Solution BriefIntel® Xeon® Processor E5 Family Performance Aerospace and Defence

A perfect team

Challenges• High performance. Amulet Hotkey needed a server capable of running multiple 3D battlefieldsimulations at the same time, and of streaming them to Zero Client* devices in real time.

• Scalable customization. Amulet Hotkey needed a way to effectively create its customizedhardware builds.

Solutions • Dell servers. Amulet Hotkey chose Dell PowerEdge*, with the Intel® Xeon® processor E5 family.• Dell relationship with Amulet. Amulet Hotkey’s relationship with Dell OEM Solutions and Dell’sConfiguration Services* enabled Amulet to customize the server to the customer’s requirementsand ship with Amulet’s branding and part numbers.

Impact • Simultaneous simulation. The server can support multiple simulation sessions running at thesame time, streamed to Zero Client devices in the training room.

• Future proofing. A close relationship between Dell, Intel and Amulet Hotkey means new tech-nologies can be delivered to customers faster.

• Growth potential. Amulet Hotkey has been able to build on its experience in the finance sectorand enter the defence sector, creating new opportunities for growth and long-term contract wins.

Amulet Hotkey* chose Dell PowerEdge* servers with the Intel® Xeon® processor E5 family to bring its Zero Client*training technology to the defence sector

“Intel was an important partof the solution because we

wanted to make sure we havean established supplier that isa recognized worldwide name.Dell’s close relationship withIntel means they have thelatest and greatest Intel®processors available withthe right architecture as

early as possible.”

Antony Summerfield,Director of Defence,

Amulet Hotkey

Bringing security to trainingYou can walk into many classrooms today andsee computers on every desk, or even everyworking surface. They enable us to work andstudy more productively. But the associatednoise, energy use and power consumption canbe an annoyance. In the finance and defencesectors, the devices also represent a securityrisk. If a machine is lost or stolen, data storedon it could compromise the organization.

Amulet Hotkey has been pioneering a newapproach, which solves these problems. PC-over-IP* (PCoIP*) runs software on a server andstreams its display over an encrypted Internetlink to zero clients. The Amulet Hotkey zeroclients are desktop devices which replace thecomputer. The zero clients use less energy andgenerate less heat and noise than conventionalcomputing devices. Crucially, they don’t storeany information. If one is stolen, there’s no dataon it to be recovered. Because there is no op-erating system on the client device, it’s easy tomaintain and there is no risk of malware. Usingthe IP network means the system works overlong distances.

Amulet Hotkey has more than 20,000 blade work-stations powering business-critical applicationsin the investment banking sector. It also has agrowing installed base through the defence sec-tor covering maritime, air and land in the 28

NATO countries. The company has identifiedan opportunity to provide its technology to thedefence industry for simulation and trainingapplications in the 28 NATO member countries.

Battlefield simulation is a demanding applicationrequiring high-quality graphics and a graphic-workstation-style experience. To create itstraining and simulation solution, Amulet Hotkeyhas chosen Dell PowerEdge servers with theIntel Xeon processor E5-2600 series.

Building a relationship“Dell has a very strong data center presence andits blade technology is at the forefront of greentechnology, data center consolidation and highperformance. These are crucial for planningsecure training in a cloud based environment,”said Antony Summerfield, Director of Defenceat Amulet Hotkey. “Dell’s globalized sales forcegives us an opportunity to take advantage ofsales opportunities with Dell and assist bothcompanies in the ability to sell more blades.”

He adds: “Intel was an important part of thesolution because we wanted to make sure wehad an established technology supplier thatis a recognized worldwide name. Dell’s closerelationship with Intel means they have thelatest and greatest Intel® processors availablewith the right architecture as early as possible.”

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Amulet Hotkey’s Internal Defence Solutions Con-sultant Iain Dingsdale said: “It’s becoming in-creasingly important for some of our customersthat we are hand in glove with Intel and Dell.Some customers are planning five, 10, 12 yearsout and they want to know about the productsthat will become available to them. Increasingthe power of the processor is incredibly impor-tant, while driving down the energy consumption.Dell updates its offering with new Intel proces-sors as soon as they are available, and our clientsconsider it important to have those new tech-nologies as soon as possible too.”

The solution is based on the Dell PowerEdgeM1000e* Blade Enclosure and Dell PowerEdgeservers using E5-2400 and E5-2600 Intel XeonCPUs.

Dell OEM Solutions and Amulet Hotkey coop-erate closely on engineering. Dell’s OEM teamprovides Amulet Hotkey with early access tonew hardware and, through weekly calls withthe engineering team, keeps Amulet’s engineersinformed of changes that might impact theirsolution.

The Amulet Hotkey solution has been designedto work with the Virtual Battlespace* (VBS*)software from Bohemia Interactive Simulations,which provides an immersive 3D environmentfor conducting training exercises and rehearsingmissions. It is widely used by military forcesacross NATO. “We’ve been working with soft-ware providers to make sure we can deliversolid performance,” said Summerfield. “We’vecarried out months of extensive testing withend users, using the latest version of the soft-ware, which enables us to have confidencethe platform will be acceptable for training andsimulation over the next six years.” AmuletHotkey’s range of solutions can support up toeight high-end users on a single server, eachrunning their own software instance.

Customizing the R720 server By working with Dell OEM Solutions, AmuletHotkey has been able to create a completeserver solution. Dell’s Configuration Servicesenable the OEM team to customize a standardDell solution so it meets Amulet Hotkey’s needs.The product ships from Dell with a customAmulet Hotkey bezel on it, and includes theWindows* 7 operating system, VMware* andthe installed application software. Dell installsthe graphics cards and the PCoIP HardwareAccelerator card. used for encryption, and makesthe complete solution available for orderingthrough Dell using a single part number.

The ability to create a solution that ships withAmulet’s branding was crucial. “We have built upsignificant brand recognition on trading floorsfor our mission-critical and secure performance,”said Summerfield. “We want to make sure we’retaking that name across to the defence sector.It’s crucial that people associate the perform-ance with Amulet’s name. Behind that nameare thousands of hours of engineering.”

It’s hard to change a training system becausewhen the system changes, the trainers need tobe retrained. For that reason, many of Amulet’scustomers are attracted by the fact that DellOEM Solutions can offer a full component buildeven after the core server has reached its endof life. The Amulet solution can be supportedand locked down for seven years. Under acollaboration support agreement, clients canchoose to work with Dell or with Amulet asthe first line of support. About 95 percent ofAmulet Hotkey customers subscribe to DellProSupport* to benefit from next-day serviceon mission-critical systems.

“The best thing about the Amulet, Dell andIntel technology is that it gives consistent per-formance. All our architecture is based aroundIntel processors, giving us great performanceand value,” said Dingsdale.

Lessons Learned By working with Dell OEM Solutions, AmuletHotkey has been able to draw upon Dell’sengineering expertise, sales reach and closerelationship with Intel. As a result, Dell isable to ship custom products for AmuletHotkey using Amulet’s branding and partnumber. Through its close relationship withDell, Amulet has early access to new tech-nologies and is able to benefit from thelatest developments in processor and servertechnologies.

Contact antony.summerfield@amulethotkey.com

“Working with Dell OEM Solutions is very muchabout going after customers where there isnot an off-the-shelf product available. AmuletHotkey and Dell OEM together build the defencetraining solution, test it, take it through the prod-uct life cycle and deliver a de-risked solutionto the final customer,” said Summerfield.

Amulet estimates that its solution saves £59,800over eight years in hardware costs and £918.42per year in energy costs compared to a tradi-tional training room using tower PCs (bothfigures based on a 30-seat learning suite).

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