Customer stories

Advanced Micro Devices

Advanced Micro Devices empowers global engineering teams with remote access solution. U.S. semiconductor company increases productivity and saves money with OpenText™ Exceed TurboX for high-performance remote access to graphic-intensive applications

Challenges

  • Need to connect thousands of engineers around the world to their new centralized data center
  • Need to tackle issues with stability and support they had with their previous tool
  • Required a solution that would provide reliable access to its engineers

Results

  • Increased user productivity by around 30% on certain projects with reliable remote access to graphic applications

  • Decreased IT support requirements with high performance connectivity

  • Ensured organizational resilience with stable remote workforce

Story

Always looking for opportunities to advance and transform, AMD recently consolidated close to 20 IT data centers down to a single centralized location in Atlanta, a move that delivered significant cost savings in infrastructure, power, and systems management. Rabih Mneimneh, IT Manager of Global Virtualization and Remote Computing at AMD, explained the reasons behind the initiative, “It isn’t only for cost savings, but also to simplify how we do compute, how we do IT, how we do infrastructure, networking, and security. The whole thing is simplified by being in one place. We were able to remove duplication of data, we were able to simplify our connections, and so on."

close up of a screw driver working

So far, based on testing and feedback, we’ve seen up to a 30% improvement in production and productivity on certain projects, due to the performance and stability of OpenText Exceed TurboX.

Rabih Mneimneh
IT Manager, Global Virtualization and Remote Computing, Advanced Micro Devices

However, the move meant that thousands of AMD engineers around the world needed remote connectivity to the Atlanta data center to access their applications. “Our main objective was to provide stable and scalable environments for engineering, where they could connect remotely without worrying about the tools and the platform. However, stability and support were problems with the tool that we were using,” said Mneimneh. Empowering global teams with reliable connectivity To provide a reliable connection for its engineers, AMD selected OpenText Exceed TurboX (ETX), a browser-based highperformance remote access solution that ensures accessibility to graphically demanding applications and desktops. Engineers frequently use computer aided design (CAD) applications that require them to work in environments that run highly demanding graphical interactions. The ETX solution removes the limitations and complexity normally associated with other remote access methods by offering the fastest connectivity and an intuitive user experience. AMD has quickly transitioned from its previous remote access product to the OpenText ETX solution, and thousands of engineers are already benefiting from ETX capabilities. “Now, AMD engineers worldwide no longer have to worry that their data isn’t local, that it’s across the pond or across the continent. Having the OpenText Exceed TurboX solution ensures the effectiveness of the protocol to go across the WAN and minimize any latency that might impact their productivity. That was huge,” noted Mneimneh.

Performance and stability deliver productivity

In an environment where responsiveness and session resilience are critical, the OpenText Exceed TurboX solution has delivered. Mneimneh commented on its ETX benefits: “The main benefits of OpenText ETX to us are performance and stability. If I solve those two issues, I’ve done my job. They are important because, as an engineer, when you have a deadline, the last thing you want to have is a platform that shuts down midway through your project and you risk losing days of work. If you multiply this by thousands of engineers, imagine the potential productivity loss by having to re-create days and days and days of work.” He added, “So far, based on testing and feedback, we’ve seen up to a 30% improvement in production and productivity on certain projects, due to the performance and stability of OpenText Exceed TurboX.”

Innovation drives cost savings

In addition to productivity, the new solution enabled a simplified environment that has realized considerable cost savings for AMD. Mneimneh explained that the old solution was running in a virtual desktop infrastructure environment with a virtual machine layer, “When we moved to OpenText ETX, we decided to simplify the environment by removing the virtualization layer because it required more support, more maintenance, and a bigger team to support it. With this simplification, we achieved a significant cost savings while also improving performance. Our technology relationship with OpenText brought this to life and helped us work smarter.”

Fewer issues equal savings, productivity, and peace of mind

An important element of AMD’s cost savings has come from reduced support requirements. With the old solution, the team spent a lot of time troubleshooting connectivity issues that were impacting their engineers’ ability to work efficiently. Mneimneh explained, “One simple example is that engineers could not copy from their local workstation and paste remotely, or vice-versa. Following the switch, they don’t have this problem anymore. They’re more productive now and I can’t put a number on the productivity we’ve gained by switching to OpenText Exceed TurboX.” Mneimneh noted that user satisfaction has brought peace in addition to productivity. The issues and instability of the old platform were compounded by a lack of technical support. “When you have an issue, responsiveness is key because no one wants to be stalled from getting their work done because of technical issues. This is an area where OpenText excels – they’re responsive and they help drive to a resolution as quickly as possible so work can resume. I’m happy with the support they’ve provided, as are our engineers,” explained Mneimneh.

Doing business with OpenText has been like a breath of fresh air. Whenever I need help, OpenText is there. Whenever I need support, they’re there. Whenever I have questions, somebody from OpenText responds to me. That is the human interaction that you’re supposed to have.

Rabih Mneimneh
IT Manager, Global Virtualization and Remote Computing, Advanced Micro Devices

Organizational resilience with a stable remote workforce

During the COVID-19 pandemic, companies around the world have been struggling with the transition to a remote workforce. For AMD, its innovation in remote computing strategies paid off in spades. Mneimneh reported, “When COVID-19 hit, I knew we had a solid implementation in place that would help our engineers to work effectively. We have a solution that I can depend on with OpenText Exceed TurboX.” One of the typical challenges with remote access is dealing with the variability of employees’ ISPs, bandwidth, and connectivity. However, with the new solution Mneimneh didn’t need to worry: “I have no control over those variables. I have to assume that everybody’s internet connection is slow. But OpenText ETX helped me to maintain high performance through the connectivity, even with slow connections.”

A reliable human connection

Looking ahead, Mneimneh anticipates completing the migration of users to the new solution: “The goal is to be fully migrated and have every single AMD engineer who needs a connection to the Atlanta data center use OpenText Exceed TurboX by the end of 2020.” As the rollout continues, the team at AMD knows it can rely on OpenText. Mneimneh commented on their relationship: “Doing business with OpenText has been like a breath of fresh air. Whenever I need help, OpenText is there. Whenever I need support, they’re there. Whenever I have questions, somebody from OpenText responds to me. That is the human interaction that you’re supposed to have. I’ve never been met with anything but patience, professionalism, and a willingness to collaborate and help, even for small questions.”

About Advanced Micro Devices

For 50 years, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has driven innovation in high-performance computing, graphics, and visualization technologies. Leading Fortune 500 companies, scientific research facilities, and hundreds of millions of consumers rely on AMD technology every day to improve how they live, work, and play.