Thought you couldn’t use HP Thin Clients to access complex 3D apps such as AutoCAD and Revit? Think again.

HP and Citrix specialists IMS have announced a unique solution that brings the new FY12 Autodesk ‘Citrix Ready’ Revit and AutoCAD releases to market across the Middle East.

Traditionally, graphically intensive applications have not performed well in a thin client environment. Now, with HP’s thin client technology, IMS’s services and Citrix’s latest innovations, customers can benefit from the ease of management of a thin client solution whilst delivering Autodesk’s Revit and AutoCAD applications to their users.

This solution indicates a shift in how Autodesk license their products. With many AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) customers across the Middle East already using the AutoCAD family and Revit range of software, moving to a Citrix environment will offer far reaching business benefits. Autodesk software, historically, has always been used as a PC based solution but with IMS pioneering the use of Citrix, the idea of running AutoCAD and Revit on an HP thin client and centralising your data in a secure server environment is a reality.

HP’s powerful high end workstations deliver value to customers by allowing architects and engineers to be as efficient as possible, creating their designs using Autodesk. For the rest of the user base, a standard PC has traditionally been used to view and edit those designs. A thin client solution with Citrix and IMS’s services means a desktop device that delivers a full AutoCAD and Revit environment but which is fast to install, extremely easy to maintain and offers vastly reduced TCO compared to the standard PCs traditionally used in these situations.

IMS have been testing all versions of the new ‘Citrix Ready’ versions since 2008 and have been at the forefront of this development.  The CEO of IMS, Adam Jull, stated ‘We are in changing times for the way your IT can be deployed. Now, with numerous ways of accessing data with XenApp 6 from Citrix, CAD users can get mobile and IT departments can reduce their costs of management dramatically.  We are pleased to be partnering with HP to deliver this solution through Autodesk channel partners’.  

IMS have been a long standing Citrix Partner and have formed alliances with Omnix International (Autodesk’s Middle East Distributor), Citrix Middle East and HP Middle East to offer this complete ‘end to end’ solution. 

Christopher Saul, HP’s Client Virtualisation Business Development Manager for the region, stated, “HP thin clients, combined with Citrix’s software, IMS’s capabilities and Omnix’s regional experience, offer real benefits to customers. We look forward to using HP thin clients to deliver the full suite of AutoCAD software versions into the Public Sector, Utilities, Architectural, Engineering and Construction industries.”