Retail industry case studies

FedEx Kinko's makes faster, more-informed decision after Technology Center experience
FedEx Kinko's needed to make a decision about a solution to replace its voice-mail system. The organization visited a Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) for an Architecture Design Session. There, it gained in-depth product knowledge and an understanding of how a Microsoft offering could fit into its existing environment. The MTC engagement helped build consensus among disparate teams and accelerated the organization's decision-making efforts.

Sports retailer deploys domain controllers in stores to keep registers ringing
A large a specialty retailer in the United States with approximately 450 stores wanted to update its older MS-DOS–based point-of-sale (POS) application with a next-generation POS program from NCR. However, the new software required user authentication over the wide area network (WAN) using domain controllers at headquarters. A big concern arose: if the WAN went down, stores couldn't ring up sales. The retailer found its answer with the read-only domain controller (RODC) technology in the Windows Server 2008 operating system. Using RODCs, the retailer will be able to place a security-enhanced domain controller in each store so that registers can continue to ring even in the event of a WAN outage. Also, deployment of the streamlined RODCs will help ensure the confidentiality of locally-stored credentials data, minimize server management, and improve WAN efficiency.