StatoilHydro

Energy Company Boosts Productivity and Competitiveness with New Operating System

StatoilHydro is an international energy company based in Norway. Operating in a fiercely competitive market, the company needs to give its 40,000 users access to the information they need, wherever they are. StatoilHydro is planning to deploy the Windows® 7 operating system to help employees collaborate and be productive anywhere, safeguard business data, and maintain better control over its tens of thousands of portable computers.

 

Business Needs

StatoilHydro is a diversified energy company headquartered in Stavanger, Norway, that is primarily focused on upstream oil and gas operations. With more than 30 years of experience on the Norwegian continental shelf, StatoilHydro has ambitions for international growth, with 30,000 employees and 10,000 consultants working in 40 countries.

StatoilHydro has worked hard to develop a global reach, but its increasingly mobile and geographically dispersed workforce drove new requirements for remote connectivity to the corporate network, and called for better remote management and enhanced security for portable computers. “We are looking to dramatically expand our number of portable computers, and we needed to better support these devices while they were connected to the Internet,” says Petter Wersland, Leader of the Windows Ecosystem at StatoilHydro.

However, the company’s older Windows® XP operating system–based computers were not optimized for a seamless experience while remotely accessing collaboration applications. Also, mobile employees found it cumbersome and time consuming to access files while connected to the Internet over a virtual private network (VPN) connection.

Management also worried about keeping data safe on so many Internet-connected computers. “In Windows XP, the standard user configuration was not easy to implement in our environment, with so many applications and user scenarios,” Wersland says. “Consequently, nearly all users had local administrator rights, which enabled them to download unauthorized programs.” The IT staff also desired easier ways to apply security updates to Internet-connected computers and generally gain better control over this vital corporate asset.

Solution

By late 2008, most client computers at StatoilHydro were due for a hardware upgrade, which provided a perfect opportunity to design a new platform based on the 64-bit version of the Windows 7 operating system. StatoilHydro joined the early adopter program for Windows 7 and deployed it to approximately 100 computers. Overall application compatibility exceeded expectations.

We face fierce international competition for new reserves, new business opportunities, and a skilled workforce. We hope that Windows 7 will help us achieve a global reach to all users. Knut Tungland Chief Engineer StatoilHydro

The IT staff then used Windows Deployment Services for image loading. The IT staff was able to migrate Windows XP–based computers to customized Windows 7 environments quickly. When StatoilHydro deploys Windows 7 companywide in early 2010, it will use Microsoft® System Center Configuration Manager 2007 to automate deployment to 30 percent of existing computers and will have the operating system preloaded on new hardware for the rest.

A number of Windows 7 features support greater efficiency for the company’s mobile workforce. Using the Windows 7 search capability, employees could extend the company’s Microsoft FAST ESP–based enterprise search engine to the client computer. With Windows 7 offline files, users can access files stored on a central server when not connected to the corporate network. “The offline file feature has been greatly enhanced in Windows 7 to reduce wait times,” says Knut Tungland, Chief Engineer at StatoilHydro. “Windows 7 detects whether the user has a high-latency communications line and automatically uses the offline cache to retrieve documents.”

StatoilHydro is also evaluating the Windows 7 BranchCache™ feature, which speeds up file access across WAN links and reduces WAN utilization by caching content in branch locations. The company has decided to standardize new servers on the Windows Server® 2008 R2 operating system, which opens up Windows 7 features such as DirectAccess and BranchCache.

Using DirectAccess, administrators can update remote computers any time they are connected to the Internet. Plus, using the expanded Group Policy settings in Windows 7, the IT staff has many more options for managing client-computer elements.

“From a security perspective, it’s far easier to implement the standard user configuration in Windows 7, which will enable us to selectively assign administrator rights,” Wersland says.

Benefits

By upgrading to Windows 7, StatoilHydro will be able to better optimize the effectiveness of its global workforce, better secure computers and data, and simplify computer management.

Increased Productivity
“Using Windows 7, we’ll be able to better support our strategy as a global company and more easily share information no matter where our employees and consultants reside,” Wersland says. “With enhanced connectivity and a seamless experience in using corporate collaboration tools in a mobile environment, users are empowered to make our company more successful. We are a knowledge company, and human capital is critical to our success.”

Also, using DirectAccess, StatoilHydro can offer users access to more corporate services with a seamless experience, without regard for how the user is connected—directly to the corporate network or over the Internet.

“We face fierce international competition for new reserves, new business opportunities, and a skilled workforce. We hope that Windows 7 will help us achieve a global reach to all users,” Tungland says.

Enhanced Security
Also with DirectAccess, the IT staff can document that it has installed the latest security updates on all 40,000 computers, and with BitLocker™ technologies, it can help protect data transported on portable computers. “With the security improvements in Windows 7, we’re now able to reduce the risk of having sensitive data exposed to unauthorized users, which helps us protect confidential information,” Wersland says.

Streamlined Computer Management
StatoilHydro will also use DirectAccess to better manage its client computers and keep them updated with the latest security updates wherever they are connected. “Also, we can now easily implement standard user privileges, which will prevent our users from inadvertently installing malicious software. We’ll also be able to eliminate the third-party encryption software we currently use, a U.S.$330,000 annual savings based on our current number of portable computers.”