The UK’s Co-operative Group has selected the AppTitude application compatibility software platform from App-DNA to streamline its processes and applications during the migrations of resources to the new planned headquarters in 2012.
The new platform will enable the Group’s migration team to work through all of the business applications required for the new HQ, with soft packaging and centralised control of applications.
The Co-operative Group technical architect Ian Cawson said they chose AppTitude because it just worked out of the box. It was so simple to use that the IT Team needed only limited training, and it had a very low footprint in the data centre.
"From the detailed analysis it generates, we very quickly determined best practice and applied the right resources to package and remediate the applications," Cawson said.
The AppTitude application has been selected to determine the answer, testing the applications for compatibility with the Citrix XenApp and Microsoft App-VTM platforms, with a view to leveraging that information to migrate to Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft Windows 7 in the future.
The AppDNA platform gives insight into potential problems, and uses heuristic algorithms to categorise applications in one of three groups: those that will migrate successfully, those that need further testing, and those that will only work with remediation.
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The complete technical offering is based on a family of Citrix offerings including XenApp, XenDesktop, XenServer, Provisioning ServicesTM, and the Microsoft App-V platform.
The Group said it wants to mark the move by introducing environmentally-friendly staff practices such as home and remote working, flexible hours and a ‘hot’ desking policy that provides a reduced number of staff seats.
"This new architecture will meet all our objectives – staff will be able to work more productively from any location, and our systems will be agile and scalable to cope with business growth," Cawson said.
"We expect to save over £1.5m per year on simplified desktop maintenance and support, and a further £500,000 per year on reduced energy costs.
"And our commitment to a 35% reduction in the Group’s carbon footprint by 2017 is well within reach."
The UK-based Group is a large and diverse business with substantial interests in food retailing, car dealerships, high street pharmacies, financial and legal services, travel agencies and funeral services.
