Windows XP end of life….New PC build at all schemes

In Bromford across our 100+ Support and satellite offices and in our meeting rooms we have around 350 computers. These computers are running on Windows XP, an old operating system which reaches end of life in April 2014 when Microsoft will no longer continue to support it.

For us in Bromford, whilst this means some work for us, it's not the major headache that it is for some huge companies out there who run thousands of machines on Windows XP and still largely run applications on those PC’s rather than virtually. We have the advantage that we now run a largely virtual environment with an excess of 600 Wyse terminals which don’t need an operating system.

We have now created a new build for Bromford remote offices on the latest version of Windows 8.1. This build is a real stripped down version as we use most of our PC’s to work through Citrix Desktop. Below is an example of how Windows 8.1 for Colleagues will look:



We have however enabled these PC’s for use with VLC Media Player in order to enable colleagues to view Videos and for Skype to allow colleagues to communicate with other offices and colleagues.  So our new build does not particularly mirror the colourful experience of a Windows 8.1 PC colleagues may have at home.

Our Mobile Analysts Nic, Nat and Lindsay who are responsible for the IT setup at our 100+ offices will between now and March next year be very busy visiting all of their offices and swapping out the PC’s for the new Windows 8 build.