To improve operational efficiency, the Quadraam Education Group chose to centralize and standardize its IT infrastructure on Microsoft software, which included upgrading its operating system to Windows 7 Enterprise. After a pilot project at its Symbion High School revealed that Windows 7 is easy to deploy, manage, and use, and requires little hardware investment, Quadraam decided to extend deployment to all its schools.

Business Needs
In 2007, Liemers High School in Zevenaar, Didam, the Netherlands, became part of the Quadraam Education Group, which includes 12 other high schools. As a result, the Quadraam IT environment became more heterogeneous and difficult to manage. Clemens Linderhof, Head of Information and Communication Technology at Liemers High School, says, "Quadraam had an IT landscape that was based on technologies from different software companies, including Microsoft. This diversity of systems hindered flexibility, efficiency, and productivity of our staff and students.” He also notes that students bring in unprotected laptops that communicate wirelessly with the school network, so security was a concern. To address these issues, Linderhof wanted to standardize the IT environment, particularly the operating system. "Windows XP was our favorite operating system for our workstations,” he says. “But by not keeping up with newer technology, we ran the risk of obsolescence and future application support issues."

Solution
To both update its technology and improve its IT operations, Quadraam mapped out a strategy to create one uniform, easy-to-manage IT environment. This includes standardizing on the Windows Server 2008 operating system, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2, and Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 SP1. Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 provides server virtualization, and Microsoft Live@Edu provides hosted, cobranded communication and collaboration services. And finally, a key part of the strategy is to standardize client computers on the Windows 7 Enterprise operating system.

The stability, speed, and ease of management and deployment of Windows 7 Enterprise are important benefits, but there are still more advantages we have yet to take advantage of. Clemens Linderhof Head of Information and Communication Technology, Liemers High School

In mid-2008, Quadraam began evaluating Windows 7 as part of an early adoption program. “Windows 7 Enterprise seemed a good match for our goal of creating a more manageable, more flexible, and more secure IT environment,” says Linderhof. The company’s IT provider, Wortell—a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner—also thought Windows 7 would be a good fit and assisted with the project’s planning and deployment. “Our previous partner supported several platforms, including Microsoft and open source,” says Linderhof. “In my opinion, you can do without open source, but not without Microsoft. That’s why we chose Wortell, an IT partner who is closer to Microsoft technology.”

Quadraam began deploying the upgraded software, including Windows 7 Enterprise, in a pilot at its Symbion school. The school has 264 students, 40 employees, and 100 computers. Sixty PCs were already scheduled for replacement, and these were prepared in advance for Windows 7. The remaining 40 were examined with the Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.5, revealing that several needed more memory. Linderhof says, “We were able to remedy the deficiency without great cost by transferring memory from the old PCs.” Resolving this and other minor application compatibility issues took only about two weeks. To speed and simplify the project, Quadraam took advantage of automated deployment features in Windows Server 2008 and System Center Configuration Manager, and the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010. Linderhof says, “We’re running Windows Server 2008 with Windows 7 Enterprise at Symbion, which is an ideal combination, resulting in extremely easy deployment.”

On security, Linderhof adds, “We’re using an HTTPS portal through Microsoft Forefront Unified Access Gateway 2010 to a virtual desktop, with user-dependent shortcuts to other internet and intranet environments.” Tight integration with other Forefront software helps further secure the environment. This includes Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager 2010, Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010, and Forefront Client Security.

The Symbion upgrade was complete in October 2009. Altogether, Quadraam has 13 schools with about 4,000 PCs for students and staff. As of November 2010, 1,500 of these PCs have been deployed with Windows 7 Enterprise.

Benefits
By deploying Windows 7, Quadraam schools gain the following benefits:

Broad Support for Existing Hardware
Linderhof cites broad hardware support in Windows 7 as a source of significant cost savings. “Windows 7 Enterprise does not have excessive hardware requirements. Even old graphics cards are no problem. This means that the amortization period of the client hardware can stay at its originally planned four-year period. Except for adding some memory, no additional investment in new PCs was needed for our project.”

High Usability, Rapid Adoption
The main benefit Linderhof sees for students and staff is the ease of use and consequent rapid acceptance of Windows 7. “I don’t have the feeling that users need to be trained in Windows 7 Enterprise,” he says. “The first time you start it up, you get a real ‘wow’ experience, and you soon easily find your way. And because it’s fast and stable, users find the experience pleasant.”

Easy Deployment and Management
Tim Heuperman, Account Manager at Wortell, expects the easy, automated deployment and IT management demonstrated in the pilot to continue: “If you want the full administrator and user benefits from Windows 7 Enterprise, you should also install Windows Server 2008, along with tools such as the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and System Center Configuration Manager. This makes for an effortless deployment.” For the future, he cites the importance of Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) technology, a core component of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance, which transforms applications into virtualized, network-available services. “We work with distribution capabilities in System Center Configuration Manager in combination with App-V to prevent unexpected compatibility and disk image problems from happening.”

Linderhof concludes, “The switch to Windows 7 Enterprise will be complete soon. The stability, speed, and ease of management and deployment of Windows 7 Enterprise are important benefits, but there are still more advantages we have yet to take advantage of.”

For more information about Windows 7, go to:
www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7