In October 2004, Bell Canada began an initiative to provide desktop solutions at reduced costs. With 8,000 call center agents, Bell Canada faced hardware attrition and rising costs. Streamlining systems, facilitating outsourcing and increasing capabilities to telecommute would reduce costs while improving service. With virtual desktop infrastructure, they were able to provision and manage complex, secured desktop environments from the data center. This centralization made it possible to quickly create and manage more than 1,700 desktops for their call center agents.