LaSalle Partners provides commercial real estate, investment management, occupancy, and property services to U.S. and international markets. The company sought a high-performance solution to give its regional offices access to centralized accounting and property management applications over dial-up and wide area network (WAN) connections.
LaSalle Partners implemented a thin-client/server solution using WinFrame multiuser application server software. This solution improved remote application performance while consolidating mission-critical accounting and property management information into a single, centrally administered, and manageable system.
Presenting problem Since its founding in 1968, LaSalle Partners has provided its services to 212 domestic markets and eight foreign countries. It has corporate offices in major metropolitan cities and satellite offices all over the United States. This geographic dispersion was one of the factors that made it difficult for LaSalle to manage its accounting and management functions.
The challenge: Consolidate the accounting system without sacrificing performance.
In an effort to streamline its property management functions, LaSalle Partners created a centralized property management “data warehouse” that its 80 property management offices across the United States could share. In searching for an efficient way to centralize its accounting functions, LaSalle Partners discovered WinFrame multiuser application server software from Citrix Systems.
LaSalle Partners realized that a remote computing solution could satisfy its needs and save time and money. The company also felt that such a solution would prepare it for a technologically sound future.
Before deciding to implement a thin-client/server solution using WinFrame, LaSalle Partners deliberated the pros and cons of alternative solutions, including remote-control software and remote-node hardware. Remote-control software allows a remote PC to capture a networked PC and control it remotely. This type of solution requires a dedicated PC for every dial-in line supported. The IS group at LaSalle Partners quickly realized this method of remote access would be prohibitively expensive and that it would involve high maintenance. LaSalle Partners also evaluated remote-node servers. Under this approach, all application processing occurs on the remote workstation, with the data transmitted over the telephone line. If large amounts of networked data—such as database information—require access over low-bandwidth connections, remote-node solutions can suffer performance problems.
LaSalle evaluated and rejected remote-control and remote-node solutions.
Hardware and software The LaSalle Partners thin-client/server networking environment includes:
LaSalle Partners deploys property management databases and payroll applications.
LaSalle Partners uses WinFrame Enterprise to deploy MRI and Skyline property management databases and Dun & Bradstreet payroll software across its frame relay WAN to branch offices.
Solution and results LaSalle Partners installed nine WinFrame application servers to deploy its mission-critical applications over its frame relay WAN. The strategic implementation of a thin-client/server architecture resulted in greater efficiency, consistency, and accuracy in gathering and analyzing financial and accounting data for the company’s property management business. Implementing this system also significantly reduced system administration and maintenance, since remote users were able to access and share a single accounting database, located at the company’s headquarters in Chicago, Illinois.
Implementation reduced system administration and maintenance.
Although initially evaluated and purchased as an application deployment platform for extending the reach of mission-critical applications to remote offices, the thin-client/server solution positively impacted LaSalle Partners in many other ways. The company is now using WinFrame to provide its approximately 150 mobile professionals and telecommuters with dial-up access to Lotus Notes, cc:Mail, and other corporate applications.
LaSalle Partners extended its solution to deliver applications to remote offices.
LaSalle Partners is also taking advantage of the WinFrame server’s multiuser capabilities by employing it as an Internet gateway for approximately 400 employees. As an Internet gateway, the WinFrame server allows multiple users to share a single IP address, maximizing the investment in an Internet connection while providing performance that rivals dedicated IP addresses. The company has also deployed Netscape Navigator as its Internet browser via WinFrame.
By equipping remote offices and employees with a thin-client/server solution based on WinFrame, LaSalle Partners is succeeding in managing its accounting and management functions efficiently. But more than that, LaSalle Partners is now able to respond more quickly and more accurately to its customers’ requirements, a bonus that differentiates the company in the highly competitive commercial real estate management business.