“With Hyper-V, we will save an average of $35,000 each year in server hardware alone. We also expect to cut $110,000 in annual labor costs…with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.”

Danny Burlage, Chief Technology Officer, Wortell

Wortell, a systems integrator in the Netherlands, wanted to ease IT management and reduce data center costs. To simplify administration, Wortell standardized on Windows Server® 2008 R2 with Hyper-V™technology. As a result, Wortell has improved productivity for all employees and reduced energy consumption in its data center by 85 percent. It also expects to cut annual costs by at least U.S.$230,000.


Business Needs

Wortell is a systems integrator and Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner located in the Netherlands. It designs unified communications and collaboration solutions for midsize enterprises, with a focus on healthcare and government organizations. Wortell also serves private-sector customers that typically want to implement the most current technology.

The company is similarly innovative in its own IT environment. For example, Wortell was an early adopter of the Windows® 7 operating system, which helped it to improve employee productivity and security. Next, the company wanted to upgrade its server infrastructure, including 15 stand-alone server computers and multiple versions of Windows. A small team of Wortell administrators managed the production servers and maintained a separate development environment. The development environment changed with each project, and it could take several days to configure and install the required servers.

Maintenance was costly as well as time-consuming. Wortell replaced its server hardware every three years and frequently upgraded client devices. For example, the company purchased 300 encrypted USB flash drives annually and bought software from other vendors to manage them. Wortell wanted to eliminate the USB drives—which were both expensive and a potential security risk if lost or stolen—but its employees relied on removable media to store data and provide customer service. Wortell staff members needed to have information available for clients, but they often lacked access to a virtual private network (VPN) connection while visiting other organizations.

In addition,the company’s server infrastructure fell short of its goals for conserving energy. Wortell has an advanced “green” program that includes heating its headquarters with thermal energy and using windturbines and solar panels to generate electricity. The data center accounted for 50 percent of the company’s energy consumption—power that could be used for other projects. Wortell wanted a solution that would improve IT administration and energy efficiency.

Solution

After deploying Windows 7, Wortell decided to standardize on the Windows Server® 2008 R2 operating system and streamline IT administration further by consolidating servers with Hyper-V™ virtualization technology. The company was particularly interested in new features such as Live Migration in Hyper-V, which it could use to move virtual servers between physical hosts without disrupting service.

In July 2009, Wortell set up a proof of concept with Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter. Next, the company began virtualizing the 15 servers in its data center—which run software including Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Enterprise and Microsoft Dynamics® CRM—and consolidating them on four Dell PowerEdge R710 server computers. The servers are connected in a failover cluster to a storage area network. Danny Burlage, Chief Technology Officer at Wortell, reports, “It only took us about three weeks to migrate all of our environments to Windows Server 2008 R2.”

Wortell has already made several changes since deploying Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V. It delegates some administration tasks with the built-in Server Manager, and programmers now set up their development environments themselves. The company has also stopped purchasing USB drives, and mobile employees instead use DirectAccess to connect to files and applications stored on the corporate network. By using the new DirectAccess feature—available in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2—Wortell can provide Internet access to resources including e-mail and an intranet without requiring a VPN. After they connect, Wortell employees use Search Federation in Windows 7 to find information quickly on Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007sites and in other locations.

The company is also taking advantage of Windows Server 2008 R2 to meet its goals for energy efficiency. For example, Wortell is using features such as Core Parking in Windows Server 2008 R2 to suspend inactive processor cores in multicore computers. In addition, Wortell can use Group Policy settings to centrally manage the power consumption of computers running Windows 7.

Benefits

By using Windows Server 2008 R2, Wortell benefits from significantly reduced costsand better productivity. The company has also reduced energy consumption in its data center by 85 percent.

Cuts costs by more than $230,000. Wortell is decreasing annual costs by more than U.S.$230,000 with virtualization technology and other features available in Windows Server 2008 R2. For example, by connecting to centrally stored information with DirectAccess, Wortell will no longer have to spend $87,000 each year on encrypted USB drives. Server maintenance costs are also declining. “By consolidating servers with Hyper-V, we will save an average of $35,000 each year in server hardware alone,” says Burlage. “We also expect to cut $110,000 in annual labor costs by easing IT management with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.”

Improves productivity. The company’s mobile employees can connect and find information faster, and IT administrators also save time with Windows Server 2008 R2. By consolidating servers with Hyper-V and delegating administrative tasks, IT staff members have more time available to enhance services, and other teams—such as programmers—have better control over projects. “Previously, it could take two days for administrators to set up a typical development environment for programmers,” says Burlage. “Now, with Hyper-V, programmers can set up servers themselves—and they are usually up and running within an hour.”

Cuts power consumption.Environmental concerns are also a top priority for the company. Burlage says, “By virtualizing servers and taking advantage of the intelligent power management features in Windows Server 2008 R2, we have cut our energy consumption in the data center by 85 percent. This solution frees up a lot of resources.”

Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows Server 2008 R2 is the latest version of the Windows Server operating system from Microsoft. With Windows Server 2008 R2, you can create solutions that are easier to plan, deploy, and manage than with previous versions of Windows Server. Building on the features, security, reliability, and performance provided by Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 extends connectivity and control to local and remote resources. This means that your organization can benefit from reduced costs and increased efficiencies gained through enhanced management and control over resources across the enterprise.

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Windows 7

Built on the Windows Vista® foundation, Windows 7 will help make users productive anywhere, enhance security and control, and streamline PC management. The investments in Windows 7 are shaped by the evolving needs of end users and IT professionals in the enterprise. Users are becoming more computer-savvy and expect more from the technology they use at work. They expect to be able to work from home, from branch offices, and on the road with the same level of productivity. As user needs have changed, the demands on IT professionals have increased. Today, IT professionals must provide more capability and greater flexibility for users while continuing to minimize cost and security risks.

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