Problem

A company with an acquisition strategy had acquired several smaller companies ranging in size from dozens of staff to hundreds of staff. This meant that several email systems were in use as well as multiple Active Directory environments.

Solution

Our consultants developed a strategy for non-disruptive migration of thousands of end user mailboxes and services into a single directory structure. Once the strategy was tested, the team then migrated multiple sites with minimal impact on the end users.

Features

Upon completion of the migration the organization was left with a simplified email environment and the end users maintained all email functionality including the ability to reply to emails sent to a pre-acquisition company, but with a post-acquisition email address. Cost benefit to the company estimated at £60,000 annually in server and resource savings.

Problem

A company with over 1000 servers had an urgent need to simplify their overall infrastructure and reduce IT sustainment costs.

Solution

Guided by a 'best practice' server consolidation methodology, our consultants completed a global inventory of all servers worldwide identifying server functions; business users and overall utilization. After implementing a robust framework and standards for using virtual technology, the team consolidated hundreds of WINDOWS servers from multiple locations into just 2 regional centres (EMEA and NA). Every physical server that was turned off saved the company approximately £1,200 annually.

Features

Implemented global standards for ongoing operations using virtual technologies; and achieved a 20% reduction (~200 servers) in only 8 months. Annual benefit = £240,000.

Client background

The London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA) is one of the largest Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS) in England with over 73,000 members and assets of over £3.7 billion (at May 2007). LPFA also carries out third party pension administration and other LGPS services. Currently LPFA carries out administration for Bexley Council, Brent Council, Hammersmith & Fulham Council, London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA), London Borough of Newham and Westminster City Council.

Business need

The LPFA has invested heavily in the virtualisation of its servers and the majority of its applications are now running through this technology. With a small support team we also needed to look at how we could improve desk top control to 100+ users and to also help with our requirement to reduce our carbon footprint.

Solution

We met with MIRIS Systems Ltd to consider our options and opted for a VDI solution, with AppSense running on Wyse thin client boxes for a pilot project of 20 users. Staff from MIRIS Systems came on site and helped us with the setup and rollout to the users which went smoothly.

Benefits of solution

The results so far have been just as we hoped; the life expectancy on a thin client box we hope will be twice of a standard PC, the virtualisation of servers and desktops has us with our “green agenda” with reduced electrical consumption. From a support point of view we have better control of individual desktops, easier patching for software updates and most importantly to the users who have adapted to the new hardware very well.

Timescales

The pilot has been running for around 6 months and we are now beginning to plan with MIRIS Systems Ltd the rollout to all other users over the next year.

Why have you chosen MIRIS Systems Ltd. to implement this solution?

We had met with a number of suppliers regarding VMware, VDI, and AppSense over a period of time and we felt that the staff at MIRIS Systems talked with more confidence and demonstrable experience of previous implementations. From a cultural point of view they shared the same attitudes and enthusiasm as our own staff.

Feedback on your feelings from initial engagement to ongoing support

The feelings we held from the initial meetings about their ability to work with us have been demonstrated and they have provided a good level of support from day one.

Feedback on MIRIS Systems Ltd. staff (e.g. professionalism, attitudes, skill level, etc...)

Highly experienced staff, who have been sharing knowledge with our support team making sure that we can run the systems ourselves knowing we have a high quality support team at MIRIS Systems Ltd to back us up.

Would you recommend MIRIS Systems Ltd. to a friend or colleague?

We would certainly recommend MIRIS Systems Ltd. as an organisation to work with for their technical skills, experience and customer commitment.