Products

Steve Tong, Manager of IS Infrastructure/Telecommunications at Toronto Grace Health Centre - a 119-bed facility owned and operated by The Salvation Army in the heart of downtown Toronto - found out the easy way that Windows Essential Business Server (EBS) is a well-integrated and affordable solution: he implemented it.

"It comes in one package, which makes things easy," says Tong. "We migrated to EBS in twelve hours, which is pretty amazing." TGHC had the new system up and running in a single day versus the full day per server they previously needed.

The speed of the integration was due in large part to the degree to which EBS offers a preconfigured and well-integrated approach.

"EBS comes with a migration tool that creates a file directing us to where we want to go. It takes a look at the current configuration - standard DNS, firewall servers, IP addresses, all the server roles within Active Directory - and it gives you a chance to clean everything up before you actually run the implementation."

Once up and running, EBS then simplifies activities with a Centralized Administration Console that acts as a single point of access to the IT environment, while offering secure remote access at 30 per cent costs savings compared to stand-alone products.

"The Remote Web Workplace is a really big feature," says Tong. "You can connect to the home environment through a browser without a client download. This allows us to extend applications and save on licensing. And the console makes it easy to centrally manage applications - it can even provide visibility into third party licensing."

Tong estimates that the move to Windows Essential Business Server 2008 will reduce IT staff work by approximately 30 per cent. The centre has since reduced help desk calls by 23 per cent, maintenance time by 30 per cent, and is now more focused on strategic initiatives.

Which Server to choose?

Below are three realworld snapshots: one customer who chose Small Business Server 2008 (SBS08), another Essential Business Server 2008 (EBS08), and a third customer that chose Windows Server 2008 (WS08)

Small Business Server 2008

Bateman MacKay is an income-tax-focused firm located in Burlington, Ontario. The firm relies on professionals with a common goal to provide a personalized tax-oriented service, including planning, follow-through and optimal compliance. Bateman MacKay also specializes in R&D tax credits to assist their clients with reducing the costs of development.

"We moved from Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 to 2008 this past December on the advice of our technology partner, Mico Systems," says Senior Partner Gary Bateman, one of Canada's leading tax authorities.

SBS 2008 is ideal for Bateman MacKay because the accountancy practice, which operates out of a single location in Burlington, Ontario, needs its professionals to have secure remote access to sensitive financial data.

"We wanted to take advantage of the improvements made to SBS within the areas of security, collaboration and functionality for mobile workers," he adds.

Essential Business Server 2008

Jeff Loucks, CEO and Senior Solution Architect at Available Technology in St. Catharines, Ontario, recently recommended that one of his customers move up from SBS to EBS.

"The customer is in the robotics industry, they have clients all over the world. There were a lot of reasons for moving up to EBS," says Loucks. "The first was that they wanted to get more people on the system, but they also found that EBS could simplify task management and deliver more value at a lower price."

The company found that as more and more applications were becoming mission critical, having a centralized management tool had real appeal.

"This is a key motivator for business decision makers to rely on EBS - it can give you the heartbeat of the business," says Loucks. "With EBS you can practically look into the future of the health of your network."

Loucks also points out that with EBS mid-size customers can leverage best practices from Microsoft that were previously only available to larger organizations.

"You are getting a known environment that Microsoft will support," says Loucks. "When you implement EBS you are getting industry-recognized deployment of your infrastructure, and simplified ongoing management. Mid-size companies can now say to their customers and partners: we are consistent and dependable."

Windows Server 2008

Windows Server 2008 has a Server Manager that provides a unified management console for simplifying and streamlining server setup, configuration, and ongoing management. This was a big reason why Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, Manitoba, went with the solution. The University also listened closely to its partner, Broadview Networks.

"The new Terminal Services Gateway feature allows us to provide secure remote access at a reasonable cost," says Barry Suderman, IT Administrator at the University.

The innovative licensing model, which addresses and takes advantage of the technology's virtualization capabilities, was also appealing.

"We are on Windows Server 2008 Enterprise, and we like that it allows 4 virtual server instances with one license," adds Suderman.