4-page Case Study - Posted 6/20/2008

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Hellenic Seaways

Shipping Company Gains Software Upgrade Flexibility and Saves 15 Percent on Licensing

During its nine years in business, Hellenic Seaways has grown into the largest maritime company in Greece. Its commitment to quality service has earned it ISO 9001:2000 certification and Lloyd’s List’s 2007 Passenger Line of the Year Award. To improve operations efficiency and reduce costs, Hellenic Seaways upgraded its computer network to the Windows Server® 2003 operating system, which strengthened network performance, reliability, and security while reducing management time. At the same time, the company upgraded its e-mail system to Microsoft® Exchange Server 2003, which improved communication and collaboration within the organization. By signing a Microsoft Open Value Company-wide license agreement, Hellenic Seaways saves 15 percent annually on license acquisition costs—which are now more predictable—simplifies license management, and gains earlier access to new technologies.
       

Situation

Hellenic Seaways, based in Athens, is Greece’s largest domestic ferry operator. The company transports approximately six million passengers and one million vehicles every year between the mainland and 35 ports of call throughout the Greek islands. Its 34-vessel fleet includes traditional and high-speed ferries, hydrofoils, and catamarans.

With Open Value, we’re able to take advantage of new technology features a year or two sooner than before we signed the agreement, which helps make our employees more productive. Alexandros Thomas IT Implementer, Hellenic Seaways

To maintain profitability as fuel costs and other expenses escalate, Hellenic Seaways constantly strives to improve operational efficiencies without compromising the high-quality customer experience. In 2006, the company began to look at enhancing its IT infrastructure. At the time, the company was running its network on the Windows® 2000 Server operating system and using Microsoft® Exchange 2000 Server Standard Edition for e-mail.

In 2006, the company had 1,000 employees and about 150 workstations and 20 laptop computers. All of those PCs, which were used by operations, sales and marketing, and IT staff, ran the Windows XP Professional operating system and Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003. Hellenic Seaways had chosen Microsoft software because it was easy to use, broadly supported (making it easy to find development and support resources), and easy to integrate with line-of-business applications. So, when the company decided to update its network and communications systems, it decided to stay with Microsoft products.

Until that time, Hellenic Seaways had been acquiring Microsoft software licenses in a piecemeal manner, with each department purchasing licenses separately, as needed. This approach turned out to be expensive, both in initial acquisition costs and in the time it took to track and manage licenses. The lack of centralized license management also made it difficult for the IT department to keep all departments consistently up-to-date, which caused some file-sharing compatibility issues. In addition, the cost of acquiring the software delayed upgrading to new versions, because each time the company needed to upgrade it had to go through a lengthy budget process to allocate additional money

Hellenic Seaways was looking for a way to reduce software licensing acquisition and management costs, and to make those costs more predictable. In addition, it wanted to ensure more timely software upgrades so that its entire staff had access to up-to-date technology.

Solution

When Hellenic Seaways talked to its Microsoft representative about the most cost-effective way to license software upgrades, the representative suggested that the company look at the Microsoft Open Value licensing program. In addition to trimming licensing costs, Open Value offers several important features that met the shipping company’s specific needs, including:

• Predictable software licensing costs that can be spread out over a three-year period.
• The ability to consolidate all of its Microsoft software license purchases under a single agreement to achieve better volume prices.
• Software Assurance, which offers comprehensive maintenance benefits such as the ability to upgrade and add licenses at any time during the term of the agreement.

Signing the Agreement

Based on the potential value of those features, the shipping company decided to go with the Microsoft Open Value Company-wide option to purchase client access licenses (CALs) for Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003. Through this agreement, Hellenic Seaways gets all the benefits of Open Value and has the right to run the software for as long as needed.

The company uses the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center (formerly the Microsoft Volume Licensing Services, or MVLS) Web site to access software assurance benefits and to handle what little license management is required. For example, the license administrator downloads Volume License Keys and views agreement status and purchase order information from the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC) Web site.

Hellenic Seaways takes advantage of several Software Assurance benefits included with the Open Value Company-wide agreement, such as:

• Spread payments that allow the company to amortize costs over three years and still get the licenses it needs immediately.
• New version rights that entitle the company to upgrade its server software at any time throughout the term without creating a new agreement.
• E-learning, self-paced, interactive training developed by Microsoft experts.
• 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week problem resolution support.
• Cold backups for disaster recovery so that for each server license covered by Software Assurance, the company also has the right to run one instance of the software on a "cold" server for disaster recovery.
• TechNet subscription, which the company uses to evaluate new Microsoft technologies and to gain online access to Microsoft experts and information about software and technology.

Upgrading the Network

After signing the Open Value licensing agreement, the Hellenic Seaways IT department turned its attention to the network upgrade project. In June 2007, a four-person deployment group from the IT department spent a month planning the upgrade and configuring the server hardware. The new hardware configuration includes one IBM BladeCenter chassis with 11 blade servers, and four HP StorageWorks NAS 2000s server computers.

Before deploying Windows Server 2003 with Active Directory® service and Exchange Server 2003, the deployment group set up a pilot test in a virtual environment on Microsoft Virtual Server 2005. It tested authentication, system monitoring, remote support, and collaboration features for two weeks. At the end of that time, the deployment group upgraded seven of the IBM blade servers and all four HP servers to Windows Server 2003 in less than three hours per server. The group then upgraded one server from Exchange Server 2000 to Exchange Server 2003, which took about two hours per server, and also installed Exchange Server 2003 on a new blade server, which took less than five hours. By the end of October 2007, all 170 user accounts had been moved to Windows Server 2003 and their mailboxes migrated to Exchange Server 2003.

The company is tentatively planning to upgrade to Microsoft Office Professional 2007 at the end of 2008 and will acquire those licenses through the Microsoft Open Value Company-wide agreement as well.

Benefits

Through its Open Value Company-wide license agreement, Hellenic Seaways saves 15 percent on license costs, reduces license management time, and gains faster access to new technologies. By upgrading to Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003, the company has improved communications, simplified network management, and enhanced system reliability and security.

Our operation runs 24 hours a day, so we need our network to be available at all times … Windows Server 2003 provides a far more reliable foundation because it requires about one-third less rebooting. Alexandros Thomas IT Implementer, Hellenic Seaways

Reduces Licensing Costs by
15 Percent Annually

By signing an Open Value Company-wide license agreement, Hellenic Seaways saved 15 percent annually on licensing costs compared to the retail price. Beyond the purchasing cost savings, the company has reduced the time required to track and manage software licenses by 25 percent, while ensuring that the company keeps an accurate record of licenses.

“With easy access to all of our licensing information and benefits through the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center [VLSC] Web site, we probably save three hours a month on license management,” says Alexandros Thomas, IT Implementer for Hellenic Seaways. “That saves us time, effort, and money that can be spent on other projects that help improve our operational efficiency.”

Expedites Access to New Technologies

Now that Hellenic Seaways has new version rights to the latest Microsoft software through the Open Value agreement, it no longer has to wait for a new budget cycle to upgrade. Thus, it was able to take advantage of new 64-bit and Microsoft .NET Framework technologies in Windows Server 2003 to significantly improve network performance. Through the operating system and messaging system upgrades, the company also gained new security and collaboration features. With Exchange Server 2003, employees are able to communicate more effectively from anywhere, using the enhanced Microsoft Office Outlook® Web Access features.

“With Open Value, we’re able to take advantage of new technology features a year or two sooner than before we signed the agreement, which helps make our employees more productive,” says Thomas.

Simplifies Setup and Management

Hellenic Seaways used the wizard-based management tools in Windows Server 2003 to set up the infrastructure components in a fraction of the time it took with previous operating systems. For example, the deployment group set up the domain controller, domain name system, and the Windows Internet Naming Service on a single computer in less than four hours.

“It is very easy to set up remote management and advanced monitoring in Windows Server 2003, which saves additional time and helps us manage the network more efficiently from anywhere,” says Thomas.

Strengthened System Reliability
and Security

Because Windows Server 2003 requires fewer reboots after installing updates, the company’s downtime has been shortened by three hours per month. “Our operation runs 24 hours a day, so we need our network to be available at all times for authentication, file sharing, and e-mail,” says Thomas. “Windows Server 2003 provides a far more reliable foundation because it requires about one-third less rebooting. It also is more secure due to the embedded firewall and because unused services are disabled by default.”

Microsoft Volume Licensing

Microsoft® Volume Licensing offers customized programs that are designed to meet the needs of your business. Tailored for companies of different sizes and purchasing preferences, these Volume Licensing programs provide simple, flexible, and affordable solutions that can help you manage your licenses with ease. Whether you have five or thousands of desktop PCs, Microsoft Volume Licensing has the right program for you.

To acquire the latest Microsoft technology at a significant cost savings through Microsoft Volume Licensing, contact your Microsoft Partner or local reseller.

To learn more about Microsoft Volume Licensing, visit:
www.microsoft.com/licensing

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 Hellenic Seaways products and services, visit the Web site at:
www.hellenicseaways.gr