapacities without the need for a user interface andthe additional electrical energy.

To learn more, visit www.hp.com

© 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to changewithout notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statementsaccompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additionalwarranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

4AA1-6808EEW, January 2010

Customersolution at a glance:Primary hardware

• 100 x HP t5730w Thin Clientsand 150 x HP Neoware ThinClients at the town hall

• 100 x HP t5730w Thin Clients inthe schools

• 30 x ProLiant DL380 G5pservers

Primary software

• HP Image Manager