Enterasys Networks

IT Solution Provider Uses New Operating System to Enhance Productivity and Security

As a provider of IT network security solutions, Enterasys has a deep understanding of the business value gained from enhancing both user productivity and corporate security. To help its own users work more productively across many locations and projects, and to help increase the security of its network, Enterasys decided to deploy the Windows Vista® Enterprise operating system to its corporate workstations and portable PCs in a phased rollout. The software is already helping users be more productive through tools such as Instant Search that integrate tightly with their desktop programs, including the Microsoft Office Outlook® 2007 messaging and collaboration client. Enterasys IT staff are configuring Windows® Internet Explorer® 7 in Windows Vista to enhance network security, and are using Windows Vista tools to expedite the desktop deployments.

Situation

Enterasys is a technology company that specializes in providing network security to organizations worldwide. Its products and solutions include centralized command and control software, advanced security applications, and security-enabled network infrastructure products such as policy-enabled switches, routers, wireless products, software, and services. The company, which has about 850 employees working out of offices in North America, Europe, the Asia Pacific region, and South America, holds more than 500 patents on its products and solutions.

Windows Vista Instant Search gives users quicker access to granular pieces of information about documents that are stored in such a variety of locations.  Dan Wakefield IT Operations Manager Enterasys

Enterasys operates in a highly competitive business and must provide its employees with the best computing tools available so they can serve the company’s global clients effectively. Having such a dispersed workforce, however, creates challenges for employee productivity, corporate security, and IT management tasks.

For example, Enterasys employees often had problems finding the right documents when they were needed, particularly during large projects involving many people. The company’s users typically stored all versions of their documents in e-mail files or on local disk drives and servers, which increased the difficulty of finding a specific item as well as the chances of using an outdated document. This sometimes led to delays in decision making and frustration among employees.

“With multiple versions of any given document located all over the company, people couldn’t be sure where to look or what document version to use,” says Rich Casselberry, Director of IT Operations for Enterasys. “The company’s performance suffers if people have to spend a lot of time searching for or recreating documents. We needed to find a way to provide comprehensive search capabilities to quickly locate required information.”

The IT department had its own challenges. Managing client operating systems spread across so many different locations often led to time-consuming processes for deploying and updating operating system software on corporate PCs. Deploying an image to a single PC might take up to 60 minutes. And, with the growing prevalence of Internet-based threats, the Enterasys IT department was concerned about securing employee PCs to better protect the computers from viruses and spyware.

Solution

For these reasons, the Enterasys IT department decided to upgrade its client PC operating system from Windows® XP Professional to Windows Vista® Enterprise. The company scheduled the deployment in tandem with another large-scale upgrade: the replacement of Microsoft® Office 2003 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 software with the 2007 Microsoft Office system and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.

For assistance with the Windows Vista move, Enterasys worked with consultants from Microsoft Services to upgrade a pilot group of computers in its IT, help-desk, and engineering departments. The team used the Microsoft Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment 2007, part of a family of Microsoft solution offerings aimed at providing reusable components and repeatable processes to achieve timely and cost-effective deployments. To achieve Zero Touch Installation (ZTI), the team also used Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003.

Enterasys had deployed Windows Vista Enterprise to about 120 people by the first quarter of 2008, with plans to roll out the operating system to the rest of the company by the end of year. Most of those first 120 users were in the company’s corporate headquarters in Andover, Massachusetts.

We needed to find a way to provide comprehensive search capabilities to quickly locate required information.  Rich Casselberry Director of IT Operations Enterasys

To maximize IT efficiency, Enterasys chose a strategy of upgrading each workstation or portable computer with Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system at the same time, enabling users to take immediately advantage of both the new operating system and the new business productivity software.

Benefits

Enterasys employees, including the IT staff, are benefitting from the Windows Vista Enterprise upgrade in several ways. As hoped, the new software helps users locate documents and other information faster, wherever they are across the dispersed network. IT administrators can work more efficiently when configuring and monitoring the performance of Windows Vista–based computers, and are taking advantage of the operating system’s built-in tools to augment its network security solutions.

Helps Improve User Productivity

Enterasys employees who are using Windows Vista on their PCs can trace documents faster, and therefore move projects along faster.

“Windows Vista Instant Search gives users quicker access to granular pieces of information about documents that are stored in such a variety of locations,” says Dan Wakefield, IT Operations Manager for Enterasys. “This significantly reduces the amount of time that users have to spend searching for specifics or for comprehensive information about a particular topic.”

He adds that, with the powerful search capabilities of the Windows Vista operating system, users are able to perform detailed searches within the Microsoft Office Outlook® 2007 messaging and collaboration client, an application that most users keep open all day long.

“Having Windows Vista–based search capabilities available when users are in Outlook is a huge advantage for Enterasys because of our historical tendency to use e-mail as data storage,” says Wakefield. “If they can remember anything about a file, such as the type of file, when it was created, or some key words in the file, Windows Vista can quickly find it. Giving people the ability to search other Web servers, Outlook files, multiple platforms and disk drives, and other applications will let everyone get more done with less frustration every day.”

Casselberry notes that other tools in Windows Vista Enterprise also help IT staff and users gain more productivity. “For instance, the Windows Reliability and Performance Monitor tool is really valuable,” he says. “I’ve personally used this tool a few times to figure out what I had done to cause my machine to have performance issues.”

We see ourselves saving a significant amount of time and effort thanks to the Windows Vista deployment tools.  Dan Wakefield IT Operations Manager Enterasys

On one occasion, after he installed an application, Casselberry noticed that his PC was running more slowly than normal.  “I went into the Reliability and Performance Monitor tool and, within minutes, figured out when the degradation started and what I had installed that possibly caused it,” he says. “I removed the application causing the issue and was quickly returned to my normal, reliable system.”

Reduces PC Deployment Time by 50 Percent

The Enterasys IT department is directly benefiting from the Windows Vista deployment tools and ongoing support.

“We see ourselves saving a significant amount of time and effort thanks to the Windows Vista deployment tools,” says Wakefield. “In the past, we had to deal with a pieced-together and unsupported deployment environment, so using all the new deployment tools available with Windows Vista helps us perform much faster, smoother deployments than before.”

Aided by the Business Desktop Deployment, Zero Touch Installation, and System Management Server, the Enterasys IT department estimates that it has reduced the time it takes to build and load an image for a PC by about 30 minutes—about half the time spent previously.

“In the past, when we deployed Windows XP, we needed a well-trained IT administrator at each site,” says Wakefield. “With Zero Touch Installation, we’re now able to conduct our deployment processes remotely.”

Enhances Corporate IT Security

By deploying Windows Vista, Enterasys has helped to enhance the security of its network.

“One of the great security enhancements delivered by Windows Vista is the anti-phishing and anti-spoofing features of Internet Explorer 7,” Casselberry says, referring to the functions that alert users to potentially fraudulent Web sites. “Our users spend a lot of time on the Web, so this adds an extra layer of security.”

Casselberry says that the IT department is now in the process of integrating the Windows Vista security features with Network Access Protection (NAP). This feature of the Windows Server® operating system controls access to network resources based on a client computer’s identity and compliance with an organization’s IT policies.

“We are still in the testing stages, but we anticipate huge benefits by combining the security features that are built into Windows Vista with the enterprisewide security offered by NAP,” says Casselberry. “Windows Vista provides a more productive environment for our users, and a safer one for the company.”

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 Enterasys Networks products and services, call (877) 801-7082 or visit the Web site at:
www.enterasys.com

Windows Vista

Windows Vista can help your organization use information technology to gain a competitive advantage in today’s new world of work. Your people will be able to find and use information more effectively. You will be able to support your mobile work force with better access to shared data and collaboration tools. And your IT staff will have better tools and technologies to enhance corporate IT security, data protection, and more efficient deployment and management.

For more information about Windows Vista, go to:
www.microsoft.com/windowsvista

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

Document published June 2008