Aqua Connect allows them to simplify their end user operating environment and reduce costs
CD Baby was looking for a cost-effective way to simplify their end user operating environment. While mainly a Windows organization, they had a few Macs in their environment. Most of the employees that did have Macs had them only for testing purposes and had no real need from an office productivity perspective to have a Mac. Users were spending more time in a Windows Terminal Server environment than actually working on their Macs.
Aqua Connect gave them the opportunity to provide OS X as an operating platform to meet the needs of the business while streamlining our end user hardware and operating system model to reduce complexity and cost.
CD Baby installed Aqua Connect Remote Desktop Services on a Mac Pro. All of their clients are on the Windows platform, mostly Windows 7 and a few XP machines via the native RDP client. They created a custom connectiod for end users to simplify the process.
CD Baby worked with Aqua Connect’s support team to get the product running in an optimized manner in their current environment, but once the dust settled, they have had nothing but positive feedback.
While searching for a product to meet their needs, CD Baby tried other software that claimed to be a viable solution. The software that was downloaded from the internet failed to meet their basic requirements. After installing the Aqua Connect Remote Desktop Services product, it was clear that this was a fully supported solution. What really stood out for them with Aqua Connect Remote Desktop Services was the ability to do audio passthrough. As a music company, that one was a major requirement. It also helped that they didn’t need to deploy additional client software.
Over time, they will see if ACRDS and appropriate hardware may allow them to consolidate the remaining Macs in their environment, since their developers, digital distribution and editing still use Macs heavily. CD Baby’s current deployment of ACRDS has resolved some specific issues that the organization was experiencing, and now it is being looked at as a possible solution in other departments.
“ACRDS has allowed us to provide a more streamlined homogeneous end-user operating environment while not losing access to heterogeneous resources. IT has optimized hardware costs while still providing the end users with the tools and resources they need to be productive.”
-Thomas Beohm
