After struggling with disparate IT technologies based on Red Hat Linux, EmpireCLS Worldwide Chauffeured Services decided to transform its infrastructure using Microsoft® software and HP hardware. With its new environment based on Windows Server® 2008 R2, EmpireCLS has cut support calls by 75 percent and increased IT administrators’ productivity by 35 percent. It also expects to lower power costs by 33 percent.

Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) offers classroom and online education to over 100,000 students. KCTCS is using Microsoft® System Center data center solutions in conjunction with Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Beta to improve e-mail availability and performance and to simplify e-mail management. KCTCS has reduced problem resolution times by 66 percent and can expand its messaging servers by 50 percent without increasing IT staff.

PEAB is a leading Swedish construction and civil engineering firm serving the Nordic region. To keep up with rapid business growth, PEAB needed to accelerate server deployment and keep critical applications running at all times. The firm deployed the Windows Server® 2008 Datacenter operating system with the Hyper-V™ technology to take advantage of server virtualization. PEAB uses Microsoft® System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 to create and manage virtual machines. By augmenting physical servers with virtual machines, PEAB has reduced server deployment time by 87 percent and can respond more nimbly to business needs. Because failover clustering is easy and cost-effective with Hyper-V, PEAB can ensure high availability for more applications. Using the Microsoft software, PEAB expects to trim hardware purchases by 40 servers annually and staff management time by 280 hours annually.

StatoilHydro, an international energy company based in Stavanger, Norway, wanted to make sure that workers in its increasingly global operations could fully collaborate with their colleagues. Operating in a fiercely competitive market, StatoilHydro recognizes that delivering the information that employees need to do their jobs helps give the company an edge. To address remote access issues that could hinder employee productivity and collaboration, the oil company is implementing the Windows® 7 operating system and the Windows Server® 2008 R2 operating system, which together offer features such as BranchCache™ to improve data access at branch offices and DirectAccess to simplify remote connectivity. As a result of the upgrade, StatoilHydro will deliver seamless access to the corporate network for traveling employees, improve information access at branch offices, and enhance IT security.

The IT team at Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service wanted to ensure continued compliance with the United Kingdom (U.K.) government’s Civil Contingencies Act and roll out a new disaster recovery data centre. By deploying the Windows Server® 2008 R2 operating system and Hyper-V™ virtualisation technology, the team has not only achieved this goal, but it also expects to reduce hardware support costs by 80 per cent, cut server electricity costs by 77 per cent, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 36 tonnes. In addition, the team no longer needs to acquire specialist virtualisation software because all of the core functionality that it needs is supplied by Hyper-V. What’s more, the licensing arrangements for Windows Server 2008 R2 help ensure that one licence covers multiple virtual machines running on a single physical server.

Hostway Corporation is one of the world’s largest Web hosting companies, providing a full range of Internet services to 2 million direct and indirect customers worldwide. To curb server proliferation, reduce hardware and setup costs, and improve availability, the Hostway Enterprise Services division used the Windows Server® 2008 R2 Datacenter operating system, the Hyper-V™ technology, Microsoft® System Center data center solutions, and the Microsoft Dynamic Data Center Toolkit for Hosting to create an on-demand, dedicated virtual server offering. With the new platform, Hostway will slash server deployment work by up to 1,000 hours a month and expects hardware and electrical costs to drop by nearly U.S.$2 million annually. Hostway was also able to cut 60 to 90 days from its product introduction cycle and get to market sooner with a cost-effective offering that boasts 100 percent uptime.

Podravka is one of the biggest food companies in southeastern Europe, with 6,500 employees and a wide variety of kitchen-staple products sold in 45 countries. Responding to customer tastes in so many markets and competing against global giants require that Podravka constantly tunes its offerings and reacts to changing tax and pricing environments. To meet business needs and contain mushrooming IT costs, Podravka deployed Windows Server® 2008 R2 Enterprise with Hyper-V™ technology and Microsoft® System Center data center solutions. By optimizing its core infrastructure, the IT staff can dynamically respond to business needs by deploying virtual machines in hours instead of weeks. Podravka will slash costs by U.S.$2 million over five years and has improved application availability, created a low-cost disaster-recovery facility, and reduced carbon emissions by 78 percent.

Indiana University is a large state university and leading research center with 100,000 students. The university’s Auxiliary Information Technology (AIT) department, which manages IT services for auxiliary departments, deployed Windows Server® 2008 with Hyper-V™ virtualization technology in its data center. The IT staff continued to look for opportunities to enhance and optimize their operations. In early 2009, AIT deployed a prerelease version of Windows Server 2008 R2, which includes new virtualization and management features. Using Live Migration with Windows Server 2008 R2, AIT has reduced application downtime. The solution also reduces the time spent on virtual machine migrations and failover cluster management. In addition, AIT is saving thousands of dollars a year in data center costs.

RepliWeb—an independent software vendor focused on optimizing Web deployment and content replication processes—wanted to ensure that its products supported the most current operating system technology. As a result, it implemented Windows Server® 2008 R2 and is taking advantage of new Internet Information Services 7.5 features to streamline administration. With the new solution, RepliWeb is ready to meet the future needs of its customers.

Southern Spars wanted to expand its virtualization capabilities and simplify remote access, so it upgraded to Windows Server® 2008 R2 and Windows® 7. By using Hyper-V™ virtualization technology, Southern Spars has capacity to deploy 20 percent more virtual servers on the same number of physical hosts and will defer costly hardware upgrades. With the DirectAccess feature, mobile users can access company resources without a virtual private network.