GTA SAO Workspaces
Problem
The SAO Agency has contractors that are frequently on and off boarding. Due to SAO’s security policies, laptops with specialized tools and security configurations need to be deployed to these resources. There are 4-5 computer images, with 2-3 different hardware profiles to support all the specific needs the contractor roles may require. The time it takes to manage this hardware, get them imaged and shipped is time consuming, and increases the time to get the resources onboarded.
Key Pain Points
• Time and cost to on and offboard contractor resources
• Ensuring security configurations and timely updates of tools
• Hardware costs for keeping inventory up to date, fixing, and managing accessories
• Having to have a number of different hardware models with different resources (CPU, RAM, HDD), where having unused inventory drives up cost
Challenges
Not having AWS expertise inhouse, the customer was unable to perform the necessary AWS configuration to stand up AWS Workspaces
Solution
We leveraged AWS WorkSpaces which offers a number of benefits to address their challenges:
Scalability and Flexibility: WorkSpaces can easily scale up or down. We are able to quickly provision or deprovision desktops for the SAO contractors without significant upfront investments in hardware
Security and Compliance: WorkSpaces prioritizes security. Data is stored centrally in the AWS cloud, reducing the risk of data loss from local devices. It supports encryption for data at rest and in transit. We connected Workspaces to SAO’s Active Directory Domain for user access control to ensure that SAO’s configured Group Policies are enforced on the desktop
Cost Efficiency: With AWS WorkSpaces, you pay on a monthly basis for the number of WorkSpaces in use. This eliminates the need for large upfront hardware investments and reduces ongoing maintenance costs that SAO had been spending
Centralized Management: SAO Administrators can manage WorkSpaces centrally through the Management Console. They can define user policies, allocate resources, and enforce security settings across multiple WorkSpaces, making it easier to maintain and control the desktop environment
High Performance: WorkSpaces offers different instance types to cater to various performance requirements. We can tailor the appropriate hardware configurations for the contractors workload, ensuring smooth and responsive desktop experiences
Overall, AWS WorkSpaces provided SAO with enhanced flexibility, security, scalability, and cost-efficiency, enabling