MainStreet Bank Virtualizes Desktops, Enhances Storage, Simplifies IT Maintenance While Improving Security and System Availability
 
 

MainStreet Bank Virtualizes Desktops, Enhances Storage, Simplifies IT Maintenance While Improving Security and System Availability

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Since 2004, MainStreet Bank has served as a community bank offering banking services to businesses as well as individual consumers in Northern Virginia. MainStreet Bank combines exceptional in-person banking services with state-of-the-art internet banking capabilities to provide customers with the best of both worlds.

For several years, MainStreet Bank used Windows-based personal computers (PCs) as the dominant vehicle for delivering enterprise desktops to its employees. After doubling its branches and the number of employees in the last few years while facing a growing demand from customers to deliver advanced banking services, MainStreet Bank deployed Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure to increase desktop security, protect sensitive banking data, enhance service-delivery agility, enable employees to use their own computers and mobile devices, and reduce operational costs.
 
Today, Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 3.3 provides MainStreet Bank employees with a seamless user experience, enabling them to easily move their live desktop sessions to and from any supported thin client or PC. Using Oracle's Sun ZFS Storage 7320 appliance, MainStreet Bank now has centralized storage for desktop data, which enables cost-effective data protection for all virtual desktops. The bank has also reduced the time needed to add a new employee workstation from up to two days for a PC to just four hours for a Sun Ray Client, and, as part of that process, enabled IT staff to clone relevant software in just 5 to 10 minutes.

 
 

 
 

Challenges

A word from MainStreet Bank

  • "Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, Sun Ray Clients, and Oracle’s Sun ZFS Storage 7320 appliance provide many benefits, including reduced costs, improved access for our users, enhanced security, and reduced technical complexity. Also, the Oracle Virtual Desktop Client application for iPad not only is a ‘wow factor’ for our customers, but it also helps us continue to serve as a technology leader among community banks." – Matt McCrory, Systems Engineer, MainStreet Bank

  • Achieve fully consolidated and integrated desktop virtualization for desktop clients across the bank’s infrastructure to provide secure anywhere, anytime access for end users
  • Eliminate the cost of deploying and maintaining PC’s at bank branches, which, because they are spread across a wide geography, were difficult for the bank’s small IT staff to manage
  • Ensure high availability and security required in the financial industry, while reducing costs and operational risk

Solutions

Oracle Product and Services

  • Worked with Oracle Consulting to replace PC-based infrastructure with 42 Sun Ray 3 Clients and Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure software to simplify IT administration, reduce costs, and improve access to a wide range of applications, including financial services-specific software
  • Guaranteed high-level protection for banking data, as Sun Ray Clients do not have hard drives or any other internal storage, eliminating the risk of sensitive information exposure from a PC or laptop with locally saved data
  • Streamlined IT management, enabling MainStreet Bank to view central processing unit (CPU) utilization and memory on every, single machine
  • Deployed the Oracle Virtual Desktop Client application for iPad which provides users secure, worry-free access to their desktops and applications when they are away from a Sun Ray Client
  • Deployed Sun ZFS Storage 7320 appliance to enhance storage system performance and provide scalability for continued growth
  • Used Oracle Secure Global Desktop 4.61 to provide user access to centrally managed enterprise applications—including Microsoft Office and core banking software—with just a Web browser on nearly any modern PC.
  • Enabled remote management of desktop troubleshooting, application deployments, and upgrades through virtual clients, replacing PCs that required IT staff to travel to branches and fix issues before employees could continue delivering financial services
  • Reduced time to add a new employee workstation from up to two days for a PC to just four hours for a Sun Ray Client, and, as part of that process, enabled IT staff to clone relevant software in just 5 to 10 minutes
  • Enabled critical staff to work remotely, temporarily (for example, due to severe weather conditions) or more permanently (due to a long-term move)
  • Eased audit compliance processes by centralizing system patching

Why Oracle

“After evaluating several competing systems, we chose Oracle’s desktop virtualization portfolio for its reliability, cost-effectiveness, and security, which are imperative in the financial services sector,” said Matt McCrory, systems engineer, MainStreet Bank “In addition, the Sun ZFS Storage 7320 appliance has met and exceeded all expectations. It doesn’t even break into a sweat under normal operations.”
Implementation Process – Working with Oracle Consulting, MainStreet Bank went live on Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 3.3 in just three weeks in June 2011. From there, the bank deployed Oracle Secure Global Desktop 4.61, iPad support, and Oracle Virtual Desktop Client in July 2011.

Around the same time, MainStreet Bank ordered all new hardware and set up an entirely fresh system for Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. This minimized downtime and the impact on end-users.

“We were able to complete the entire implementation more affordably and quickly than we had initially anticipated, which was a huge win for us,” McCrory said.