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BRIDGE Housing

Affordable-Housing Developer Accommodates Growth with Non-Profit Licensing, Services

Partner: BRIDGE Housing
Web Site: www.bridgehousing.com
Customer Size: 225 employees
Country or Region: United States
Industry: Charities and Philanthropic Services, Nongovernmental
Partner: Xantrion

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Customer Profile

BRIDGE Housing, headquartered in San Francisco, is California’s leading developer and manager of affordable housing. Founded in 1983, BRIDGE has developed more than 13,000 homes for working families.

Software and Services

  • Microsoft® Exchange Server 2003
  • Microsoft® Office 2003
  • Microsoft® Office XP
  • Microsoft® Response Point™
  • Microsoft® Terminal Services
  • Microsoft® Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition

"The discounted software licensing rates offered by Microsoft to non-profits allow us to use our funds in other critical areas, all the while staying up to date and compliant."

Eric Thoreson, Director of IT BRIDGE Housing

Business Needs

BRIDGE Housing was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1983 as a developer and manager of affordable housing for low-income and working families. Twenty-five years and 13,000 homes later, BRIDGE has become the state’s leading developer of affordable housing, with offices and management teams operating all across California. With such rapid growth throughout the years, it was necessary for BRIDGE to make major upgrades to its IT infrastructure. With more than 100 employees in its San Francisco headquarters and more than 125 in management offices throughout the state, new ERP and financial systems would need to be integrated to ensure information could be shared easily across nearly 50 remote offices. But before BRIDGE could implement any of the large business applications, it was necessary to get its core infrastructure in order. BRIDGE was using disparate systems, antiquated hardware and outdated software; and it lacked a connectivity infrastructure that would permit inter-office communications. BRIDGE needed to standardize its software and systems so that all its personnel would be using consistent programs. Deploying new software company-wide would require BRIDGE to update the corresponding program licenses, allowing for critical security and programming updates to be relayed. As a non-profit organization, BRIDGE did not have as many resources as many private sector companies. Any exorbitant licensing fees for software that BRIDGE might have incurred would mean cuts to other areas and services. Along with standardization, BRIDGE required education in maintenance of its IT infrastructure and systems. The company was constantly fighting viruses and server crashes, issues that could be remedied through preventative methods that needed to become part of the overall best practices of the IT department. Essentially, BRIDGE was looking to start over, from step one, with a new environment and approach to IT that would scale with future company growth.

Solution

Addressing the IT needs of BRIDGE Housing required more than just one solution or technology; it demanded an entire IT overhaul. BRIDGE reached out to Bay-area based Microsoft Gold Certified partner Xantrion to develop a plan to address its IT needs. Xantrion took to the task of designing and deploying an environment that would best support BRIDGE Housing. Xantrion’s plan included upgrading the backbone of the IT infrastructure at BRIDGE with a new server room that included stronger servers and a rotation of updates to keep the core systems functioning at a high level with increased security and that complied with licensing requirements. Over the years, Xantrion remained a constant partner with BRIDGE, holding discussions and at times classroom sessions with BRIDGE employees to educate them on Microsoft technologies and best practices that allow them to operate smartly and securely within their new IT environment. This included showing them how their newly implemented e-mail and file storage systems operated. Many of the BRIDGE offices did not even have PCs or Internet connections when Xantrion came on board. Over the course of the plan, Xantrion has connected BRIDGE’s remote offices through Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2005. It also has replaced more than 30 aging PCs and upgraded more than 70 other PCs to the XP image. To obtain the licensing required for the full functionality of the Microsoft software being deployed across the organization, Xantrion reached out to a local vendor that provided licenses at the discounted rates that Microsoft offers to non-profits. Xantrion continues to manage the licensing process as part of the overall value of the relationship to ensure compliance. Xantrion also recruited a new IT director for BRIDGE, an individual who oversees the day-to-day operations and manages the ERP and financial systems.

Benefits

By taking advantage of Microsoft’s discounted licensing rate for non-profit organizations, BRIDGE Housing has more capital available to spend on other areas of the company. Additionally, Xantrion’s hands-on management of BRIDGE’s licensing renewals and dispersal throughout the company network gives the IT department at BRIDGE the peace of mind that comes with knowing that its software is always compliant and up to date. With licensing and maintenance factored into the overall budget, BRIDGE can plan appropriately for updates and upgrades. BRIDGE also benefits from the scalable and dependable company-wide IT network that has been deployed with the help of Xantrion. With the integration and deployment of a full range of Microsoft solutions and products, including Exchange Server 2005 and Windows XP, BRIDGE went from a loosely knit mix of tech disparity to a streamlined and secured infrastructure that continues to refresh and evolve through its ongoing partnership with Xantrion.

  • A regular patching program was implemented, reducing the number of viruses that infected the network.
  • Desktop crashes were reduced from daily occurrences to sporadic instances.
  • Server crashes have been reduced from four times annually to approximately once every two years.
  • Installation time for new computers has been reduced by 50 percent.
  • Virus infections which used to occur once a quarter, with a clean-up time of two days, now occur at most once annually with a clean-up time of less than one day.
  • The significant discount in licensing for non-profits allowed BRIDGE Housing to free up resources to be used on support and staff education.

For more information about other Microsoft customer successes, please visit: www.microsoft.com/casestudies