Ecorys is a premier player in the provision of research, evaluation, consultancy and technical assistance services to the public, private and third sectors, working closely with national governments including the UK government, policymakers and the European Commission.

The challenge – provide more sustainable, secure and flexible computing for demanding knowledge workers

In the UK, Ecorys had a patchwork of older desktop PCs and servers that were increasingly unreliable, putting serious pressure on a small UK IT team who had to support end users in offices nationwide.

The rising demands of working life are driving the need for flexibility and mobility as well as for better connectivity in the working place. Ensuring remote access to corporate data is still a great challenge for the IT departments of enterprises. Today’s employees need access to applications and company data any time and everywhere and they want to be able to use their PCs, notebooks, tablets or smartphones for work. Therefore IT departments need an effective solution for easy and cost effective management of IT applications across a range of devices.

In 1998 Factorias Vulcano began a project to consolidate the management of its IT applications. The company deployed Citrix Metaframe Servers to host corporate applications on central servers and allow remote access for users of the corporate network. The introduction of Citrix Metaframe enabled more than 75 users to get connected to a single OS and share ICT resources, resulting in significant cost efficiencies for the company.

Virtual desktops from NComputing create multiple workstations from just a few computers

Computers in classrooms have become an important part of education. It is clear that the use of digital media as well as personal computer training encourages independent learning on the Internet.

The Globe is a public elementary school in de Tarwewijk, located in the Charlois district of Rotterdam. The school was established in August 1995 through the merger of two schools: Dubbelspoor, on Zwartewaal Street, and Dubbeldekker, on Den Hertig Street. The two locations employ a total of 58 staff serving 425 students. The Globe is a diverse school open to everyone, with respect for all cultural and religious backgrounds.

The staff at Nkumba University, one of the few private chartered universities in Uganda, was facing an administrative nightmare. With a limited number of PCs and a university full of students eager to learn, how could they ensure that every student had sufficient access to the computer labs?

Budget restrictions, growing maintenance and electricity costs highlighted the need for an innovative solution to address the challenges that this progressive university faced.