Yuen said that Windows Server 2012 also provides the City of Barcelona with a more secure environment within VDI than it had previously.

"They have the ability to segment out the data access and server shares, and they can also give contract programmers access to servers behind the firewall. So there are some flexibility options in terms of maintaining their environment and providing access to it," he said.

The organisation is also looking into using some BitLocker enhancements on Windows Server 2012, to improve data protection, he said.

"Traditionally we've had Bitlocker on a client, but now we're looking at Bitlocker on the servers, because there's still issues with data theft and data loss, so protecting a lot of sensitive data that is being stored in the data centre is also something they can do within Windows Server 2012."

Eduard Martin, chief of technology innovation in the City of Barcelona's IT department said that the migration will enable more employees to work from home and give them more flexibility.