The Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company (ECHEM) wanted to improve productivity and cut operating costs by virtualizing its servers and migrating to the most up-to-date messaging system. It became the first company in Egypt’s oil and gas sector to deploy Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V technology. The company consolidated 19 servers onto six Hyper-V hosts, boosting protection from spam and malware.
Business Needs
Government-owned ECHEM was founded in 2002 to establish and develop the petrochemicals industry in Egypt through implementing the national petrochemicals master plan. The plan set out the need to help investor access to resources, establish a database, and support the management of operating companies.
To cut costs and improve business and personal productivity for 350 users, ECHEM wanted to upgrade its messaging system. Its employees—in common with other leading companies in the petrochemicals industry—increasingly manage their business lives in their inboxes. The company’s email system previously relied on physical servers running Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 communication and collaboration software and the Windows Server 2003 operating system. But the ever-growing flow of information through employee inboxes, and increase in spam and malware attacks, was affecting productivity and profitability.
Waleed Gabr, Systems Architect, Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company, says: “We are a holding company committed to doing business with investors in petrochemicals—we have no production sites. Our productivity and profitability is dependent on having excellent communication tools for our staff so users can more easily organize and prioritize their daily communications.”
ECHEM wanted to take advantage of the upgrade by embracing virtualization, which would help reduce its operating costs, and increase the protection of its messaging system from spam and malware.
In addition, the company could see the benefits of improving employee access to workspaces from remote locations or while on the move. Gabr says: “We wanted to find a cost-effective way to provide users with secure access to all of their communications from virtually any platform, web-browser, or device. This way, they’d be able to get more done regardless of their location.” ECHEM was also interested in other enhancements, such as improved storage and larger mailbox sizes.
Solution
ECHEM worked with systems integrator OMS, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, to deploy Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V technology.
ECHEM had considered extending the use of VMware for the server virtualization solution because it already operates VMware for its thin client computing environment. However, it was impressed by the additional functionality in Hyper-V, as well as the potential for easy integration with other Microsoft products and the availability of local support from OMS.
Exchange Server 2010 improved storage options and provided a new role-based security model, self-service capabilities, and the web-based Exchange Control panel. With this, administrators can delegate specialized tasks to users without increasing help desk call volumes. The new messaging platform also provides speech-to-text previews of received voice messages.
OMS also implemented Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, which helps centralize management of virtual infrastructure and rapidly provisions new and existing virtual machines. The package of interlinked technologies was made cost effective because ECHEM had in place a Microsoft Services Enterprise Agreement for volume licensing of software with technical support through Software Assurance.
Ahmed Adly, Technical Sales Engineer, OMS, says: “ECHEM particularly values the zero or light-touch installation capability of System Center Virtual Manager 2008 and the added value it delivers for infrastructure and security management.”
Having initially consolidated 14 production and testing servers on just four Hyper-V hosts, OMS has now migrated 19 physical servers onto six Hyper-V hosts. OMS completed the deployment in just four months. Gabr says: “OMS and Microsoft were excellent business partners for ECHEM. OMS applied its skills and insights into Microsoft technology to customize out-of-the-box components and ensure knowledge transfer to our in-house team.”
Benefits
ECHEM has improved the business productivity of its employees. Exchange Server 2010 gives them secure anytime, anywhere access to their desktops and has cut the threat from spam and malware. Hardware costs will be significantly lower, with 19 physical servers consolidated onto six virtual servers. Gabr says: “ECHEM has achieved a U.S.$50,000 overall saving by using Hyper-V, and has avoided having to spend another U.S.$50,000 on additional physical servers.”
Reliable communications infrastructure benefits employees. Exchange Server 2010 is highly reliable and provides a secure environment for employees to access their email remotely. Employees also benefit from increased mailbox sizes and an enhanced conversation view that automatically arranges messages into threads. Users can create customized voicemail menus and call handling rules. Gabr adds: “Previously, our staff had a limited ability to access business-critical communications.”
Server consolidation minimizes downtime. The six Hyper-V hosts have minimized server downtime and ensured better business continuity through high availability. With System Center Virtual Manager 2008, infrastructure and security management is much easier.
ECHEM reduces carbon footprint through virtualization. ECHEM expects to achieve significant savings on power consumption by its servers, as well as lower carbon emissions through deploying Hyper-V.
Enterprise Agreement offers ongoing technical support. ECHEM used its existing Microsoft Services Enterprise Agreement and Software Assurance to migrate from Exchange Server 2003 to Exchange Server 2010—the first such deployment in the oil and gas sector in Egypt—without additional licensing costs. Software Assurance ensures ongoing Microsoft technical support, which complements the work of the partner.
OMS and ECHEM forge business partnership. OMS is valued by ECHEM as a highly effective business partner, responsible for delivering the deployment on time and within budget. Gabr says: “We expect this collaboration to continue. We’re already looking at future projects—for example, the potential for introducing unified communications software.”
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