Standard Bank Recognized in Green IT Leadership for Successful Energy Reduction Initiative with Virtual Desktops From Wyse Technology

Bank’s London headquarters replaced PCs with Wyse virtual clients to avoid costly AC upgrade, emit less heat and reduce energy bills

SAN JOSE, Calif. – 04/23/2010 - Wyse Technology, the global leader in thin computing and client virtualization, and Standard Bank, an African banking group focused on emerging markets globally, today announced that IDG’s InfoWorld has recognized Standard Bank as one of the top 15 green IT projects from 2009 based on the bank’s cutting-edge energy-saving strategy involving virtual clients instead of PCs. The 2010 InfoWorld Green 15 awards recognize the most innovative IT initiatives for environmental sustainability.  

Project leads, Joel King and Paul Cotgrove of Standard Bank, turned to a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) based on Wyse virtual client hardware and software and VMware View in order to meet strict energy requirements when the bank moved buildings at its international headquarters in London.  The new building has an "Excellent" rating from BREEAM, which is the leading and most widely used environmental assessment method for buildings around the world. King and Cotgrove took advantage of the move to examine energy consumption at the desktop and found that they could dramatically cut energy usage by getting rid of PCs in favor of virtual clients.  The alternative would have been to install a new AC system that would have been counter to the spirit of the bank’s green philosophy and the building’s BREEAM rating.

Wyse’s solution was chosen based on the fact that it had a richer feature set that met the bank’s requirements for greater flexibility in deploying virtual clients across the business.  The result is a 30-40% reduction in energy usage, and just one of the proof points in the bank’s multi-faceted green strategy. Initially, the VDI solution solved the heating and cooling conundrum, saving the bank more than $380,000 (250,000 British pounds) on a new AC system. On top of that savings, the company saw energy consumption drop by 312,539 kWH per year, or roughly $50,000 in savings. To read more about Standard Bank’s profile in the InfoWorld Green 15 awards, visit: http://www.infoworld.com/d/green-it/the-green-it-stars-2010-454?page=0,13.

“Overall, there is a big drive within Standard Bank to evaluate every aspect of energy usage and see how we can reduce our carbon footprint,” said Joel King, IT architect and VDI project co-lead for Standard Bank.  “The Wyse-VMware VDI implementation has helped us reduce energy consumption inside the building itself in a huge way.  We’ve slashed energy usage at the desktop without compromising user experience or satisfaction. We are honored to be recognized by InfoWorld for our achievements.” 

Ted Samson, Senior Analyst, InfoWorld, had this to say about the Green 15 honorees: “This year's crop of Green 15 winners demonstrates how organizations of all sizes are finding innovative ways to use information technology to achieve critical and often complementary environmental and business objectives. Increasingly, companies are moving beyond out-of-the-box products and siloed approaches to making IT itself greener. Rather, they're leveraging technology as part of a broader, holistic effort to make operations as a whole greener.”

In addition to the energy savings, the new VDI solution has proven much easier to support and run on a daily basis versus that of managing a PC.  “The time taken to resolve calls is much improved because we can work on the issue remotely and quickly.  The process of setting up new applications for an individual now takes a matter of minutes as opposed to hours with a PC.  As an extremely busy international bank, we experience a high number of desk moves within the bank, so the flexibility of virtual desktops helps us deliver the service that our end users demand,” said Paul Cotgrove, IT architect and VDI project co-lead for Standard Bank.

“Standard Bank is an exemplary model of adopting VDI and virtual clients to achieve energy savings, and the scale for which they have done so within the financial industry is unparalleled,” said David Angwin, Director of Marketing for EMEA at Wyse. “Wyse is honored to have contributed in a meaningful way to Standard Bank’s goals for cutting energy usage and achieving excellence in the field of Green IT.”

About Standard Bank
Standard Bank is a leading African banking group focused on emerging markets globally.  It has been a mainstay of South Africa's financial system for over 145 years, and now spans 17 countries across the African continent.  Its international expansion has taken it to 16 countries outside Africa including Brazil, Russia and China.  Its headquarters are in Johannesburg and it is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Standard Bank's Corporate and Investment Banking division is a leading global emerging markets corporate and investment bank and offers its clients banking, trading, investment, risk management and advisory services in developing economies throughout the world.   It has specific sector expertise in industries relevant to its global footprint, with strong sector value propositions in: mining & metals; oil, gas & renewables; telecommunications & media; power & infrastructure and Financial Institutions.

Standard Bank Plc in London is the bank's principal international subsidiary.  It is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, and is a member of the London Stock Exchange, the London Bullion Market Association, the London Metal Exchange, the London Platinum and Palladium Market and the New York Mercantile Exchange (COMEX Division).  Through its branch in Tokyo, it is also a member of the Tokyo Commodities Exchange (TOCOM).   It has major trading affiliates in Brazil (Banco Standard de Investimentos S.A.), Argentina (Standard Bank Argentina S.A.), and Hong Kong (Standard Bank Asia Ltd.)

Key facts and figures
• Standard Bank Group assets of approximately US$181 billion (December 2009)
• Market Capitalisation of approximately US$22 billion (December 2009)
• Present in 33 countries around the world
• Employs more than 50,000 people world-wide (including Liberty)

For further information visit: www.standardbank.com/cib

About Wyse Technology

Wyse Technology is the global leader in Cloud Client Computing. The Wyse portfolio includes industry-leading thin, zero and cloud PC client solutions with advanced management, desktop virtualization and cloud software supporting desktops, laptops and next generation mobile devices. Cloud client computing replaces the outdated computing model of the unsecure, unreliable, energy-intensive and expensive PC, all while delivering lower TCO and a superior user experience. Wyse has shipped more than 20 million units and has over 200 million people interacting with their products each day, enabling the leading private, public, hybrid and government cloud implementations worldwide. Wyse partners with industry-leading IT vendors, including Cisco®, Citrix®, IBM®, Microsoft, and VMware® as well as globally-recognized distribution and service partners. Wyse is headquartered in San Jose, California, U.S.A., with offices worldwide.

For more information, visit the Wyse website at http://www.wyse.com or call 1-800-GET-WYSE.

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