All Signs Favorable As FASTSIGNS International Upgrades Servers

All Signs Favorable as FASTSIGNS® International Upgrades Servers

Published: June 2003

FASTSIGNS International, Inc. foresees annual savings of more than $500 per desktop after deploying Microsoft Windows Server 2003 to replace Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 on its servers, and after upgrading its desktops to Microsoft Windows XP Professional.

Company Overview

FASTSIGNS International, Inc.,is the franchisor of FASTSIGNS®sign and graphic centers. Founded in 1985, FASTSIGNS has been consistently recognized as the sign industry's leading franchise. The company’s integrated network of sign centers has expanded to more than 440 locations in the United States and six other countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Australia (under the SIGNWAVE® name). Using computer-aided systems, FASTSIGNS® experts provide sign and graphic solutions throughcustom banners, t point-of-purchase signs, vehicle graphics,exhibit graphics, and much more, for all types of businesses.

Situation

FASTSIGNS®, which from its inception has been finding new ways to integrate computers into the signage business, has always taken technology seriously -- both for its stores and for its corporate infrastructure. Over the last two years it has significantly increased the number of electronic resources that it offers its franchisees. This increase in resources comes with an increase in administrative overhead. With an IT team that consists of only two engineers, FASTSIGNS® wanted to use technology to help it increase its administrative control of computing resources, without increasing the cost of administration. It was initially thwarted in these efforts by an aging network based on the Microsoft® Windows NT® 4.0 operating system, and by an inability to control what users did on their desktops – which too often led to IT troubleshooting calls. A better network operating system and more efficient administrative tools were needed.

Solution

Working with Geniant, a leading provider of enterprise integration services, FASTSIGNS® migrated its servers from the Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 operating system to Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003. The Windows Server 2003 Active Directory®directory service was a key element of the deployment, and the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC), new for Windows Server 2003, was used to create three restriction levels to, among other things, help ensure a standardized desktop that prevents users from altering key settings or deploying unauthorized applications that could lead to system problems and IT troubleshooting calls.

Benefits

FASTSIGNS International estimates that it will save more than $500 per desktop per year because of the enhanced administrative controls it enjoys with the Windows Server 2003 operating system. And the benefits of migration came without disrupting the flow of business.

“We were surprised with the ease of which all of ourservers running Windows NT were upgraded,” says Raj Croager, Vice President of Information Technology, FASTSIGNS International. “The domain was actually upgraded during business hours without any downtime.”

Croager is also impressed with the simplicity of using the GPMC, and with the power of the Group Policy Objects to protect desktops from users inadvertently creating system problems through tinkering with sensitive control panel settings or loading unauthorized, and potentially buggy, software.

“With the granularity available to us through GPO’s, we can control every aspect of the user’s environment,” Croager says. “This in itself will save countless man hours and costs through reduced support calls.”

Other areas in which FASTSIGNS® sees a reduction in the cost of supporting users is through the use of Folder Redirection, and Volume Shadow Copy. Folder Redirection, set by Group Policy, automatically stores key folders to a network drive. Folder Redirection can give roaming users access to their files from whatever computer they log on from, and it can be used to automatically store documents on a network drive that is regularly backed up, so backups aren’t dependent upon the user.

The Windows Server 2003 Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), which makes and stores periodic disk images, gives users the ability to restore their own lost documents – including those accidentally deleted or overwritten – without requiring help form IT staff. Combining Folder Redirection with VSS provides users with a significant safety net – protecting the hours, days, or more of productivity that can otherwise be lost when an essential project file is inadvertently destroyed.

“Volume Shadow Copy has already enabled us to instantaneously recover files,” says Croager. “Perhaps more importantly, it allows our users to recover their own files without help from IT support staff. This ability for the end user to recover multiple version of lost, corrupted, or delete files will certainly be the most popular feature we offer for anyone who is ever in the position of having to use it.”

The Windows Server System™ is Microsoft’s comprehensive family of server applications for building, deploying, and managing next-generation, integrated applications and Web experiences. Designed with mission-critical performance in mind, the Windows Server System provides fast time-to-market as well as scalability, reliability, and manageability for the global, Web-enabled enterprise. Built from the ground up for interoperability using open Web standards such as XML, the Windows Server System enables a distributed computing model for the Internet, based on Internet protocols and standards in order to revolutionize the way computers talk to one another.

For More Information

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For more information about FASTSIGNS International, Inc., visit the Web site at:

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