Credit Union Chooses Windows for Stronger Support and Security than Linux Provides
Corporate One Federal Credit Union provides wholesale financial services to more than 760 credit unions in the United States. A midsize organization with approximately 70 server computers, Corporate One recently needed to replace its 50 Microsoft® Windows NT® Server–based servers because of discontinued support. The organization considered both Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 and Linux as alternatives, and decided to test Linux as a replacement for its four Windows NT–based domain controllers. However, after the nine-month effort failed due to security problems, Corporate One deployed a domain based on Windows Server 2003 and the Active Directory® directory service in just three days. Today, Corporate One is enjoying high network security and reliability from its new domain controllers and plans to migrate all its remaining Windows NT–based servers to Windows Server 2003.
Corporate One Federal Credit Union is a leading financial service provider to more than 760 credit unions, with U.S.$4.2 billion in assets under management.
Business Situation
Corporate One needed to replace Microsoft® Windows NT® Server–based domain controllers and launched a pilot project to investigate migrating these server computers to a Linux/Samba solution.
Solution
After nine months without success, Corporate One abandoned the Linux project and migrated its domain controllers to Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 and the Active Directory® directory service.
Benefit
Reliable support from a strong vendor
Strengthened security profile
Improved reliability and disaster recovery
More seamless interoperability
Broader talent availability
Software
Microsoft Active Directory
Microsoft SQL Server 2000
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition
Quote
"Using Linux in a nonstandard way that's not widely supported does not make good business sense. I can't absorb the risk of going down a different limb of the open source tree." Kurt Lykins, Chief Information Officer, Corporate One Federal Credit Union
CIO Interview
Kurt Lykins, Chief Technology Officer, Corporate One Federal Credit Union: The Difference Is in the Guarantee
"I'm confident that if I were to call Microsoft with a similar problem, it would be in a position to say, 'We can guarantee that a fix will be included in the next release of Windows.' That's the difference between being a Microsoft shop and being a Linux shop."
