Manufacturer Simplifies IT Management to Tackle Tasks in Minutes, Not Hours

Microsoft Windows Server System Customer Solution Case Study

Overview “With Windows Server Update Services, there is Country or Region: United States one place to see which desktops have been Industry: Manufacturing updated with which updates.” Customer Profile Doug Pryor, IT Manager, TOX Pressotechnik TOX® Pressotechnik makes machines and tooling for sheet-metal joining, used by carmakers and other manufacturers. The German firm operates 11 sites Equipment manufacturer TOX Pressotechnik makes machines worldwide, including its U.S. subsidiary in Illinois. and tooling used in the automotive, appliance, and electronic industries. When employees at its U.S. arm began to send Business Situation To increase productivity, TOX U.S. drawings back and forth by e-mail for customer approval, they needed to provide sales representatives quickly outgrew the message store of their local e-mail folders and engineers with larger e-mail boxes, while also upgrading its IT infrastructure. and had to store older e-mail offline. TOX U.S. needed to provide users with larger mailboxes, while also upgrading its IT Solution ® With the Microsoft® Windows Server™ infrastructure to simplify management. With help from Microsoft solution for midsize businesses, TOX can partner Peters & Associates, TOX U.S. deployed Microsoft provide e-mail users with larger mailboxes and also automate the Windows Server™ 2003 and Exchange Server 2003. Now TOX distribution of Windows® updates to user U.S. employees have instant access to customer e-mail in local desktops. folders, and the IT manager has saved time by automating Benefits routine tasks. For example, in the past, downloading security  Improved end-user productivity  Reduced software costs updates to 40 desktops took 18 to 20 hours. Now it takes less  Saved time by automating tasks than five minutes.  Increased reliability  Readied for growth “When you are with a Situation TOX® Pressotechnik designs and manufac- What’s more, sending large files by e-mail customer, waiting a tures machines and tooling for sheet-metal was an ongoing activity, crucial to half-hour is an joining, piercing, staking, and other managing customer interactions effectively. processes used by the automotive, As customers made modifications to excruciatingly long appliance, electronics, and other industries. designs, CAD drawings were exchanged time.” As a small player in a large supply chain, back and forth before final approval. To do TOX sells its offerings to customers their jobs, sales reps and engineers Doug Pryor, IT Manager, TOX including General Motors, Ford, needed larger mailboxes. They needed Pressotechnik DaimlerChrysler, Volkswagen, Whirlpool, instant access to e-mail messages and Dell, and Hewlett Packard, among others. attachments that documented changes and Founded in 1978, the privately held TOX approvals at each stage of the design has 550 employees and operates 11 sites process. worldwide. The Warrenville, Illinois, office serves as the North American hub, But the private folders maintained in the overseeing operations in the United States, Microsoft Outlook® 2000 messaging and Canada, and Mexico. collaboration client weren’t large enough to do that. “We had to store older e-mail files TOX U.S. is a longstanding Microsoft cus- offline, so we wouldn’t crash our server,” tomer. Its IT infrastructure was based on says Pryor. When employees needed the Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Server those files, they called him. It could take operating system, including Active him more than a half-hour to find the data Directory® service, and Microsoft Exchange and transfer it back, he recalls. The wait 2000 Server. The company also operates a was especially painful when TOX SAP enterprise resource planning system, employees were working at remote which runs on Windows 2000 Server with customer sites. “When you are with a cus- an Oracle database. tomer, waiting a half-hour is an excruciatingly long time,” says Pryor. Maxed-Out Message Store Exchange 2000 Server had served TOX TOX had another reason to document e- well for five years. But as sales mail exchanges carefully: It had to consider representatives and engineers began to the possibility of future liability issues. If conduct more and more business by e- legal issues were to arise, the company mail, they hit a roadblock: The message would have to show how information had store in Exchange 2000 Server was smaller been maintained. Pryor says, “We would than what TOX required. The company have to prove that due diligence had been routinely transmitted very large files: three- done.” TOX is not currently subject to dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) regulations such the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley drawings that depicted the products that its Act or other compliance initiatives. But the engineers were designing for customers. “A company behaves as if it is. “We regulate single CAD drawing could be 30 to 50 ourselves,” says Pryor. megabytes,” says Doug Pryor, IT Manager at TOX. No Failover Solution “[Microsoft Operations The decision to raise the storage limit pro- TOX sought a solution that would raise the vided the opportunity to address another IT storage limit for user mailboxes, enabling Manager] will decrease concern that had long plagued Pryor. TOX sales reps and engineers to manage cus- the amount of time that did not have a failover strategy for the tomer interactions more effectively. The Active Directory service. When the company also needed to simplify IT man- I spend managing company implemented Active Directory in agement to improve reliability, increase servers.” 2002, the service, which controls access to security, and automate routine tasks. network resources, was deployed on a Doug Pryor, IT Manager, TOX single server computer. “In the back of my Solution Pressotechnik mind, I was always worried,” says Pryor. To upgrade the IT infrastructure at TOX, “There was no redundancy. If Active Pryor quickly selected the Microsoft Directory were to fail, no one would have Windows Server™ solution for midsize access to the network.” businesses. He did not consider alternatives. “After my good experience His worry was well-founded. One day in with Microsoft, I had no reason to evaluate February 2003, Active Directory went down other products,” he says. during business hours. “The log files filled up and the system stopped responding,” Aimed at companies that manage between Pryor recalls. “For five hours, no one had 50 and 250 PCs, the solution positions access to the network.” He traced the TOX for future growth. It includes three problem to a configuration error made by a copies of the Microsoft Windows Server service firm that TOX no longer works with. 2003 Standard Edition operating system, An administrator had failed to specify an one copy of Microsoft Exchange Server expiration date for log entries. “The crash 2003 Standard Edition, and one copy of made me even more aware that a failover Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) solution was key, a critical thing,” he says. 2005 Workgroup Edition. Also included are 50 client access licenses for Windows There were other IT issues to address as Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003. well. Although Pryor hires interns to help The solution enables IT managers such as him out on occasion, his is essentially a Pryor to create a more secure and well- one-man IT shop. To simplify management, managed infrastructure, while also he needed to find ways to save time. reducing operational costs and complexity. Ongoing tasks, such as downloading operating system updates, had become A key reason why TOX selected Windows tedious to carry out alone. Because end Server 2003 is its update component users didn’t always comply with his request known as Windows Server Update to keep systems up to date, he often Services. Update Services automatically checked all 40 workstations himself, distributes Windows updates through a typically configuring 2 per hour. “I don’t like Web-based tool. That saves Pryor from to yell at people, to be the mean guy,” he having to configure each desktop explains. separately. It also provides him with a central view of the network. “With Windows Server Update Services, there is one place to see which desktops have been updated upgrade. “It was time for TOX to get an with which updates,” he says. extreme makeover,” says Richard Opal, Vice President at Peters & Associates. By upgrading to Exchange Server 2003 Pryor was ready to get going. “I was happy and downloading Service Pack 2 (SP2), to have Peters & Associates on board with TOX can immediately accommodate users’ me,” he says. “I could not have handled demands for larger mailboxes. SP2 raises everything on my own.” the storage limit in Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition to 75 gigabytes. “There Peters & Associates installed two new HP was no question that it was time to upgrade ProLiant server computers, which TOX had to Exchange Server 2003,” says Pryor. purchased as part of the upgrade. Both were preloaded with Windows Server 2003; MOM 2005, the event and performance one was designated for Exchange Server management server, also was an attractive 2003, and the other for Active Directory. An part of the solution. MOM detects failures existing server computer, which had hosted and pinpoints potential performance prob- an earlier version of Active Directory, was lems. “It will decrease the amount of time repurposed as a backup for the new that I spend managing servers,” says directory service. TOX also repurposed the Pryor, who plans to implement MOM in server computer that previously ran 2006. Exchange 2000 Server, as a Web server for the company’s File Transfer Protocol To help deploy Windows Server 2003 and (FTP) site. “Hardware reuse kept costs Exchange Server 2003, TOX enlisted the down,” says Pryor. services of Peters & Associates, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner that Pryor It also meant that the project came in a met at a local trade show a few years ago. few thousand dollars under budget. The In early 2005, he contracted with the firm to U.S.$25,000 budget was split about equally perform a network evaluation. Before among the Microsoft software, the HP signing on with Peters & Associates for the hardware, and fees for Peters & recommended upgrade, Pryor had to get Associates. the go-ahead from upper management. “The U.S. subsidiary president was The upgrade proceeded smoothly, with no involved,” says Scott Roth, Account downtime. Working closely with Pryor, Manager at Peters & Associates. Peters & Associates completed the “He wanted to make sure there was Windows Server and Exchange Server business value—that TOX wasn’t buying upgrades in two days. To avoid business technology just for the sake of buying interruption, the partner moved user technology.” mailboxes to the new system after business hours. With the upgrade Convinced that the business value was complete, Peters & Associates represen- there, management gave the project a tatives remained on site another week or green light. In October 2005, Peters & so, to facilitate knowledge transfer and iron Associates began implementing the system out any minor kinks that came up. In addition, Pryor has engaged the service additional client access licenses, bringing provider for quarterly maintenance. the total to 65.

“We encourage customers to look over our By taking advantage of SP2 for Exchange shoulder,” says Opal. “The more we Server 2003, TOX realized additional educate, the better we can support them. savings, says Roth. SP2 raises the storage The network does not belong to us. It limit to 75 gigabytes. The other way to get belongs to them.” a message store of that size is to acquire Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition Benefits for an additional $2,500. “That investment Upgrading to Windows Server 2003 and didn’t make sense for TOX,” says Roth, Exchange Server 2003 has helped TOX because the message store was the only simplify IT management. The solution has enterprise feature that the company reduced software costs, saved time by needed. automating IT tasks, and increased reliability. By providing end users with Saved Time by Automating Tasks larger mailboxes, TOX also has improved By implementing Windows Server Update productivity. Services, TOX can download security updates to 40 desktops in just a few Improved End-User Productivity minutes. In the past, Pryor prompted end By raising the message store limit from 18 users to update their own desktops or to 75 gigabytes, TOX has improved the spent 18 to 20 hours completing that task productivity of its sales representatives and himself. “Now I just push out updates after engineers. Prior to implementing Exchange hours,” he says. That process takes him Server 2003 SP2, their mailboxes weren’t less than five minutes. Better still, he is no large enough to store the e-mail and longer the bad guy: “I don’t have to yell at attachments that they relied on to do my users as often.” business with customers. In the past, they waited a half-hour or more while the IT Increased Reliability manager located the files that they needed By updating the IT infrastructure and from storage. Now they access those files adding a backup server for Active instantly, even from remote locations. Directory, Pryor is confident that he can avoid a failure like the one that occurred in Reduced Software Costs 2003 when Active Directory—and hence, By selecting the Windows Server solution the entire network—went down for five for midsize businesses—a package that hours during the workday. "When you includes Windows Server 2003 Standard consider the loss of business and customer Edition, Exchange Server 2003 Standard confidence, the failure may have cost the Edition, and MOM 2005 Workgroup Edition company as much as several thousand —TOX saved $1,721, compared with dollars per hour," says Pryor. Before the acquiring each item separately. Priced at update, “my concern for accessibility of our $7,279, the TOX solution included 15 network resources and redundancy of Active Directory was a critical, lingering For More Information issue,” he says. Now Pryor is confident the Microsoft Windows Server System For more information about Microsoft network is more secure and well-managed. Microsoft Windows Server System is a line products and services, call the Microsoft of integrated and manageable server Sales Information Center at (800) 426- Readied for Growth software designed to reduce the complexity 9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft With its updated IT infrastructure, TOX can and cost of IT. Windows Server System Canada Information Centre at (877) 568- easily add desktop and server computers enables you to spend less time and budget 2495. Customers who are deaf or hard- as the need arises. To further improve the on managing your systems so that you can of-hearing can reach Microsoft text efficiency of IT operations and focus your resources on other priorities for telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) manageability, Pryor is planning to deploy you and your business. 892-5234 in the United States or (905) MOM 2005 in fall of 2006. MOM will help 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 keep an eye on the virtual private network For more information about Windows United States and Canada, please that connects TOX U.S. to its parent Server System, go to: contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. company in Germany. “There’s a seven- www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem To access information using the World hour time difference,” says Pryor. “So the Wide Web, go to: entire network must be available 24 hours www.microsoft.com a day, seven days a week.”

For more information about Peters & Associates products and services, call (630) 832-0075 or visit the Web site at: www.peters.com

For more information about TOX Pressotechnik products and services, call (630) 393–0300 or visit the Web site at: www.tox-us.com

Software and Services Hardware  Microsoft Servers  Cisco switches and PIX firewall − Microsoft Windows Server 2003  Cybertron server computers Standard Edition  Dell workstations − Microsoft Exchange Server 2003  HP ProLiant server computers and Tape Standard Edition Autoloader − Microsoft Operations Manager 2005  Network Appliance F87 filer Workgroup Edition  Microsoft Office Partner © 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft Outlook 2000  Peters & Associates This case study is for informational purposes only. − MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, Active Directory, Outlook, Windows, the Windows logo, Windows Server, and Windows Server System are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Document published May 2006