VanagePoint Solutions

Our Core Service Offerings Include:

VanagePoint offers best practice technical solutions based on the clients business needs. VanagePoint specializes in desktop management solutions which streamlines businesses operational support, reduces cost and moves your organization from tactical execution, through strategic planning, toward dynamic growth. We begin each engagement by gaining a understanding of the client's business goals and how our service and solutions may contribute to those goals. VanagePoint uses simple but effective methods to measure and predict a project's success, constraints and variables. Through that understanding and years of business IT experience we have developed the following solutions to better serve our clients needs:

Workstation Infrastructure Optimization, Cost Reduction, and Management

Symphony is an Enterprise Workstation Solution that delivers a proactive and predictive approach for end user computing needs

VanagePoint has developed a business management desktop solutions methodology called Symphony™. Symphony™ has evolved from years of VanagePoint's principal experience solving clients business IT challenges. Symphony™ is based on years of accepted best practice experience used to apply and implement technological solutions. Symphony™ enables our clients to reduce operating expense and streamline their business IT support environment through the implementation of a centrally managed, functionally independent systems management framework. Symphony™ establishes an operating foundation which enables workstations capable of self-assembly, self-configuration, automated security baseline management, and application fault tolerance. This results in the reduction of operational support costs and complexity.

Increasingly, corporations are coming to the same conclusion: Symphony's architecture offers a simple design approach for making technical operations more standardized, yet still flexible and cost-effective. Client organizations are always cognoscente of IT infrastructure spending and are looking for opportunities to better manage available budgets without compromising their primary goal: customer satisfaction. Symphony™ is a solution for constructing, leveraging and interlinking your company's existing back-end systems with the goal of lowering cost and adding standards which allow for end user flexibility. The implementation of Symphony™ creates the opportunity to reduce the cost of building and operating IT desktop and surrounding systems.

VanagePoint implements Symphony™ through 5 core disciplines:

Universal Image
An operating system (Windows XP, Windows Vista) encapsulated into a single file that can be deployed to all your desktops and laptops regardless of their hardware (Dell™, Lenovo™, HP©, etc.)

Application Library
A collection of software installations that are broken down and then reassembled into single packages which can be installed on any workstation. Once installed, the application (MSI – Microsoft Installer) can protect itself by "self-healing" if suddenly altered or damaged. MSI packages are fully automated eliminating any prompts that are normally required during the setup process (i.e. license agreement, shortcuts, configuration settings, etc.)

Management Hierarchy
A hierarchical alignment which associates the MSI application library with functional and operational roles within the organization (i.e. Microsoft Active Directory). Centralized policies are applied to each workstation. Every business department has their own container where applications, security patches, service packs and policies are associated (i.e. A member of HR automatically receives a software application called PeopleSoft© and a policy that changes their desktop wallpaper automatically)

Delivery Toolset
The toolset (i.e. Marimba, LANDesk, Altiris, SMS, ZENworks, etc.) that delivers MSI packages, policies and rules to apply to the workstation and the end user

Security Controls
The implementation of security controls across the organization, protecting workstations from internal and external threats (i.e. antivirus, patch and spy ware management, VPN, software firewall, etc.)

Symphony™ Manages the Entire Workstation Lifecycle

XP PLUS IMAGE

The XP Plus image was designed to bridge the functional and operational gap between the XP and Vista O/S. We found our clients desire to migrate to the Vista O/S did not justify the necessary financial and operation commitment needed to make the migration. XP Plus was built on Windows XP functionality with the addition of customized scripting. This combination yields a fully automated Operating System which offers the stability of a maturing Windows XP O/S and some of the business relevant functional enhancements of Vista. The XP Plus image is designed and implemented using the foundational elements of VanagePoint's Universal Image, which can be used on all desktops and laptops in the client enterprise.

WHAT DOES THE CLIENT MANAGE TODAY

Mangment of Existing Environment

IT manages multiple images and processes

– Technical difficulty supporting and creating multiple images/processes
– Time required maintaining images/processes

IT Group is dependent upon proprietary imaging system

WHY DEVELOP A UNIVERAL XP PLUS IMAGE

Reasons for Development

Client response and implementation to Windows Vista has been underwhelming and cost prohibitive
Vista implementation requires expensive hardware compared to Windows XP
Vista is still not compatible or supported by all enterprise software vendors yet
Most Vista features do not directly benefit the business end user
Additional technical features do not dramatically affect ROI
Vista Service Pack 1 has not realized the improvements that were anticipated
Clients are looking to extend Windows XP lifecycle
IT groups want to maintain PR with end users by moving forward and bridging the gap between -XP and Vista
Positive Windows XP SP3 performance

WHAT'S IN THE XP PLUS IMAGE

XP Plus

Vista Look and Feel
Vista functionality applications
Windows Vista cursors and cursor animations
Windows Desktop Search
Windows previews for taskbar buttons
Vista Segoe fonts
Additional Applications (via Group Policy)
Vista-like theme, colors, and background
Microsoft Office 2007
ClearType tuning applet
SysInternals BGInfo

Universal Image and Core Applications

Insert network boot disk and power on the laptop
Laptop connects to the server and starts the imaging process
Ghost brings down the universal image
Hardware detection completes, installs drivers and runs scripts
Image is configured and successfully installed
Force Group Policy to execute
Core applications install on laptop (SAV, Office, WinZip, Vista Windows XP Adobe, MS Project)

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF SWITCHING TO XP PLUS

XP Plus Benefits

Enhances the VanagePoint Universal Image
Utilizes Windows XP SP2/SP3 with features added
Requires no hardware changes from current environment
All current software is supported
OS is still 100% Microsoft and still fully supported
Adds the features that have garnered the most praise from Vista

– Windows Desktop Search
– Windows Previews in taskbar

Allows IT groups to extend ROI for Windows XP O/S
IT groups can add a few simple features and some additional look and feel to bridge the gap between Windows XP and Vista
IT groups support One Universal Image
Image support is easily repeatable: steps to maintain the image
Image creation and management is more time efficient due to single image
Universal Image can be used on nearly any imaging platform
Microsoft has extended its XP O/S support until 2014

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