Operating in the country for 39 years, Xerox do Brasil is the leader in document processing and specialized services for office environments. Xerox do Brasil’s staff and business partners are distributed across the country at six branches, two manufacturing plants –- one for toners (Camaçari/BA) and other for printers (Manaus/AM) –- and 400 licensed dealerships. Xerox is a global company with 61,100 professionals and a turnover of US$15.7 billion.

The Challenge: Improving Secure Application Access while Cutting Costs

To remain a market leader, Xerox do Brasil constantly reviews its processes to reduce costs and boost efficiency throughout its corporate structure, using information technology as an essential tool. Accessibility to corporate applications is a driver for IT investment; however, Xerox sought ways to keep security tight no matter what device or user were to access corporate resources.

In 2003, Xerox’s technology team needed to make several essential applications, which handle tasks such as order entry and reporting, accessible to employees at its licensed dealerships. These tasks were previously completed manually and documents were submitted by fax or e-mail, taking too much time and effort. The Xerox applications had been developed internally for a Microsoft® Windows® environment; however, the operating systems on dealers’ workstations were not standardized. “Rewriting each application and installing it locally on dealers’ desktops would have been impractical,” explained Dinis Abramovitch, technology and systems architecture manager from Xerox, adding that up to 430 users needed to access the software.

Dealers were linked to the central office by a Virtual Private Network (VPN) for a higher level of security for exchanging e-mails regarding orders, and to access some of Xerox’s network resources to retrieve data such as equipment pricing. “This connection demanded stringent security controls to prevent dealers from obtaining access to confidential corporate data on the network,” said Abramovitch. Because of high VPN costs, Xerox wanted to reduce data transmission and simplify the security infrastructure.

Internally, Xerox needed a way to decrease IT management expenses in its offices. With some legacy PCs more than four years old, “upgrade time” was approaching, bringing an average cost of US$1,666 per desktop. To save money, Xerox intended to move away from constantly renewing desktops, as well as the expense and difficulty of desktop management, particularly application delivery.

Implementing Citrix Presentation Server for Application Delivery

With support of the Gold Citrix® Solution Advisor AddIT, in 2003 Xerox began developing a Web portal to aggregate the main internal administrative applications that dealt with order entry and report management and issuance. Xerox took advantage of a key feature of Citrix Presentation Server™ called Web interface, which instantly Web-enables legacy applications without rewrites and delivers them to users via a portal.

By remotely downloading the Citrix client on the dealer workstations, the Xerox IT team enabled approximately 430 remote users to access applications running on Citrix Presentation Server via the corporate portal. Further, thanks to its support for any client device or operating platform, the Citrix solution enabled Windows applications to be accessed on Java workstations at dealer locations without recoding.

Saving Money and Time on Web-based Application Delivery

“The gain in time and productivity obtained by our information technology team was significant,” explained Abramovitch. “Instead of rewriting each application, we now run them on Presentation Server and make them available over the Web.” The Citrix client, installed on the workstation, completes the “bridge” for communication with the server, permitting rapid remote access by the dealers.

“Dealers can focus their time on sales and their business goals and less on operational activities. IT supports their work while reducing costs. Since data is submitted in real time, headquarters staff has a much clearer view of how sales are going,” said the Xerox executive.

Abramovitch mentioned that high application availability is preserved by means of the advanced load balancing capability of Citrix Presentation Server. “In the event of unavailability of one of the servers, planned or not, the other two seamlessly assume the demand. This feature gives dealers the security of always having their work tools available.”

Breaking the PC Upgrade Cycle

Internally, Xerox used the Citrix architecture to turn legacy PCs into Linux thin-client machines that do not require regular replacement or upgrades. Because Citrix supports access to the latest applications on older devices, Xerox can extend the life of these desktop machines.

Instead of investing US$1,666 to exchange each old machine for a new one, Xerox purchased Add-client, a Linux card for booting and running the Citrix client, for about US$125. Abramovitch explained, “With little expense, the Citrix solution allowed Xerox to extend the life of its computers for more than four years and lowered annual costs for end-user machines from US$600 to US$25.” For maintenance and support, Xerox estimates an annual reduction of US$575,000.

Reduced Bandwidth Demand and Simplified Security over the Internet

Citrix Presentation Server benefits Xerox by reducing network bandwidth demands. With application processing centralized on the server, only minimal information such as mouse clicks and image updates passes through the network. “What the user sees is an image of the application running on the server; accordingly, the performance of the application does not depend on the speed of the dealers’ workstations,” Abramovitch stressed.

Presentation Server has also streamlined the management of data security. The VPN was no longer essential as the Citrix solution encrypts data traveling between server and desktop. It has been replaced, without the risk of security breaches, by cost-effective Internet connections via broadband or dedicated links. Through Citrix, dealer employees only access the applications and information they are permitted by the Xerox IT team. “Access is totally controlled by our IT team,” said Abramovitch.

“One of the good things about the Citrix solution is that it can be accessed by as many users, departments and partners as we need. The benefits of cost reduction go along with each new implementation,” he concluded.

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