Paris RATP & Criston - Success story

Securing IT starts by managing IT

Paris mass transit agency RATP opts for Criston’s desktop management solution

Paris RATP & Criston - Success story

Sophia-Antipolis France – December 18th 2006

Criston, European provider of secure desktop management solutions, today announced that the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) had put Precision Desktop Management solution into production in order to provide comprehensive management for its 15,000 workstations.

"We were looking for a unique solution that supports automatic inventorying of 15,000 workstations and servers, high-performance distribution of more than 350 application packages and secure, central administration in conformity with the highly sensitive criteria imposed by our information system”, explains Samer Zanati-Perard who manages the project at RATP.

One of RATP’s objectives was to guarantee simplified administration of its workstations whilst retaining flexibility to support its Linux operating system (on both workstations and administration servers).

On top of this, the solution adopted had to comply with RATP organisational and security requirements, such as:

- software distributed through its infrastructure must be installable on demand by users via a secure application kiosk
- administrative installations must be performed depending on users’ authorisations and user groups defined in the Active Directory
- support for specific Linux features such as use of PostgreSQL, PAM authentication or deployment of RPM packages

The RATP had previously used Microsoft SMS 2.0 and issued a competitive call for tender from several software vendors before deciding on Criston’s desktop management solution.

The decision in favour of Criston is explained by the solution’s adaptability to the RATP’s LAN and WAN architecture and compliance with its remote distribution standards and security policy. Precision Desktop Management offers these features on an open-ended basis, thereby providing straightforward possibilities for new developments specific to the RATP.

"We demonstrated the simplicity and effectiveness of our solutions as a way of helping the RATP solve management difficulties associated with the complexity of system deployments" explains Mohamed Hamdan, Criston’s Technical Support Coordinator.

"Thanks to our Desktop Management, the RATP is able to optimise the efficiency of its IT infrastructure, cut its operating costs and guarantee the productivity of end users."

Criston’s solution for the RATP includes:

- Detailed inventory of installed hardware and software and their configuration
- Fully automated deployment and updating of software and operating systems