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- Rising Citrix licensing costs and bundled pricing made the platform increasingly difficult to justify
- Native Azure Virtual Desktop was complex and unintuitive to deploy and manage
- IT team needed a simpler, more efficient way to support virtual desktops without adding infrastructure or overhead
Solution
Migrated from Citrix to Azure Virtual Desktop using Nerdio Manager for Enterprise to simplify deployment and management
Leveraged Nerdio’s interface and automation to streamline provisioning, configuration, and ongoing administration
Enabled faster updates, easier navigation, and more intuitive workflows for IT administrators
Moving away from costly and complex Citrix infrastructure
The Golden Gate Bridge Highway & Transportation District supports critical transportation systems across the San Francisco Bay Area, including bridge operations, bus services, and ferry operations.
With a lean infrastructure team of nine supporting roughly 800 employees, efficiency is critical.
For years, the organization relied on Citrix to deliver virtual desktops. But as licensing renewal approached, the model became harder to sustain.
“Citrix increased their pricing and changed their licensing structure,” said Matt Dacquisto, Senior Systems Administrator. “It just made sense to switch.”
At the same time, the team had already invested in Microsoft’s cloud ecosystem, making Azure Virtual Desktop a logical next step.
However, early testing revealed another challenge. “When I tested AVD on my own, there was a bit of a learning curve,” Dacquisto said. “There was a lot of clicking, and it wasn’t always obvious where to go.”
The team needed a way to adopt AVD without introducing new complexity.
What surprised me most was how easy it made AVD. It feels like how it should work natively"
Matt Dacquisto
Senior Systems Administrator
Making Azure Virtual Desktop practical to manage
Nerdio Manager for Enterprise provided that missing layer.
After researching alternatives and seeing consistent recommendations from peers and industry forums, Dacquisto evaluated Nerdio Manager and quickly saw the difference.
“Nerdio helped bridge that gap,” he said. “It makes it much easier to navigate, deploy things, and get everything set up.”
Instead of managing AVD through a fragmented and unintuitive Azure interface, the team now works through a centralized platform designed for day-to-day administration.
That simplicity accelerated the migration and reduced the learning curve for the team.
Reducing management overhead and improving efficiency
The impact was immediate. Compared to Citrix, the new environment requires significantly less effort to maintain.
“It’s definitely less time managing AVD with Nerdio,” Dacquisto said. “Things just work a lot smoother.”
He estimates that the shift has improved his efficiency by roughly 20 percent.
“I get to spend more time focusing on other projects and being proactive,” he explained.
That shift from reactive infrastructure management to proactive IT work has become one of the most valuable outcomes of the transition.
Delivering a better experience for both admins and users
Beyond administrative efficiency, the move also improved the overall user experience.
Azure Virtual Desktop environments managed through Nerdio are more stable, easier to maintain, and simpler to update. The platform’s stability has also stood out.
“If something needs to be updated, Nerdio makes that process a lot easier,” Dacquisto said. “It’s a breath of fresh air to have something that’s stable,” he added.
That reliability is especially important for an organization supporting transportation infrastructure where downtime can impact operations.
A platform that continues to improve
Since deployment, the team has already seen steady improvements through ongoing updates and feature releases. “They’re pushing updates frequently, and I really like the changes,” Dacquisto said. “It’s only getting better.”
Just as important is the relationship with the Nerdio team.
“They’re very responsive, and I feel heard,” he said.
For Dacquisto, that combination of product quality and support reinforces confidence in the platform long term.
Read the full customer story
See how Golden Gate Bridge Highway & Transportation District reduced complexity and improved efficiency with Nerdio