4-page Case Study - Posted 5/1/2007

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Del Monte Foods

Integrated Solution Helps Food Distributor Ease IT Management, Secure Infrastructure

Del Monte Foods is a distributor of processed foods, such as canned fruits and vegetables and other products. The organization, with employees in offices around the world, has been steadily building an IT infrastructure based on products and technologies from Microsoft. Del Monte employees use these cutting-edge technologies to communicate and collaborate via e-mail and to share critical business information. However, managing this increasingly complex infrastructure, and staying ahead of security threats such as viruses and malware, has proven to be challenging. To help achieve this, the company now uses Microsoft® System Center IT management solutions and Microsoft Forefront™ line of business security products. This gives Del Monte an integrated, easy-to-manage solution that has simplified administration, improved overall system security and reliability, and boosted IT productivity.

Situation

Del Monte Foods, headquartered in San Francisco, California, is one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of branded food products in the United States. The company, which has total annual sales of more than U.S.$3.5 billion, sells processed fruits and vegetables, seafood, and pet foods at grocery stores, mass merchandisers, and other retail outlets.

With the Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 management packs, we can easily manage Forefront for Exchange Server and Forefront for SharePoint while effectively monitoring the Active Directory service and all our other important systems.  Jonathan Wynn Manager of Advanced Technology and Collaborative Services Del Monte

Many Del Monte employees use Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007 to share important documents on the company’s portal sites. Employees also use Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 to collaborate in real time through instant messaging and other collaboration tools.

The Del Monte IT infrastructure consists of the Windows Server® 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition operating system, Microsoft Systems Management Server, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), Microsoft SQL Server™ 2005 database software, and the Active Directory® service. For the past several years, the organization has relied on Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 to monitor all of these technologies.

Managing this complex infrastructure is a challenge for Del Monte IT administrators. “We have a dispersed work force, and we need to ensure that our critical systems do not have downtime, so these people can stay productive,” says Jonathan Wynn, Manager of Advanced Technology and Collaborative Services, Del Monte.

Security is also critical for Del Monte. “We have employees across the world constantly uploading and downloading documents on SharePoint sites. Because I need to focus on managing the overall infrastructure, I don’t have time to worry about someone’s computer in Ecuador or Thailand getting a virus,” says Wynn. “It is vital that we are able to easily secure our server computers running Exchange Server and SharePoint Server, to stop spyware and viruses from entering our SharePoint document libraries and our e-mail system.”

To stay ahead of security threats, Del Monte had used several security software solutions. However, administration of those solutions was a time-consuming process. “I would have to manually monitor Exchange Server to look for security alerts, as an example,” says Wynn. “Also, finding the people who really needed security patches and updates was difficult, because we didn’t have a simple way of viewing that information.”

Del Monte needed a comprehensive solution that would allow it to easily manage and secure its complex, growing infrastructure of Microsoft products and technologies.

Solution

Del Monte chose to deploy an IT management and security solution including Microsoft Forefront™ Security for Exchange Server, Forefront Security for SharePoint, and Microsoft System Center IT management solutions.

Forefront Security for Exchange Server protects Del Monte by managing multiple antivirus scan engines at several layers throughout the e-mail infrastructure. Forefront Security for SharePoint uses the same technology to ensure that documents are safe before they are saved to or accessed from the Del Monte SharePoint document library.

Microsoft System Center includes Operations Manager, which allows IT administrators to track event and performance monitors across all operating systems and applications in the IT infrastructure. Operations Manager also provides access to more than 50 management packs for Microsoft products, including Forefront line of business security products. System Center also includes Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003, which provides patch management, inventory management, and other features.

Forefront and System Center fully integrate with a company’s existing Windows®-based IT infrastructure, such as the one used by Del Monte. “We have one solution that’s integrated with our environment, and it was very easy for us to implement,” says Wynn.

Benefits

With its integrated IT infrastructure management and security solution, Del Monte has an easy way to manage its mission-critical systems while experiencing simplified administration and a better way to stay ahead of security threats. The company has also been able to decrease system downtime and increase IT productivity.

We deployed Forefront Security for Exchange Server seven months ago, and since that time, we’ve only had 15 minutes of total Exchange Server downtime.  Jonathan Wynn Manager of Advanced Technology and Collaborative Services Del Monte

Easy Management of Critical Systems

The Forefront and System Center solutions deployed at Del Monte have given the company integrated solutions that ease the management of critical systems and applications. The Forefront security products and Operations Manager are optimized for Active Directory and other technologies in the existing Del Monte infrastructure, making policy configuration and enforcement easy.

“The integration is seamless,” says Wynn. “With the Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 management packs, we can easily manage Forefront for Exchange Server and Forefront for SharePoint, while effectively monitoring the Active Directory service and all our other important systems. I now have a full view into everything and an easy way to monitor security. Because our entire infrastructure is easy to manage, we have better visibility into system health.”

As a result, Del Monte can better manage and secure its infrastructure. “The System Center IT management and Forefront security solutions have played a key role in helping us manage the complexity of our global supply chain while protecting the information channels that serve that chain,” says Wynn.

Simplified Administration

The combined Forefront and System Center solution also gives Del Monte a single view into security on the network, which simplifies overall IT administration. Using this solution, Del Monte can reduce the number of management consoles it needs to use and can provide a unified policy-based security management approach.

“The integration gives me a way to use Systems Management Server 2003, for example, in tandem with WSUS to easily deploy security patches and updates,” says Wynn. “That gives me the ability to get the right security updates to the right people when they need them.”

More Secure Infrastructure

The new Forefront products give Del Monte multiple antivirus engines from around the world, providing the company with global system protection 24 hours a day, every day of the week. “We now have excellent security for our Exchange Server e-mail messages and our SharePoint documents,” says Wynn.

Additionally, as a result of the integration with System Center, Wynn can use Operations Manager to easily monitor the Del Monte server computers running SharePoint Server, Exchange Server, and Live Communications Server. “I can have much more detail about virus outbreaks, for example,” he says. “Using Operations Manager 2005 to manage our Forefront security solutions is a first step on the road to a more integrated security and IT management infrastructure. That infrastructure will help us ensure system availability and more dynamically allocate IT resources to service the business.”

Increased Uptime

As a result of deploying the Forefront and System Center products, Wynn reports that Del Monte has increased its overall Exchange Server reliability. “We now have this holistic system to manage the entire security infrastructure, and that has led directly to increased uptime,” he says. “We deployed Forefront Security for Exchange Server seven months ago, and since that time, we’ve only had 15 minutes of total Exchange Server downtime. And that was only due to some configuration work that we had previously scheduled.”

Wynn adds that the Del Monte Exchange Server environment is now operating at close to 100 percent reliability. “That would have been difficult to achieve in the past,” he says. “But with this solution, we have not had an e-mail outage. Nor have we had a virus problem.”

Increased Productivity

The System Center and Forefront solutions also automate routine, manual IT administration tasks. For example, Systems Management Server 2003 automates computer and server updates, and Forefront automates signature updates. “Previously, I would have to manually monitor Exchange Server to look for security alerts, as an example,” says Wynn. “Now, Operations Manager automates those capabilities. I have an effortless way of looking into and managing processes.”

The result is increased productivity for Wynn, because he can focus on maximizing the company’s software investments and can explore additional new technologies. “In terms of deployment, too, everything is automated,” he adds. “There’s no need to manually monitor our systems. Instead, I can concentrate on my job as an IT manager.”

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:
www.microsoft.com

For more information about Del Monte Foods, visit the Web site at:
www.delmonte.com

Microsoft Forefront Product Portfolio

The Microsoft® Forefront™ comprehensive line of business security products provides greater protection and control through integration with your existing IT infrastructure and through simplified deployment, management, and analysis. Forefront is a comprehensive solution that helps provide protection for the client operating system, application servers, and the network edge.

For more information about the Forefront product portfolio, go to:
www.microsoft.com/forefront

Microsoft System Center

Microsoft® System Center is a family of leading IT management solutions that helps you proactively plan, deploy, manage and optimize your IT environment. System Center solutions capture and aggregate knowledge about your infrastructure, policies, processes, and best practices so your IT staff can build manageable systems and automate operations in order to reduce costs, improve application availability and enhance service delivery.

For more information about the System Center family of solutions, go to:
www.microsoft.com/systemcenter

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

Document published May 2007