Ferrari and Bloomberg Transform End User Computing with AWS

Ferrari and Bloomberg, two global leaders in their respective industries—luxury automotive manufacturing and financial data services—have leveraged Amazon Web Services (AWS) to revolutionize their end-user computing (EUC) environments.

By adopting AWS’s EUC services, such as Amazon WorkSpaces and AWS AppStream 2.0, both organizations have addressed critical IT challenges, enhanced operational efficiency, and delivered superior experiences to their users.

This case study explores their journeys, highlighting the challenges they faced, the solutions they implemented, and the outcomes they achieved.

Ferrari: Streamlining Global Collaboration with Amazon WorkSpaces

Ferrari, founded in 1939, is a luxury automaker renowned for its high-performance vehicles and its Formula 1 racing team, Scuderia Ferrari.

With a global workforce that includes hundreds of external collaborators, such as designers, engineers, and suppliers, Ferrari relies heavily on virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) to enable secure and seamless access to critical applications and data. Historically, Ferrari’s on-premises VDI solution was resource-intensive, requiring significant manual intervention, which slowed provisioning and limited scalability.

Challenges

Ferrari’s on-premises VDI system presented several constraints:

• High Operational Costs: Maintaining physical servers and infrastructure demanded substantial capital investment and ongoing maintenance.
• Slow Provisioning Times: Setting up virtual desktops for new users could take days, involving manual tasks like image preparation and software installation, which hampered productivity.
• Scalability Issues: The system struggled to accommodate fluctuating demand, particularly during peak collaboration periods, such as Formula 1 race seasons.
• Security and Compliance: Ensuring secure access for external collaborators across multiple regions while adhering to strict data protection standards was complex.
• End-User Experience: Delays in desktop availability and inconsistent performance frustrated users, impacting collaboration efficiency.

Solution

Ferrari turned to AWS to modernize its EUC environment, adopting Amazon WorkSpaces, a fully managed VDI service that supports Windows, Linux, and Ubuntu desktops. The implementation included several AWS services to enhance automation, scalability, and security:

• Amazon WorkSpaces: Provided virtual desktops accessible from any supported device, enabling Ferrari’s collaborators to work securely from anywhere. WorkSpaces eliminated the need for Ferrari to manage physical VDI infrastructure, reducing overhead.
• AWS Lambda: Ferrari used this serverless compute service to automate provisioning and de-provisioning of WorkSpaces. When a new user was added, Lambda triggered workflows to create a virtual desktop, install necessary applications, and assign the user to the appropriate Microsoft Active Directory group.
• AWS Systems Manager: Enabled automated maintenance schedules, ensuring WorkSpaces remained up-to-date with minimal IT intervention.
• AWS Key Management Service (KMS): Secured data with managed cryptographic keys, ensuring compliance with Ferrari’s stringent security requirements.
• AWS Direct Connect: Established a dedicated network connection between Ferrari’s on-premises systems and AWS, ensuring low-latency, high-bandwidth access to cloud resources.

Ferrari’s IT team worked closely with AWS to migrate its existing VDI workloads to WorkSpaces, starting with a pilot phase to validate performance and user experience. The migration was phased to minimize disruption, with AWS Professional Services providing guidance on architecture design and best practices.

Outcomes

The adoption of Amazon WorkSpaces transformed Ferrari’s EUC landscape:

• 90% Faster Provisioning: Automated workflows reduced desktop deployment time from days to approximately one hour, enabling collaborators to start work almost immediately.
• Cost Efficiency: By moving to a pay-as-you-go model, Ferrari reduced infrastructure costs, eliminating the need for upfront hardware investments. The company estimates a significant reduction in total cost of ownership compared to its on-premises VDI.
• Enhanced Scalability: WorkSpaces allowed Ferrari to scale desktops up or down based on demand, supporting global collaboration during peak periods, such as new vehicle launches or race events.
• Improved User Experience: End users reported faster access to applications and consistent performance, boosting productivity. Feedback highlighted the flexibility of accessing desktops from personal or company devices.
• Strengthened Security: WorkSpaces ensured data remained in the cloud, not on end-user devices, reducing the risk of data breaches. KMS and Direct Connect further enhanced data protection and compliance.
• Future-Ready Infrastructure: Ferrari plans to migrate additional VDI users to WorkSpaces, expanding the solution to support more business units, such as marketing and supply chain management.

Ferrari’s success with WorkSpaces has positioned it to invest in further innovations, such as integrating generative AI for design simulations, leveraging AWS’s broader cloud capabilities to maintain its competitive edge.

Bloomberg: Empowering Data Scientists with Secure, Scalable Environments

Bloomberg, a global leader in financial data, analytics, and news, serves clients ranging from banks to research institutions.

Its platform, the Bloomberg Terminal, is a cornerstone of the financial industry, providing real-time data and analytics. Bloomberg’s IT team supports a diverse workforce, including data scientists and researchers who require secure, high-performance environments to analyze sensitive enterprise data and develop innovative solutions for clients.

Challenges

Bloomberg faced unique EUC challenges in enabling its data scientists and clients:

• Secure Data Access: Providing secure access to sensitive financial data for internal teams and external clients was paramount, requiring robust isolation and compliance with regulatory standards.
• Complex Onboarding: Setting up environments for data scientists to test and analyze data was time-consuming, often requiring weeks of administrative tasks to configure secure systems.
• Scalability Needs: Demand for computational resources fluctuated, with spikes during market events or research projects, making it difficult to predict and provision capacity.
• Performance Requirements: Data-intensive workloads, such as running Jupyter notebooks for machine learning, demanded high-performance computing without latency.
• Client Friction: Clients testing Bloomberg’s enterprise data products needed seamless, secure access without lengthy setup processes, which could deter engagement.

Solution

Bloomberg adopted AWS EUC services, primarily Amazon WorkSpaces and AWS AppStream 2.0, to create a secure, scalable, and user-friendly environment for its data scientists and clients. The implementation leveraged multiple AWS services:

Amazon WorkSpaces: Provided persistent virtual desktops for internal data scientists, offering a fully managed environment with pre-installed tools like Jupyter notebooks, Python, and Bloomberg’s proprietary analytics software.

• AWS AppStream 2.0: Enabled streaming of non-persistent applications, allowing clients to access Bloomberg’s data analysis tools via a browser-based interface without local installation. This was particularly useful for short-term testing scenarios.
• Amazon EC2: Powered compute-intensive workloads, such as machine learning model training, within secure virtual desktops or streamed applications.
• Amazon VPC: Created isolated network environments to ensure data security, with fine-grained access controls to protect sensitive financial information.
• Amazon S3: Served as a scalable storage solution for datasets, enabling data scientists to access large volumes of data without performance bottlenecks.
• AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM): Enforced strict access policies, ensuring only authorized users could interact with specific resources.

Bloomberg’s IT team designed a fully managed Jupyter environment hosted on AWS, tailored for data scientists and clients. The environment integrated with Bloomberg’s existing authentication systems, allowing seamless single sign-on (SSO) for users. AWS AppStream 2.0 was configured to deliver a zero-trust environment, ensuring no data was stored on client devices during sessions.

Outcomes

Bloomberg’s AWS-powered EUC transformation delivered significant benefits:

• Frictionless Access: The managed Jupyter environment reduced onboarding time for data scientists and clients from weeks to hours, enabling rapid access to analytics tools. Clients could test Bloomberg’s data products in a secure, browser-based interface, improving engagement.
• Scalability and Performance: EC2 and S3 enabled Bloomberg to scale resources dynamically, handling spikes in demand without performance degradation. Data scientists reported faster execution of complex models, enhancing research efficiency.
• Enhanced Security: VPC and IAM ensured data isolation and compliance with financial regulations. AppStream’s zero-trust model prevented data leakage, as no information was retained on end-user devices post-session.
• Cost Optimization: By using WorkSpaces and AppStream’s pay-as-you-go pricing, Bloomberg avoided over-provisioning hardware, aligning costs with actual usage.
• Improved Client Experience: Clients benefited from a seamless, secure platform to evaluate Bloomberg’s data products, increasing satisfaction and adoption rates.
• Innovation Enablement: Freed from managing infrastructure, Bloomberg’s IT team could focus on developing new features, such as integrating generative AI into analytics workflows.

Bloomberg’s AWS EUC environment has become a cornerstone of its ability to deliver cutting-edge data services, strengthening its position as a trusted partner in the financial industry.

AWS’s Value Proposition

Both Ferrari and Bloomberg faced common EUC hurdles: high costs, scalability limitations, security demands, and the need for rapid provisioning. Their legacy systems were ill-equipped to support modern, global workforces or dynamic client needs, leading to inefficiencies and missed opportunities.

AWS’s EUC services provided a unified solution to these challenges:

• Flexibility: WorkSpaces and AppStream supported diverse use cases, from persistent desktops for Ferrari’s collaborators to streamed applications for Bloomberg’s clients.
• Automation: Services like Lambda and Systems Manager streamlined operations, reducing manual tasks and accelerating delivery.
• Security: AWS’s robust security features, including KMS, IAM, and VPC, ensured compliance and data protection across industries.
• Scalability: The cloud’s elasticity allowed both companies to adapt to fluctuating demand without over-investing in infrastructure.
• Cost Efficiency: Pay-as-you-go pricing and managed services lowered total cost of ownership compared to on-premises solutions.

Broader Impact

Ferrari and Bloomberg’s transformations highlight AWS’s role in enabling digital innovation. By offloading infrastructure management, both companies redirected resources toward strategic goals—Ferrari toward vehicle design and fan engagement, Bloomberg toward advanced analytics and client solutions. Their success underscores the potential of cloud-based EUC to drive agility, security, and user satisfaction.

Conclusion

Ferrari and Bloomberg’s adoption of AWS EUC services illustrates how organizations in vastly different sectors can achieve transformative outcomes through cloud technology. Ferrari reduced virtual desktop deployment times by 90%, enhanced global collaboration, and lowered costs, positioning itself for future innovation.

Bloomberg empowered its data scientists and clients with secure, scalable environments, streamlining workflows and strengthening its market leadership. Together, their stories demonstrate the power of AWS’s EUC portfolio to address complex IT challenges, deliver exceptional user experiences, and unlock new possibilities for growth and innovation. As both companies continue to evolve, AWS remains a critical partner in their digital transformation journeys.