Fujitsu Services

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Fujitsu Services

Following an assessment of potential solutions, including Oracle's e-mail system, Fujitsu developed a compelling business justification for the migration to Microsoft Exchange 2003 and Windows Server 2003.

Customer's Challenge

Fujitsu Services is one of the leading IT services companies in Europe, Middle East and Africa. It has an annual turnover of £1.86 billion (€2.8bn) and operates in over 20 countries. It designs, builds and operates IT systems and services for customers in the financial services, telecom, retail, utilities and government markets.

In 2002 the company began to look at replacing its Microsoft Exchange 5.5 e-mail system, because the underlying hardware platform was struggling to cope with the growing demands being placed on it.

David Sackman, Programme Manager, Fujitsu Services, explains, “Rather than just trying to replace the hardware we wanted to use the opportunity to move to Microsoft Exchange 2003, running on Windows Server 2003. However, we had been using Windows NT 4.0 for quite some time and while it had become rather unruly and unkempt, it was still a very stable platform. So we needed a very good business case for moving forward to Windows Server 2003 even though it was a natural successor.”

Fujitsu's Solution

Following an assessment of potential solutions, including Oracle's e-mail system, Fujitsu developed a compelling business justification for the migration to Microsoft Exchange 2003 and Windows Server 2003. As well as the many productivity, management and security benefits inherent in the new Microsoft product set, Fujitsu identified massive potential support cost savings, due to a reduction in the number of Exchange Servers that would be needed and as a result of implementing Microsoft Active Directory.

A central component of the Windows platform, Active Directory provides a single-logon capability and a central repository for information across the entire infrastructure, vastly simplifying user and infrastructure management and providing superior access to networked resources.

“My job is to provide low cost IT solutions that meet Fujitsu's business requirements,” says David Sackman, “and the move to Microsoft Exchange 2003 and Windows Server 2003 could easily have been justified purely on the basis of having a more reliable platform, with much lower support costs. But it will also provide us with a leading-edge business platform and advanced functionality that we can exploit fully over the next year to 18 months. It also means that we have the right technology to develop innovative new products, in areas such as mobile working, so even our customers will benefit from the migration!”

To take full advantage of these new capabilities and ensure a smooth transition, Fujitsu developed an incremental migration strategy covering the evaluation, design, testing and implementation of the Windows Server 2003 system. Initially, Fujitsu's IT consultants prepared a high level system design, based on a review of the existing Windows NT 4.0 structure and the determination and agreement of functional requirements, such as security levels and global user management policies.

Once the overall design had been checked and approved by the client, the technical consultants were then able to develop the detailed design, covering the information needed to build the new infrastructure. They also liaised closely with the corporate application owners, to ensure that information access would be available, and the company's support services, to agree the necessary support levels and requirements.

Fujitsu is currently piloting Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with some 180 users from representative group across the company. The migration of the rest of the company will start in October 2003 and it is planned that all of Fujitsu's 15,000 staff located across Europe will be working on the new system by September 2004.

“Thanks to the detailed planning and preparation for the Windows Server 2003 migration undertaken by our IT consultants, we can now reap the full productivity and cost benefits of the new infrastructure, in the shortest time possible,” adds David Sackman. “It has also given us an extremely reliable platform on which to move forward.”

Benefits to our Customer

The new Microsoft Exchange 2003 and Windows Server 2003 infrastructure is expected to provide Fujitsu with considerable cost and efficiency benefits:

• Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), including savings of over £200,000 a year in support and administration costs generated by reducing the number of Exchange Servers required from 70 to 14
• Increased security and control of users through comprehensive identity management and certification facilities and the enforcement of corporate policy
• Greater efficiency using the Active Directory's centralised management of information and users
• Improved productivity with the advanced facilities for mobile working and file and print sharing
• Enhanced system performance, with increased reliability, availability, scalability and up to 140 percent better file-system performance
• Faster information access by enabling rapid collaboration and ensuring that the right people have access to the right applications.

However, in order to realise these benefits, Fujitsu's structured approach to the Windows Server 2003 migration has been key as it has enabled the company to:

• Shorten migration timescales with effective project requirements analysis and planning
• Reduce project risk by using proven project methodologies and exploiting Fujitsu's expertise and strategic relationship with Microsoft
• Minimise business disruption with effective piloting and system testing and seamless user migration
• Cost-effectively implement the new infrastructure using Fujitsu's rapid system build and migration tools and extensive experience in large system roll-outs
• Improve productivity by fully exploiting the advanced features of Windows Server 2003.

Our Expertise

Fujitsu's IT Consultancy Practice provides consultancy and project services to design, deploy and exploit state-of-the-art IT infrastructures so that its clients can gain maximum benefit from the latest technologies.

With several hundred consultants, offering a wealth of expertise and experience with a range of organisations, Fujitsu can create a team to match the specific requirements of any project. Its Knowledge Management systems also ensure that its consultants have knowledge of the latest projects, using the latest technologies, wherever they are being implemented across the UK.

David Sackman says, “Fujitsu's IT consultants were extremely proactive in getting together with us to understand exactly what I wanted to achieve, so that any misunderstandings were quickly addressed and we were all singing from the same hymn sheet. They were also very good at explaining in layman's terms the technicalities of the project, such as the key role that would be played by the Active Directory.”

Fujitsu is also a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for both Enterprise Systems and Support, providing clients with the advantages of early and close involvement with Microsoft on new initiatives and products.