Customer story
How Wiley transformed its desktop and CAD delivery with Citrix DaaS and virtualised graphics.
A construction leader with more than 100 years of project delivery, on a fully virtualised IT platform across Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia.
“With IT4SME, we have a partner that truly understands our business. They don’t just manage technology. They manage our ability to deliver.”
Customer snapshot
Wiley. The customer at a glance.
Over 100 years of project delivery.
For more than 100 years, Wiley has been a cornerstone of the built environment. The organisation delivers end to end project outcomes across the Food, Education, Industrial, Water, Health, Commercial and Sustainability sectors, from initial design and planning, through engineering, to the completion of fully built projects.
With approximately 150 employees spread across project sites and offices in Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia, Wiley’s geographic footprint demands a highly flexible and reliable IT environment that empowers staff to remain productive wherever they are in the world.
Over 100 years of project delivery expertise, now supported by a fully virtualised, cloud enabled IT platform.
The challenge
Two distinct problems. One shared root cause.
When IT4SME and Wiley first engaged in 2017, the organisation faced a challenge common to project based businesses. Delivering Windows applications and corporate desktops to staff located across multiple sites was inconsistent, leaving teams at remote project locations without reliable access to the corporate tools they needed.
A more complex challenge existed within the CAD engineering team. Engineers were entirely dependent on dedicated physical workstations located at head office, tethering them to a single location every working day.
Engineers tied to a single location
Multi site application delivery
Staff at project sites across Queensland and nationally lacked consistent, reliable access to corporate Windows applications and desktops.
CAD engineers tied to the office
The CAD team depended on high powered physical workstations at head office, meaning every engineer had to be onsite daily. The sole CAD platform administrator spent most of his time on software updates and upgrades, leaving little capacity for actual design work.
Single point of failure
Only one person in the entire organisation had the knowledge to manage and maintain the CAD platform. Any period of unavailability, whether illness, leave, or departure, risked bringing CAD operations to a complete halt.
Solution: Citrix DaaS with virtualised graphics. Technology: Lenovo, Nutanix, Citrix, NVIDIA GPU.
The solution
Citrix DaaS with virtualised graphics. Delivered in three phases.
As a specialist in designing, implementing and managing Citrix DaaS with virtualised graphics, IT4SME delivered a comprehensive, end to end solution. We took full accountability for the design, supply, implementation and ongoing management of the complete technology stack. Working in close collaboration with Wiley’s internal IT team, IT4SME engineered a phased approach addressing both the corporate desktop challenge and the demanding requirements of the CAD engineering environment.
Two clusters. One platform.
Citrix DaaS for the corporate desktop
IT4SME designed and deployed Citrix DaaS to deliver corporate Windows applications and desktops to staff across Queensland and nationally, immediately resolving the multi site accessibility challenge.
Hyperconverged cluster with virtualised graphics
IT4SME designed and implemented a Lenovo, Nutanix, NVIDIA and Citrix hyperconverged cluster with virtualised graphical capabilities, enhancing the performance and graphical output of the corporate desktop delivered as a multi user desktop platform. We took end to end responsibility for the full stack: hardware design, procurement, infrastructure implementation and Citrix DaaS configuration.
Dedicated BIM cluster for CAD virtualisation
A second dedicated Lenovo, Nutanix, NVIDIA and Citrix BIM cluster equipped with multiple NVIDIA GPUs was deployed to replace the physical workstations underpinning the company’s CAD capability. This delivered a fully virtualised, high performance CAD environment accessible from anywhere. As with the corporate cluster, IT4SME held full accountability for the entire stack from architectural design through to handover and management.
Solution highlights
- Deployed Citrix DaaS to deliver corporate Windows applications and desktops to 150+ staff across multiple sites in Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia.
- Designed and implemented two hyperconverged clusters with Citrix DaaS. One for corporate desktop workloads (multi user) and one for GPU accelerated CAD virtualisation (single user with NVIDIA GPUs).
- IT4SME took full end to end accountability for both clusters. Architecture design, hardware procurement and supply, infrastructure implementation, Citrix DaaS configuration, and ongoing managed services operating as a seamless extension of the customer’s internal IT team.
Results and outcomes
The impact. Validated in production.
The deployment of both Citrix DaaS clusters, corporate and CAD, fundamentally transformed Wiley’s IT capability and workforce flexibility. The platforms proved their resilience almost immediately. Deployed just prior to the 2020 pandemic, both clusters were rapidly reconfigured to enable the entire workforce to work from home without any disruption to operations. CAD engineers who had previously been office bound continued their work seamlessly from home.
The pandemic response was not simply a fortunate coincidence. It was a validation of a platform engineered for genuine business continuity and disaster recovery. The virtualised, location independent architecture means Wiley is equally prepared for the full spectrum of disruption events: flooding that renders office premises or project sites inaccessible, building fires, severe weather events, or any other scenario that would otherwise bring operations to a standstill.
Since deployment, IT services have run in a predictable and stable manner, enabling the internal IT team to shift from reactive break fix maintenance to delivering a higher level of service to the business.
CAD engineers freed from the office
Engineers previously required to be in the office every day can now work from any location: project sites, remotely, or from home. This flexibility fundamentally changes how the engineering team engages with customers and projects. With full access to their CAD environment directly onsite, engineers can review designs, make real time adjustments, and respond to on the ground conditions as they happen.
Single point of failure eliminated
CAD platform management transferred to Citrix DaaS automation technology and IT4SME, removing the operational risk of relying on one individual and freeing the CAD engineer’s time for productive design work.
Business continuity validated
Both clusters were reconfigured quickly when pandemic restrictions came into effect and the entire workforce moved to remote work with no meaningful operational impact.
150+ staff, one consistent experience
Staff across Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia benefit from a consistent, high quality desktop experience regardless of location, underpinned by a scalable platform that has grown with the business for 9+ years. Wiley didn’t just design for today’s requirements. They built future proofing into the architecture from the outset.
Why it worked
Specialist depth. Full accountability. The long view.
Deep specialist expertise
IT4SME’s focused capability across Citrix DaaS, hyperconverged infrastructure and NVIDIA GPU virtualisation ensured the right solution was designed and delivered from day one.
True end to end accountability
IT4SME designed, sourced, supplied, implemented and now manages the complete technology stack. A single accountable partner across hardware, virtualisation, and ongoing managed services.
Long term strategic partnership
The 9+ year relationship between IT4SME and Wiley means IT4SME operates as a genuine extension of the internal IT team, with deep institutional knowledge of the environment, the workloads, and the business.
This engagement is a powerful reminder that when organisations choose the right strategic partner, one with genuine specialist depth, a commitment to full accountability, and a long term view of the relationship, great things happen.
What’s next
The partnership continues.
The partnership between IT4SME and Wiley continues today, now in its ninth year. IT4SME provides ongoing managed services across the entire Lenovo, Nutanix, NVIDIA and Citrix stack, managing platform maintenance, operating systems, CAD software updates and upgrades, and ensuring all 150+ staff remain productive across every location.
The architecture provides a proven, scalable foundation that will continue to grow with the business. As Wiley’s operations evolve, whether through workforce growth, new project sites, or emerging workload requirements, IT4SME will continue to design and deliver the technology solutions that keep the business moving forward.
IT4SME continues to design and deliver the technology solutions that keep Wiley’s business moving forward.
In their words
Two voices. One story.
Customer perspective
“With IT4SME, we have a partner that truly understands our business. They don’t just manage technology. They manage our ability to deliver.”
IT4SME perspective
“We design, deliver and manage the full stack so the business can focus on building. One partner, end to end accountability, from architecture through to ongoing managed services.”