Vodafone is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications network providers, with equity interests in mobile telecommunications operators in 26 countries and partner networks in an additional 10 countries. Vodafone UK encompasses 11 call centers, 400 Vodafone stores and over 500 other dealers. It has over 13 million customers and is one of the UK's largest companies by market capitalization. Vodafone was floated in October 1988 and has since grown without pause.

The Challenge: Taking High Bandwidth Applications To Thousands Of Users

Vodafone UK business divisions are responsible for their own budgets, including software development, and there are now around 500 applications in use across the UK organization. Vodafone's billing and customer care system, Gemini, is a critical business application. When Vodafone UK initially deployed the application in a client-server infrastructure, the company realized that the system's processing and bandwidth demands were too high for the required high-volume rollout, and a different approach was demanded.

A Citrix Solution For Application Deployment And Remote Office Connectivity

Vodafone UK worked with Point to Point, a Platinum-level member of the Citrix Access Partner Program, to review access infrastructure options. The company decided to implement Citrix® MetaFrame® Presentation Server.

Since the initial implementation to Gemini users, a wide range of company applications has been made available via the Citrix solution, including the Clarify CRM suite for use at Vodafone UK call centers. The solution now typically supports 5,500 concurrent users, and the Citrix server farm has grown from 57 to 250 servers. Vodafone UK's Citrix Systems Team Leader Theresa Cooper is approached every day with requests to set up additional applications on Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server.

Improving Customer Service With Fast Implementation And Remote Access

"Access infrastructure from Citrix means Vodafone's IT systems can keep up with the company's remarkable pace of change rather than always having to catch up," Cooper said. When Vodafone acquired a UK mobile telecoms service company, for example, the Citrix IT team was able to deliver access to the new company's billing operations within an hour.

"Delivering new applications or upgrades is quick and simple, with the least possible negative impact on customer service. For a customer-focused organization like Vodafone, that is critical," Cooper said.

Citrix technology also means that the company's corporate sales team can access applications from mobile devices, such as PDAs and laptops - connecting, of course, using VodafoneMobile Connect 3G/GPRS data cards. This gives them the same functionality on the road as when they are in the office, so they can immediately respond to customer requests. "They can deliver the high quality of service their customers expect, and at the same time highlight the range and quality of Vodafone's telecommunications services," Cooper said.

Cooper is able to comply with virtually all requests for applications to run on Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server. "On the cost-benefit side, Citrix increases ROI, so the business case is consistently strong for any application that is space-, memory- or bandwidth-intensive," Cooper added.

As applications and updates are only installed on the server, support staff do not need to go to individual PCs or mobile devices to ensure applications are available. "My team of just four supports all the applications that are delivered to 5,500 users through Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server, as well as 90 percent of the client devices - whereas our other applications need a staff of over 40 to ensure they are kept running," said Cooper.

Future Plans

Vodafone UK is now planning to roll out a suite of retail business applications to its network of 450 UK mobile phone stores. This will be a significant implementation, requiring a further 40 servers at Vodafone's Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server farm.