Suncorp shifts all staff to virtual desktops

Supporting virtual desktops

Suncorp chief technology architect Ross Windsor.

The virtual desktop and BYOD programs also relied on upgrades to Suncorp’s network and storage infrastructure.

Again, some good decisions made during the Promina integration and data centre consolidation projects came into play.

The bank opted for network attached storage over a fibre channel storage solution. Windsor argues that this cheaper technology was robust enough for the bank’s largest databases. It presents a far cheaper, ‘scale-out’ storage option, Windsor said.

“It would have cost an arm and a leg on fibre channel”.

Suncorp’s data centre consolidation activities led it to upgrade to an MPLS-based network cloud, which connects using 10GB switching inside the data centres, plus lower latency between the production and recovery data centres (sub-one millisecond response times over a distance of 50km.)

Rolling out the virtual desktop to Suncorp’s network of branches, on the other hand, relies on an investment in WAN acceleration tools.

“Virtual desktops mean more traffic on the branch WAN – as everything is going back to the data centre, including print data.

“We have had to do a lot of capacity planning around latency. If we’re providing a virtual desktop in the Brisbane Data Centre to somebody in Perth, that’s very different to having someone connecting in Brisbane from the point of view of network latency.

"So adopting WAN optimisation technology across your network is absolutely key to adopting virtual desktops.”

Windsor said Suncorp’s experience should dispel concerns that virtual desktops have a negative impact on system performance. It doesn’t have to, if the underlying architecture is right.

“Performance and user experience on things like browsing and email is significantly faster – as you are not pulling information across a metropolitan link,” he said. “The 10GB switching in the data centre is extremely fast – there was a marked performance increase.”

But video performance on virtual desktops is still not ideal, he said, and has required custom development from the IT team.

“We have to do a lot of fine-tuning to make video offloading work well on the local client.”