THE CHALLENGE

Western Health identified multiple challenges as the organisation attempted to modernise its endpoint infrastructure to align with the investment made in updating its virtual desktop solutions. The business had set key criteria for the modernisation project in the areas of:

• Cybersecurity
• High Availability
• Interoperability with key internal services
• Serviceability by IT and users
• Hardware integration

Among the most pressing issues was the needto deliver an improved user experience while sustainably extending the lifespan of Dell, HP, all-in-one thin clients, and endpoint devices, together with integrating into the Imprivata tap on tap off service. Additionally, the solution being implemented needed to simplify device management into a single pane of glass to manage different Dell and HP thin clients, laptops, and workstations to improve hardening and security footprint by eliminating devicesusing legacy operating systems without having to physically replace them and using highly secured endpoints across their locations.

Western Health leveraged the IGEL solution to implement a disaster recovery “Break Glass” procedure to bypass routine access control procedures during critical emergencies. In the case of a significant event at the primary datacentre(s), Western Health can now rapidly redirect critical care workers from the core Citrix platform to a segregated Azure Virtual Desktop(AVD) environment providing direct access to health service-hosted SaaS apps.

“We wanted to integrate IGEL target devices with Imprivata and provide optimised functionality for use with unified communications, including Telehealth, Zoom and Teams for supported device types such as headsets, webcam and speakers,” explained Oz Tuzun, Technology Specialist, Digital Technology Services, Western Health

Brian Riegels-Morgan, a Senior Consultant at Insentra, provided guidance to Western Health in its endeavor to modernise its endpoint infrastructure. He emphasised, “Western Health sought the capability to seamlessly connect through Imprivata to their new Citrix service using the latest Citrix Workspace App client.”

Critical success factors for Western Health included an improved user experience accessing centralised services; the ability to optimise Unified Communications for Microsoft Teams and Zoom; the flexibility to swiftly adjust the configurations of their end-user devices to
accommodate various Citrix farms, external services, applications, or the Disaster Recovery Microsoft AVD solution, even in simulated scenarios where it’s Citrix farm might be unavailable; the ability to manage multiple physical endpoint workstation types from a single
management console; and, providing hostname pass through for printing within its Citrix environment.

“Ensuring minimal impact to our users while transitioning to the new services and configuring role-based access control for support teams was critical for Western Health,” added Tuzun, “Our IT team wanted to have a uniform and streamlined management solution, update images and firmware on many endpoints across diverse locations and integrate with current management services for CMDB and image delivery. Finally, we required reporting and alerting on device usage and advice and input for change management, user acceptance testing, and end-user communication.”

THE IGEL SOLUTION

In selecting IGEL, Western Health conducted a Proof of Value (PoV) exercise and found the IGEL solution met all the required criteria established by the organisation.

“We chose IGEL due to its functionality and support of multipleusage scenarios and environments WesternHealth use, which allowed us to extend our current hardware investment,” said McBride.

“It integrates well with Imprivata and makes connecting to multiple hosted services using the latest clients easy. It also saved Western Health money as we could continue to use 1,000 thin clients sustainably, which would not have hardware vendor support when directed to the new Disaster Recovery AVD solution being implemented. Changing to the IGEL OS on the devices provided an
improved and supported solution.”

OUTCOME

Western Health, along with its technology consulting partners, Insentra and Insight, have expressed their overwhelmingly positive experience with IGEL.

Riegels-Morgan stated, “IGEL’s pre-sales and support teams played pivotal roles in the successful Proof of Value(PoV), deployment and overall customer acceptance of our services. While the project encountered a few challenges, such as a Wi-Fi NIC driver issue and SCEP Wi-Fi network connectivity involving AD certificates, the IGELsupport team provided detailed and effective resolutions.

Riegels-Morgan went on to highlight Western Health’s comprehensive utilisation of IGEL in conjunction with Citrix, Imprivata, AVD, and in the creation of public use kiosks. These kiosks grant users access to various applications, including Zoom, LibreOffice, web browsers and other applications, delivering a more streamlined and efficient experience for patients and visitors, while ensuring the security of sensitive information. The deployment of IGEL OS on Western Health’s devices has not ably enhanced user performance.

McBride remarked, “These improvements were evident during the pilot phase initially intended for 50 devices. The overwhelmingly positive feedback prompted the rapid expansion of the pilot to encompass over 200 devices as business users recognised the enhanced functionality provided by IGEL OS.”

Western Health has already procured additional licenses to support the transition of a new hospital they are onboarding. McBride summed up their experience with IGEL by saying “Overall, our experience with IGEL and their local partner Insentra has been exceptional. From a professional services perspective, the customisation, security and modularservice approach are fantastic. The ease of fine-tuning configurations to meet our specific requirements while drawing from a set of established standard profiles add substantial value to our implementation and our organisation.”

ABOUT IGEL

IGEL is the leader in providing a secure endpoint OS for enterprises now and next. Designed for VDI, DaaS, SaaS and secure browsing, IGEL OS delivers a first-class user experience while being seamless to manage – saving money, fuelling growth, supporting sustainability and driving organizations forward. IGEL OS supports a Zero Trust approach to security through the unique IGEL Preventative Security Model removing the attack vectors often exploited by bad actors. Trusted by leading healthcare, financial services, retail, manufacturing, and government leaders worldwide, IGEL has a growing ecosystem of more than 100 integrated IGEL Ready ecosystem partners and is represented by partners in over 50 countries. For more information on IGEL, www.igel.com.

ABOUT INSIGHT

Insight Enterprises, Inc. is a global Fortune 500 Solutions Integrator helping accelerate transformation by unlocking the powerof people and technology. We architect, build and manage solutions for complex IT environments. Our digital transformation services include deep expertise in cloud, data, AI, cybersecurity and intelligent edge, augmented by long standing relationships with 6,000+ technology partners. By quickly and effectively delivering best-fit solutions, we help our clients simplify modern businessprocesses to improve customer and workexperiences, business intelligence, efficiency and growth. We’re rated as a Great Place to Work, a Forbes Best Employer for Diversity and a Forbes World’s Top Female-FriendlyCompany. Discover more at au.insight.com.

ABOUT INSENTRA

Insentra is a truly collaborative IT Services Partner delivering a range of specialised Advisory, Professional and Managed Services, transacting exclusively through the IT channel. Our partner-centric business model provides our Partners and their clients with access to technologies, industry expertise and accountable outcomes. Our service offerings cover technologies by Microsoft, Citrix, Red Hat, AvePoint, IGEL,Rimo3, Nulia and many more across modern workplace, cloud, collaboration, security, support, migrations and more. We love what we do and are driven by a relentless determination to deliver exceptional service excellence. The combined individual skills,experiences and perspectives of our crew enable us to achieve powerful results for our Partners and their clients. For moreinformation, visit www.insentragroup.com.