Located in California’s high-desert country, the U.S. Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms is one of the world’s premier military training centers. But the hard work doesn’t end with the conclusion of a round of live-fire exercises. Afterwards, the center’s Exercise Support Division (ESD) springs into action with Marines and civilian employees who maintain and repair as many as 2,000 pieces of equipment before exercises begin again.

For years, Marines in the ESD suffered through hours of tedious paperwork as they worked to maintain and repair the hundreds of tanks, armored vehicles and other pieces of equipment. Fortunately, those days are over. The Marine Corps’ ESD has increased productivity, substantially reduced costs and saved countless man-hours, thanks to Citrix MetaFrame™ server-based computing software, Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition, a wireless LAN and a comprehensive maintenance application.

The Challenge: Increasing Productivity in a Mobile Computing Environment

The ESD needed to provide its mobile staff and mechanics with real-time access to a mission-critical maintenance application via wireless devices, without costly upgrades to the existing networking infrastructure.

For years, Marines and civilians in the ESD relied upon a paper-based system for tracking and ordering thousands of different devices and parts. This system often forced mechanics to spend five hours or more filling out worksheets for each piece of gear being inspected, maintained and fixed. The data then would be keyed into a central maintenance mainframe. To slash paperwork, the Marines developed a Maintenance Automation Program (MAP), which automated maintenance, parts ordering and administration. With MAP, data could be entered electronically, thus eliminating the paper forms, the re-keying and most processing errors.

However, with MAP, another challenge arose. MAP demanded top performance from the Marines’ computer system. The existing network, though, was slow. In particular, greater bandwidth was needed to support a 500MW wireless LAN, which had been set up outside so that mechanics could access the application on mobile handheld devices directly from the maintenance yard. In fact, data access via the wireless LAN was so sluggish that many users decided not to use the wireless capabilities at all, thereby defeating the purpose of the mobile system.

“The system was slow and cumbersome,” said Capt. Eric Anderson, Information Systems Officer for the Exercise Support Division of the Marine’s Air-Ground Combat Center. “We needed a better solution.”

Implementing Citrix Presentation Server Software

The ESD IT team turned to GTC Systems Inc., a Platinum-level member of the Citrix Solutions Network, to implement the Citrix application delivery solution. The ESD employed Citrix Presentation Server with Microsoft Terminal Server Edition software, to provide both wired and wireless users real-time access to mission-critical data. The end-users interact directly with the Presentation Server, which in turn, relays data to the central maintenance mainframe. As a Citrix Authorized Learning Center (CALC), GTC Systems Inc. also trained Marines how to use and administer the system.

Currently 170 Marines and civilians access the MAP on two Citrix servers. The Marines connect via 30 Telos wireless handheld mobilepads, Wyse Windows-based terminals, and nearly 100 486 and Pentium PCs. Captain Anderson is also considering Microsoft Windows CE-based handheld computers in the near future.

Increasing Employee Productivity by Improving Application Performance

Citrix has made the Marines more efficient and their staff more productive, enabling them to make equipment repairs faster and complete more work in a shorter timeframe. Citrix Presentation Server and Microsoft Terminal Server allowed the Marine Corps’ ESD to achieve this jump in productivity by vastly improving the performance of their computer network, especially the wireless LAN. Before, it could take ESD staff five hours to enter a repair order, but with Citrix and Terminal Server, the process has been dramatically reduced to a nine-minute electronic procedure. Presentation Server allows Marine mechanics to access MAP from anywhere over any type of client device, including wireless handheld devices, and enjoy exceptional network performance.

Real-time Access to Mission-Critical Information Anytime, Anywhere

Users are thrilled with the combination of Citrix and Terminal Server software, the MAP application and a PROXIM Radio Frequency LAN. Now, mechanics can go anywhere the equipment is located, working at their desks or on-site, without having to fill out piles of paperwork for each job. ESD mechanics and staff can use the mobile handheld devices, Windows-based terminals, or PCs to access the MAP application to determine real-time status of equipment in the maintenance cycle and can provide unit commanders with up-to-the-minute information on the availability of critical training equipment.

Centralized Administration Saves Time, Costs

Likewise, the Exercise Support Division’s IT staff is delighted. Network administration has been greatly simplified, as Citrix’s Independent Computing Architecture (ICA®) enables applications to be centrally deployed across heterogeneous computing environments to users of a wide range of hardware, operating platforms and network connections. In addition, Presentation Server’s “session shadowing” feature allows IT personnel to train and support users remotely, saving valuable travel time and costs. Citrix’s session shadowing allows an IT administrator to remotely join a user session and take control of a user’s mouse, keyboard and monitor, allowing the administrator to evaluate and diagnose a problem or train an end-user without having to be physically present at the user’s workstation. Presentation Server also makes local administration of the network easier, faster and more reliable. Marines can update software and configure clients from one central point.

Citrix Presentation Server software provides the Marines with a highly flexible computing environment, because Citrix can work with any type of hardware. Therefore, the Marines have been able to implement Wyse Winterm Windows-based terminals - which are inexpensive to purchase and maintain - to support the new environment. In addition, Capt. Anderson has found new life for a host of aging 486/33 PCs, which would be considered obsolete without the Citrix application delivery solution. The Marines have been able to recycle these old PCs and use them for terminals for the system. This fits in very well with the military’s continuing goal to cut costs, while not sacrificing mission requirements.

A Flexible Future with Application Delivery Infrastructure

Citrix’s ability to deliver applications rapidly, and from one central location, will also help the Marines as they expand the system to other Marine Corps locations. Presentation Server’s Load Balancing Services will also help ensure that servers are added easily, that they work together for peak efficiency and that capacity is not wasted. And as remote users come on line, many will connect remotely via the Internet or an intranet. Citrix Presentation Server - which supports any kind of connection - will have no problem supporting them. This system is light years ahead of the Marine Corps’ old way of doing business. And the Marines love it.

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