JDB Group is a Hong Kong-based enterprise that produces and sells specialty beverages. In 1995, the group launched Wong Lo Kat, its herbal tea, in now-famous red cans. In 1999, the group set up its production base as a foreign capital enterprise in Chang An Town of Dongguan City, which is located in the Guangdong Province of China. In order to tie in with the nationwide market development strategy, the group also set up individual production plants in Beijing, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangzhou. Today, JDB manufactures and distributes a range of beverages in more than 30 provinces, cities and autonomous regions in China, and exports to Southeast Asia, Europe and the US.

The challenge: deliver applications securely and efficiently to remote offices

More than 10,000 employees from 30 branches need to access business applications including the company’s ERP and E-HR solutions, whose databases and servers are located at the headquarters. As the branches have no professional network administrator, the maintenance work of all IT systems had to be shouldered by 20 IT experts from the headquarters. It was really a heavy task. IT faced three challenges, namely, delivering applications to end-user desktop PCs and providing maintenance and technology support to remote users; ensuring quick remote access, network stability and security during data transmission; and ensuring data security when users outside headquarters connected to the company’s application and database servers.

Implementing an Application Delivery Infrastructure solution from Citrix

JDB’s IT department tested solutions such as SSL VPNs and point-to-point IP VPNs prior to selecting Citrix XenApp™. It was found that an SSL VPN could address some of the challenges facing JDB, but was incapable of delivering applications such as the Kingdee K/3 ERP solution.  Further, point-to-point IP VPNs were not able to accelerate user access. Finally, the IT department turned to the Citrix solution, which supports centralized application delivery to remote users. Testing showed Citrix XenApp has better stability and compatibility in complex environments compared with a remote access system from a native company.

JDB implemented three Citrix XenApp servers supporting 105 users in total. Citrix load balancing functionality enables the XenApp environment to direct users to the least-busy server automatically, thereby balancing the workload among the servers and optimizing performance. Meanwhile, user management is greatly simplified by keeping the user identity consistent with that of the mail system and empowering the domain controller to take control of user authentication. Currently, the group delivers its ERP, E-HR and financial management solutions with Citrix XenApp.

Enabling effective and efficient application administration

Citrix XenApp enables IT to centrally deliver applications instead of installing them on each desktop. With Citrix Web Interface, a feature of XenApp, applications are delivered via the Web to users, who only need to download a Web client at the desktop (the installation is so simple that most users can complete it by themselves) for connectivity to the XenApp environment. Meanwhile, there is no need for reconfiguration even when users move to another workplace.

In addition, upgrades, maintenance and troubleshooting are dramatically simplified, as administrators can handle these tasks from the datacenter. For example, if the branch in Qinghai Province has an issue, the network administrator can monitor it and solve the problem in Dongguan. Citrix XenApp improves IT team productivity by dozens of times because the ongoing maintenance of the clients is centrally conducted on the Citrix XenApp servers.

Moreover, the bandwidth demands of applications are significantly reduced with Citrix virtualization technology, which transmits only keystrokes, mouse clicks and screen updates over the network.

Ensuring security of system operations

With Citrix XenApp, applications execute in the datacenter behind the corporate firewall, avoiding the risks of data loss or theft that can occur when applications run on the local desktop. Strong encryption over the network and centralized control over user access and specific actions, such as edit, backup, copy and print, enhance end-to-end security.
With Citrix XenApp, users from all branches can access these systems steadily and effectively. Also, the group can avoid the need to upgrade client hardware as frequently. With few requirements for hardware, Citrix XenApp Web client was proven to be able to run on PCs with an Intel Celeron 1.8 gigabyte CPU, 256 megabytes of memory and the Windows® XP SP2 operating system, prolonging the lifespan of PC hardware by an additional two years.

JDB originally installed the Citrix system in 2005. With the business growing, is the company urgently needed to expand its presence throughout China. In 2007, JDB began to implement the Citrix system on a large scale. All the challenges facing JDB have been addressed in one short year. “After implementing Citrix XenApp, JDB has been able to deliver all applications to hundreds of users at branches efficiently and effectively,” said Wu Guangli, director of the IT department. “With faster application delivery, the group can respond to market demand promptly.”
User productivity is largely improved, satisfaction is greatly increased and total cost is dramatically reduced thanks to faster application performance, reduced IT maintenance workload and improvements in access speed and stability brought by Citrix XenApp. This is just what each CIO expects.

About Citrix XenApp

Citrix XenApp™, a member of the Citrix Delivery Center™ product family, is the industry’s de facto standard for delivering Windows®-based applications with the best performance, security and cost savings. XenApp is the most complete application virtualization system available. It offers the ability to virtualize applications on both the client side and server side, delivering them on demand based on the user, the application or the location (online or offline).

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