Community Hospital Corporation (CHC) is an organization that owns, manages and consults with hospitals with a mission to guide, support and enhance the mission of community hospitals and healthcare providers throughout the U.S. They currently own or manage more than 20 hospitals nationwide, each of which is independent and has its own staff.
A few years back, CHC embarked upon a mission to simplify their infrastructure and reduce costs, so they began evaluating virtualization solutions. But given the nature of their business, any changes made would have to not just reduce cost & complexity, but help enhance the user experience and improve patient care.
The Challenges
“One key issue we were facing was the lack of depth in terms of resources needed to support and manage a wide range of customized desktops. In some facilities, we had nothing but physical desktops which needed to be updated, managed and then replaced every few years. In other locations, we had traditional Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), but that was incredibly costly and complex to manage as well,” said Brian Stopinski, Corporate IT Operations Director, CHC.
“We realized there had to be a better way. Something better than physical desktops, but also something better than traditional VDI, which just moved the issues of physical Windows devices onto virtual desktops,” said Stopinski.
“So we did what most people probably do – we started with all of the biggest players. We spent almost four years evaluating VMware, Citrix, and Nutanix. But it became clear, time and time again, that none of those solutions were feasible from either a cost or complexity perspective. Many of our facilities only have one or two IT personnel, and it typically takes 10 or more people to manage a VDI deployment full time. So it doesn’t matter that these were the solutions that were in the upper right of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant – they simply were not an option for us,” said Stopinski.
“The reality is, we didn’t know what we didn’t know. We thought we needed to deliver a Windows desktop in order to give everyone access to all their apps, including Windows apps, on any device.”
The Solution
“After years of frustration and realizing that none of the traditional virtual desktop providers would work for us, we gave up on the idea. Until one day, we started talking to the Google Cloud team, and they introduced us to Cameyo,” said Stopinski.
“We were still in the mindset that we needed to deliver a full Windows desktop to give our people access to their apps. So at first, I completely discounted Cameyo and didn’t think it would work for us. But we decided to do an evaluation based on Google’s recommendation,” said Stopinksi. “In our initial evaluation, I was shocked by how small the footprint was of Cameyo’s solution. All of the servers, load balancers, and other infrastructure you have to manage with Windows desktops – we didn’t have to deal with any of that with Cameyo.”
“Then in our first demo session, the Cameyo team showed us how to spin our environment up within 45 minutes. We were up and running with applications published in just 45 minutes. I was absolutely blown away,” said Stopinksi. “Cameyo’s Virtual App Delivery (VAD) technology gives us a streamlined cloud desktop allowing users to access all of the apps and data they need to be productive from anywhere – all without the Windows desktop.”
The Realization
“When I first started my conversation with Cameyo, my mentality was that we had to deliver full Windows desktops. It’s simply the byproduct of 25 years of experience with Windows desktops, and I think a lot of people are still stuck in the same mentality that I was,” said Stopinski.
“It wasn’t until I saw Cameyo in action that it fully clicked that I did not need to present the entire Windows desktop. I realized that the desktop brings a lot of inherent baggage with it. There’s unnecessary stuff the user doesn’t need which actually complicates their workflow. There’s all this white noise on the Windows desktop that doesn’t make them more productive.”
“With Cameyo, I finally realized that the user doesn’t need to see the Windows OS. As an organization, we always ask ‘What is the value add?’ whenever we’re evaluating something new. So I applied that question to something old – Windows desktops – and it became obvious that the added value was zero.”
“In fact, the real value add is the elimination of the Windows desktop, because I don’t have to deal with all the complexity and all of the security concerns that Windows desktops bring. I can also deliver a lower cost solution because I don’t have to license Windows OS, I don’t have to license a Windows Terminal Server, I don’t have to support all of that infrastructure just to deliver the Windows desktop,” said Stopinski.
The Benefits
- Simplicity – “Every VDI solution I’ve looked at requires a file server to hold that user’s profile data as they roam around. Architecturally, Cameyo figured out a way to do it so that I don’t have to deploy and manage unnecessary resources, which then becomes an unattended expense. Our goal is to deliver and manage fewer things while also providing value. Cameyo helps me accomplish that,” said Stopinski.
- Cost – “The price point of Cameyo is so attainable and so reasonable, it almost defies logic. When I look at all the bigger company solutions that I evaluated, I realize that there’s just so much complexity and unnecessary baggage that increases the cost dramatically. I’m also not spending countless hours maintaining the Windows desktop beast,” said Stopinski.
- Support – “The level of support we’ve received from Cameyo has been phenomenal. We get extremely quick responses and engagement from top-notch engineers who really know this technology. They will spend as much time with me as I want to make sure that I have the information I need, but they’ve also let me know that at any time I can pass things over to them and they’ll take care of it if I prefer. I’m simply not going to get that from Citrix and VMware. I’d have to hire additional consultants to handle all of that,” said Stopinski.