Microsoft Server 2012 & Hyper-V | Filter & Hose Solutions

by | 1 Aug 2013 | Case Studies, Dell, Microsoft

Flexible technology that supports future business requirements

Client Understanding

A core distributor of filters for earthmoving equipment & industrial hose equipment, FHS had a requirement that their line of business applications be standardized to ensure that the demands of the application, as well as hardware, would be able to cope with the current and future needs of the organisation. 

A previous provider had initiated a server deployment that was not correctly deployed which in turn was not allowing the client to see any substantial benefit for the already increasing costs of hardware procurement. AVeS was brought on board at this point to assist in stabilising the organisation and to provide a strategy that would correctly allocate services on demand.

Roadmap Approach

Meetings were held with all stakeholders to obtain the true requirement of the applications, both in terms of specifications as well as delivery. From here a full CISA (Current Infrastructure State Assessment) was initiated. Legacy and costly third-party supported systems were highlighted to ensure that the management of the organization was easier to support as well as deploy going forward.

Solution

Virtualisation, through the use of Microsoft Server 2012 and Hyper-V, would be the tool that allowed the new DELL provided server infrastructure to be correctly provisioned. The Line of Business application was virtualised and allocated to the correct storage tier to ensure that the speed required was achieved. A full Active Directory revamp was initiated to allow the company to implement security based requirements listed through previous audit undertakings. This coupled with Security based policies allowed the company to conform to the Holding Group’s global standards and minimise the risk of data leakage. A POP3 mail system tied to a custom message platform was migrated to a newly implemented Exchange 2010 deployment, allowing for the use of shared calendaring, and auditing control through litigation hold where required. With the use of virtualisation all physical hardware platforms were migrated to the newly introduced platform, reducing the expected spend and lowering the Infrastructure budget for hardware replacement that was listed in the following financial year. System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager was also listed as the facilitator for all virtual tasks through the actual migration process, although not taken as the primary management tool it’s functionality to do physical to virtual as well as virtual to virtual conversions set it apart.

Final Outcomes

With the abundance of Microsoft specialist courses the information technology, staff was easily introduced to a training schedule to manage the applications, reducing additional spend related to third-party agents and providers. “FHS was an awesome example of how virtualisation can provide a significant cost reduction compared to a traditional physical deployment.” – explains Bradley Adams, Solutions Architect at AVeS. “Utilising existing server infrastructure that had been over spec’d for the actual application base allowed a full hardware refresh that also included new technologies, such as Exchange, to be easily introduced with little to no additional spend.” – says Adams.

About AVeS
AVeS combines expert knowledge and services with leading technologies to provide comprehensive information security and infrastructure solutions. Working off 15-years of migration strategies, as well as effective designing of various platforms, we pride ourselves in offering an out-of-the-box approach to many tricky situations in which companies find themselves. We create a multi-phase approach to the technologies, we streamline business spend and ensure compliancy with regard to IT infrastructure.

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