How basic web searching can save your bacon: A Washington Trust case history
This story, in today's Spokesman-Review, may seem like a little love note to Google. It's not meant to be that.
It's more an example of your good ol' basic seek-and-you-may-find the answer if you keep looking.
It ran online on Spokesman.com. Here's the short version. The full version is here.
Tech managers, especially those keeping a large company’s computers working, tend to talk about “solutions.”
Computers or networks have issues. IT people go off and identify possible solutions.
Washington Trust Bank’s Chris Green ran into one thorny companywide network issue this year. But the solution that made his bosses happy didn’t come from high-priced consultants or an ingenious system workaround. It was way simpler.
The company was switching 450 workers from Windows XP to Windows 7 systems, plus moving all of their computers to a more secure, easier-to-maintain virtual desktop system. Virtual desktops have no hard drives; they connect to and access data stored in a local data center.
When the first dozen or so workers tested the new system, Green found the transition was moving smoothly.
But things didn’t go so well when the number of Washington Trust workers reached 90.
“At 90 users we ran into a tipping point,” Green said. “We saw the network performance take a big hit.”
The solution? Searching on Google.