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MacDonald Training Center (MTC), offers people with disabilities living in and around Tampa, Florida key services to allow them to improve their everyday lives. MTC needed a hosting provider to provide them with an affordable and reliable application and desktop delivery solution to run their organization. Data-Tech was able customize a solution to fit their organizations needs and goals.
"The solution was extremely reliable and the process couldn't be simpler."
Problem
MacDonald Training Center (MTC), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, offers people with disabilities living in and around Tampa, Florida key services to allow them to improve their everyday lives, including vocational skills training, community living and employment services. The availability of these services allows over 500 individuals annually to receive top-notch assistance in seeking to lead improved lives. The critical nature of MTC's mission of empowering people with disabilities to lead the lives they choose means that facilitating technologies must be simple and easy to use, with unparalleled reliability.
Needing a trusted, reliable hosting provider, MTC looked to Data-Tech, a global Cloud Computing and Managed IT Services firm, to provide a powerful yet cost-effective solution, given the organization's budgetary concerns. Scott Dollar of Data-Tech explains that the company "wanted to provide MTC with an extremely reliable application and desktop delivery solution, hosted in our data center that met the organization's needs in an extremely affordable way." While Citrix was initially considered as a possible choice, Dollar notes that both Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop were "far beyond the price point for their budget." Having recommended 2X to other customers in the past, Dollar was pleased to use 2X ApplicationServer XG as "a perfect solution for providing MacDonald trainees and employees with quick, easy application and desktop delivery from any location, allowing worker productivity to soar." MTC staff have since found 2X ApplicationServer XG to be a great fit from its ease of use and simple, intuitive interface, while its unparalleled affordability allowed such cloud computing benefits to become a workplace reality.
Solution
For simple, secure application and desktop delivery and remote access for MacDonald Training Center users, Data-Tech chose 2X ApplicationServer XG, 2X Software's all-in-one platform for access to published applications and desktops, as well as published virtual desktops through virtually any hypervisor. The product was utilized on five terminal servers in the Data-Tech datacenter, with 2X including resource-based load balancing to achieve optimal server performance. Constant uptime is guaranteed by Data-Tech datacenter redundancy, with MacDonald Training Center using their terminal server resources for Microsoft Office and financial accounting software, along with payroll and donor management applications. MTC staff note that they strive to "run everything through 2X," with users "easily able to understand how to use 2X to access any remote application they need."
Mobile Access and Ease of Use
Although MTC staff benefitted from high affordability through Data-Tech, rather than the per-user licensing typical of competing solutions offered, Susan and Adelisa noted that one of the biggest strengths of the solution Data-Tech recommended was its ease of use, and its compatibility with mobile devices.
Ease of Use
There's no question that the decision to work with Data-Tech has allowed MTC to enjoy much greater ease of use than continued reliance on their existing solution. MTC staff note that using stand-alone desktops, updates and upgrades were laborious, with technicians having to work individually on each stand-alone desktop. Also the pricing model allowed the organization to enjoy cloud computing benefits at an extremely affordable price, the organization has now been able to centralize application and desktop delivery in a seamless, secure way using Data-Tech's datacenter. While Data-Tech has long trusted the "extremely reliable" 2X ApplicationServer XG as a trusted 2X Partner, MTC staff knew that all that was required to access the applications and desktops they need is to use the 2X Client on their desktops and mobile devices. As a result, Susan and Adelisa report that for accessing their core applications and desktops, "the process couldn't be simpler!"
Mobile Access
Using the 2X Client provided by Data-Tech to access remotely, has greatly increased productivity and given more flexibility to MacDonald Training Center staff. The organization is currently in the process using the 2X Client on an Android and Galaxy Tablet device and it is working seamlessly. A critical goal of the organization is to implement more mobile devices in order for coaches to complete tasks in the field and at individuals' homes such as signing documents and translating case notes which will dramatically increasing productivity. Susan and Adelisa explain that while in-house application and desktop delivery has proven effective, the ability to access such functionality on mobile devices will "hugely improve our capacity to service our individuals," so the Center can "be confident in 2X Software's commitment to provide clients for every major device on the market." In short, Scott Dollar of Data-Tech notes the 2X benefits for both MacDonald Training Center and Data-Tech as "simplicity, efficiency and affordability..2X just works!"
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