Ghosts And Clones At The Telecom Shed

Ghosts And Clones At The Telecom Shed

Greater efficiency and reduced down time through standardised configuration

With some supernatural assistance from Symantec Ghost, IT service provider Infinity Solutions configured 64 computers in less than 25 minutes each, enabling the Telecom Shed to open in time for the start of Louis Vuitton Cup racing.

Using Symantec Ghost to clone a standardised software configuration onto all the desktops slashed almost 100 hours off the set up time.

Craig Paterson, Infrastructure Services Manager at Infinity Solutions, says the time frame for establishing the pods of computers at the Telecom Shed was particularly tight.

“We quickly needed to deploy applications on 64 IBM NetVista desktops and laptops. Symantec Ghost was the perfect software solution as it allowed us to clone the applications to each workstation, taking only a few minutes to set up each one. This saved us a lot of time and money,” says Paterson.

Global IT services company EDS, which maintains the enterprise architecture at Telecom, put together a sponsorship package to recreate Telecom’s internal desktop environment in the Telecom Shed in the America’s Cup Village. Existing suppliers such as Symantec donated the complete range of software and desktop equipment. Symantec donated the 64 Ghost licences for the Shed which opened during the Louis Vuitton Cup. Infinity Solutions then set up the desktops in the Telecom Shed and will manage them throughout the America’s Cup competition until March 2003.

Paterson says all of the computers in the Telecom Shed are being managed remotely using Infinity’s locally developed technology known as ‘Infinity Network Manager’.

“The support team dial in to fix any problems. Because all the computers are standardised to the same configuration, if a computer has a problem that will take more than 20 minutes to fix, the team simply rebuilds the applications using the Ghost central management console. All of which can be done remotely, meaning greater efficiency and reduced down time in the event of any problems,” says Paterson.

A bonus for the project team is the knowledge that Symantec Ghost is developed in New Zealand.

“As the project managers for the technology for the Telecom Shed, it’s great to know we’re partnering with local technology on this project – spotlighting New Zealand talent at a time and place when so much attention is focused on us,” says Chris Quin, General Manager, Telecom Advanced Solutions at Telecom.

Richard Batchelar, Country Manager Symantec New Zealand, says the Telecom Shed is the kind of project that showcases the benefits of using Symantec Ghost.

“Symantec Ghost is ideal for PC deployment and recovery. It can dramatically reduce IT costs by streamlining configuration and management of networked work stations. Applications and operating systems can be deployed or restored in minutes, all from the central management console.

“Symantec is really pleased to be a part of the Telecom Shed project – using local technology to bring the America’s Cup to life for visitors to the Viaduct Harbour,” says Batchelar.

The Telecom Shed is a public space for New Zealanders to go to learn more about Team New Zealand and the America’s Cup. It contains interactive games and demonstrations as well as showcasing some of the new communications possibilities available now and over the next few years.

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