Case Study: De Lijn (Flemish public transport operator) achieves streamlined operations and reduced IT costs with Citrix application and desktop virtualization

De Lijn streamlines organization with application and desktop virtualization

De Lijn is the public‑transport operator for Flanders, Belgium, serving over 530 million passengers annually with about 8,300 employees and 2,500 contracted drivers across more than 100 locations. Facing a decentralized IT landscape, unreliable software distribution, inconsistent access to critical applications and rising operational costs, De Lijn set out to consolidate its infrastructure in a central datacenter to improve efficiency, availability and cost control.

Working with Citrix and partner Raido, De Lijn deployed Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop with IBM blade servers, Microsoft App‑V and SCCM, and Citrix Branch Repeater appliances to centralize applications (including GIRO HASTUS, AutoCAD and real‑time vehicle monitoring) and provide virtual desktops. The rollout delivered company‑wide access from any device or location, boosted user satisfaction, reduced local IT administration, improved WAN performance and cut software costs—reducing AutoCAD licenses by more than 50%—while giving developers flexible sandboxed desktops on demand.

De Lijn

Bert Van Hemelen

Infrastructure Manager