Virtual desktops cut costs at Denver transportation agency

When your IT staff numbers only five people, an opportunity to reduce costs and make it easier to manage your desktop infrastructure is nothing to scoff at.

That's the conclusion Trent Ratcliff of the Regional Transportation District (RTD) in the Denver area came to when reviewing the potential of thin clients and desktop virtualization. Since the summer of 2007, Ratcliff and his team have been replacing desktops with Wyse thin clients, and using VMware virtualization technology to deliver standardized desktop images.

When the RTD used traditional PCs only, each one would be replaced after three years as part of an upgrade cycle that was expensive and time-consuming. Ratcliff, the IT infrastructure manager, says he has just five people in his group including his supervisor, and the regular replacement of desktops monopolized the time of two employees for months at a stretch.

[ Slideshow: 10 must-have virtualization tools ]

"That was where I started – I can't get any more head count, so what can I do to work smarter?" Ratcliff says.

The RTD is a public transportation system that serves seven counties in Colorado. Before starting the virtualization rollout, the agency had 1,200 or so desktops, plus 200 laptops and 150 high-end workstations. So far, RTD has replaced 400 of the desktops with thin clients, and is hoping to get that number up to 800 by year-end. The remaining desktops are relatively new and won't be replaced until 2010 or 2011, while several considerations are preventing virtualization of laptops and high-end workstations.

RTD is using Wyse V10L thin clients, with a Wyse thin operating system and the VMware View virtual desktop infrastructure software. Using VMware was a natural decision since Ratcliff was already using the vendor's ESX hypervisor to virtualize more than 90% of his servers.

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