Infrastructure and software solutions Value Added Reseller, Trustmarque, announced today that it has helped Markel International develop a full 3-6 year implementation roadmap and negotiated an Enterprise Subscription Agreement (ESA) with Microsoft so that it is now in a position to deploy Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) technology across the business.
Antony Attfield, Practice Lead for Trustmarque’s Software Procurement Consultancy comments: “According to the latest Citrix European Channel Index, the cost of additional infrastructure, licensing issues and complexity of virtualisation technologies are top of the list when it comes to customer concerns about desktop virtualisation. With this in mind, Markel made the right move in seeking professional advice, as without our help I don’t think they would have considered the ESA and would have undoubtedly spent more money.”
In early 2011 when Markel International was first looking to migrate to a VDI environment, it found that under the terms of its existing OEM licensing agreement it was not entitled to upgrades, which meant that new licences would be needed to support the move to VDI. Markel brought in Trustmarque to conduct a thorough review of its entire desktop estate and help plan its current and future IT procurement strategy. Mike Jarrett, Service Delivery Manager for Markel International, explains:
“We had a Select Agreement in place that didn’t cover desktop operating systems so we had to find a new solution. With the move to VDI things started to get complicated and potentially very expensive. VDI is a new technology and the Microsoft licensing in this area is a real quagmire - Trustmarque helped us work out the best possible route to procurement.”
Trustmarque had been working with Markel for a number of years delivering procurement services and technical support and the Commercial Benchmarking service the company provides was an attractive option to help Markel understand the impact of its procurement choices. Mike Jarrett continues:
“We knew from previous experience that the team at Trustmarque is first class and the service excellent so we didn’t feel the need to look elsewhere. Trustmarque has an impressive amount of knowledge and experience in new technology so they were the perfect partner to work on this project.”
Markel started work with Trustmarque in February 2011 and signed its new licensing deal for an ESA in July 2011. Trustmarque developed a future implementation roadmap, modelling a number of different options to demonstrate the cost per year as well as over a six year period. Trustmarque then provided Markel with a breakdown of each of the procurement options available to demonstrate the entitlements and how this would fit in with the company’s future strategy. Once the best option had been selected Trustmarque was also able to work with Markel to negotiate the most favourable deal. Attfield concludes:
“Previously Markel licensed products such as Visio and Project under a Select Agreement, but then had its operating system on OEM, and its SQL Server under Select. Things were spread across a number of different agreements. Now they have one licensing agreement which is a lot simpler. But more importantly it has a procurement roadmap for the next five to six years and it is in a ready state to start deploying VDI technology.”
FACTFILE:
Trustmarque is a market-leading Value Added Reseller and provider of technology services and solutions to UK private and public sector organisations. Trustmarque has been a trusted advisor to customers on issues relating to technology for over 24 years, helping companies to make sense of their complex IT environments by unlocking the value of technology, improving efficiencies and reducing costs.
Trustmarque holds ISO9001/2000, ISO14001, OHSAS18001 and ISO27001 certifications, is OGC accredited and has achieved the Investors in People standard. In addition Trustmarque’s employees are ITIL and PRINCE2 qualified.
Trustmarque has also worked with The CarbonNeutral Company (formerly Future Forests) leaders in the field of carbon management and climate change solutions to become a CarbonNeutral® company.
For more information about Trustmarque visit www.trustmarque.com, call 0845 2101 500, or email: info@trustmarque.com.
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