Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec) promotes the latest technology to ensure students’ readiness for the work world. In addition, the institute wanted to extend the life of its desktop hardware, so it adopted the Windows® 7 operating system. With Windows 7, Wintec staff and students can be more productive, thanks to an improved user experience. Plus, Wintec will delay retiring at least 200 computers, saving upwards of U.S $225,000.

Altaven wanted to create a Web-based version of its corporate tax software to satisfy customer demand. To ensure that the company was developing an effective solution, it took advantage of the Microsoft® Technology Center to validate the use of an architecture that relies on Windows Server® 2008 Terminal Services. With the solution, it was able to add Web support and a host of other features to the product in time to meet an aggressive launch date.

Microsoft® Application Virtualization (App-V) helps Microsoft provision, distribute, and manage applications in its global network infrastructure. Application Virtualization reduces costly application-management processes, accelerates application and operating system deployments, and creates a foundation for a software-services and management infrastructure.

At Microsoft, application provisioning and management is largely a decentralized process. Users rely on time-consuming self-service tasks to obtain, install, and manage software applications. Microsoft® Application Virtualization (App-V) version 4.5 and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 are helping to address these issues and provide a more efficient solution for managing the application life cycle.

IT staff at Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), a large district with 90,000 computers, had to manage and update many separate disk images. This complexity led to the deferral of most application deployment until hardware upgrades were done, which reduced application availability to teachers. At times, applications were deployed singly, adding to the maintenance complexity. Deployment could take four weeks, and then, teachers needed transition time. With Microsoft® Application Virtualization version 4.5, IT staff can easily deploy images and applications, while maintaining 50 percent fewer images. IT staff can perform just-in-time application deployment dynamically, whenever they need to. Upgrades are less stressful for teachers because older application versions remain available to them. Teachers and students can access the applications they need from many more computers than before.

Energizer Holdings, Inc., a global consumer goods company with business operations in 165 countries, wanted to accelerate the benefits of software innovation while bringing standardization and cost control to its computer environments. In an increasingly competitive market, Energizer believes rapid adoption of technology can help Energizer expand its reach while reducing time to market. To accomplish these goals, Energizer implemented communication and collaboration services from Microsoft. As a communication and collaboration services customer, Energizer users receive the productivity benefits of the latest version of Microsoft® products sooner and at a predictable cost. In the meantime, valuable Energizer IT resources have been freed up, allowing these IT pros the opportunity to work on initiatives that better support the needs of the business.

Education Center No. 1158 State Educational Institution offers primary and secondary education to students in Russia. To help students master modern information technology in preparation for professional careers, the Education Center decided to upgrade to the Windows Vista® Business operating system. As a result, it has improved the educational experience, enhanced security, and simplified IT maintenance.

The leading frozen-food manufacturer in France, Picard Surgelés wanted to revolutionize how it manages its computer environment. To optimize software management, IT managers at Picard virtualized the company’s enterprise-application environment using Microsoft® Application Virtualization. Now the company has developed a homogenous, flexible, and reliable IT environment that enhances enterprise performance while reducing costs.

The IT staff for the Chancellor’s office at California State University (CSU) was facing difficult management issues for the 75 applications and 600 desktops it supports. Laborious deployments and extremely time-consuming upgrades required reboots, causing downtime for users. Many business applications required local administrator access to install, creating security risks. Some users, such as developers often needed multiple application versions, requiring IT to remove and reload applications after each usage. To simplify application management, the university deployed Microsoft® Application Virtualization 4.5. Now CSU has streamlined application deployment, making it much easier for users and faster for IT staff. Upgrades now take a fraction of the time they used to, and security has been improved. Users enjoy multiple version support, and IT has better disaster recovery capabilities.

Northern Ireland’s Belfast Health and Social Care Trust experienced rising costs due to the complexity of managing computers across many different locations. Time-intensive administration also limited the IT department’s ability to deliver key services to employees. The Trust decided to upgrade to the Windows Vista® operating system and the 2007 Microsoft® Office system to simplify desktop management, enhance security, and boost employee efficiency.