ANZ's virtualisation streaks ahead

Beverley Head
Wednesday, 20 July 2011 16:07

Business IT - Networking

ANZ Bank's CIO Anne Weatherston may have pinned her colours to desktop virtualisation, but she's a rare bird a report from technology analyst Ovum suggests. It claims many IT leaders are holding back for fear of selecting the equivalent of a Betamax solution for desktop virtualisation and because they struggle to demonstrate the return on investment of the approach.

Ms Weatherston appears to have overcome these hurdles as last week during a technology briefing for analysts and media she said that work had started on a 'bank wide virtual desktop capability' for the ANZ. 

For the last nine months the bank has been working on a new active directory which will act as the foundation for desktop virtualisation. 'The concept behind the aspect of the virtual desktop is that it will be device independent, so depending on how fast we grow within two years, I think we're actually starting a rollout in sort of the first quarter or second quarter of 2012 '¦here in Sydney. 

'Effectively, users can plug in what device they like, so that's the ambition that we have,' she said. Although Ms Weatherston did not specify the technologies selected she said that the same desktop virtualisation approach would be taken right across the regions where the bank operates which would support improved collaboration among staff.

According to the report from Ovum, which was first released overseas in June, while CIOs are being pressured to introduce BYO PC initiatives and keep desktop costs down (Ovum estimates there are 550-600 million desktop PCs used in businesses around the world), many remain concerned at the relative immaturity of the desktop virtualisation market.

In a media release issued to accompany the report Roy Illsley, the UK based author of the report and Ovum principal analyst, said that the move away from business PCs towards desktop virtualisation had been hampered by the fragmented market.

'The general view is that as the market is relatively immature; selecting the correct technology represents a significant risk because nobody wants to invest in the Betamax of the desktop virtualisation world.'