4-page Case Study - Posted 11/22/2006

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Telecom Italia

Telecom Italia Finds Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Easily Scales to Support Growth

Telecom Italia, a telecommunications leader, struggled to keep up with increasing demands on its e-mail system. The company increased mailbox sizes to accommodate the growing volume of messages, but, as a result, it had to increase the number of its server computers. What’s more, users demanded more remote access to the system. In response, Telecom Italia became one of the first companies to deploy Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007, which runs on the Windows Server® 2003 x64 operating system. Telecom Italia discovered that Exchange Server 2007 easily scales to support growth. Based on the success of its initial deployment, Telecom Italia expects to reduce its server hardware costs by 40 percent through consolidation. The company has also chosen Exchange Server 2007 because it streamlines management, enhances security, and offers unified messaging with easy access.

Situation

Telecom Italia, headquartered in Rome, provides both wireline and wireless telecommunications services. The company is one of the largest in Italy.

We believe that by deploying Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 we can achieve sizable savings in messaging system management costs.  Nicola Aresta Corporate Intranet Information Systems Director Telecom Italia

Serving more than 100,000 users in phone company offices throughout Italy, Corporate Intranet Messaging Services runs two data centers in Rome and Bari that together contain 130 server computers.

As the volume of e-mail messages and attachments rose at the company, users demanded access to powerful and efficient applications that they can use in the office, at home, and at other locations. Many of the company’s mobile phones are powered by Windows Mobile® for remote access.

Corporate Messaging Services not only needed to address the rapidly increasing demands on the message system, it also was required to meet these demands while complying with budget restrictions and pressing security requirements.

The growing volume of e-mail messages and the increased size of attachments soon made it necessary to increase mailbox size. But the larger-sized mailboxes reduced the support capacity in the 32-bit server computers that the company used. “We had been increasing the number of servers to make up for the progressive depletion of server memory,” says Anna De Leo, Corporate Intranet Messaging Systems Manager, Telecom Italia.

Because Telecom Italia had relied on Microsoft® Exchange Server for its messaging system for some time, the company was interested in continuing with Microsoft software. “Since 2001, we have continually renovated our infrastructure with the latest Microsoft products to meet our growing messaging demands,” says De Leo.

Solution

Telecom Italia decided to install Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, which runs on the Windows Server® 2003 x64 operating system.

The initial deployment involved the company’s information services work group. Based on the solution’s success, the company plans to continue to deploy Exchange Server 2007.

Benefits

During deployment, Telecom Italia became impressed with several capabilities of Exchange Server 2007. “We were able to verify the service's basic functions and came to appreciate its improved features,” says Abbagnano. She points to the software’s ability to scale as the company grows, as a particular benefit. Telecom Italia also liked the increased efficiency and streamlined management provided by the new messaging system, as well as the easy access to e-mail messaging that it gives users both in and out of the office.

Scales to Support Growth and Reduce Costs

Because Exchange Server 2007 supports 64-bit computing, Telecom Italia found its new system provides considerable enhancement to its operations. “We expect to reduce our dedicated e-mail server computers by more than 40 percent, from 130 to a little more than 70,” says Nicola Aresta, Corporate Intranet Information Systems Director, Telecom Italia. “The 64-bit architecture of Exchange Server 2007 means we can increase the number of users per server and the size of mailboxes, thus cutting the costs associated with archiving capacity. We can increase memory to manage the increasing connectivity demand, without adding server computers.”

The company also expects to make better use of the archiving systems with Exchange Server 2007, thus reducing the necessary storage resources, even with more mailboxes.

Streamlines Management

Exchange Server 2007 also simplifies management. Aresta provides one example: “The configuration of new accounts will be completely automatic, and users can configure the accounts themselves. To create a new profile and gain access to the mailbox, they only need to know their e-mail addresses.”

The new configuration feature thus helps reduce demand for IT assistance. “We believe that by deploying Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 we can achieve sizable savings in messaging system management costs,” says Aresta.

Enhances Security

The company welcomed the security enhancements, too. Antispam filters are integrated with Exchange Server 2007 to
block undesirable e-mail messages and protect against other threats. The filters can be flexibly configured by users and automatically updated without the need to contact an administrator.

Offers Unified Messaging System with Easy Access

Another advantage of Exchange Server 2007 is its standardized messaging functionality, which provides a similar user experience no matter how users connect to the system.
Users can get access to almost any type of communication from their mailboxes. Voice mail, faxes, and e-mail messages all arrive in the incoming mailbox, where they can be accessed by the Microsoft Office Outlook® messaging and collaboration client or by Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access.

Now Telcom Italia will complete the deployment by extending the new system to more than 100,000 users.

For More Information

For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:
http://www.microsoft.com/

For more information about Telecom Italia products and services, visit the Web site at:
http://www.telecomitalia.com/

Microsoft Server Product Portfolio

For more information about the Microsoft server product portfolio, go to:
www.microsoft.com/servers/default.mspx

For more information about Microsoft Exchange Server, go to:
www.microsoft.com/exchange

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published November 2006