Writeimage CSB Miners' Private Cloud Exchange Increases Professionalism and Email Security

Microsoft Exchange Private Cloud Customer Solution Case Study

Miners' Private Cloud Exchange Increases Professionalism, Email Security at Remote Site Workers “With hosted Exchange, trained IT experts take care of email servers, storage and maintenance. Built-in security provides enterprise-grade protection. Compared to an on-premise deployment, our total cost of ownership is definitely lower.” Brett Medel, Vice President and CIO, Corporate IT

Philex Mining engineers at the remote Padcal Mine relied on personal email accounts to exchange operational documents. To enhance efficiency, the firm rapidly deployed Microsoft Exchange 2010 on a private cloud, with technology partner ePLDT hosting servers and support services from their own data centre. As a result, Philex Mining has reduced capital investment costs and the mine-site staff is now equipped with professional email that is secure and easy to use.

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Document published March 2013 Business Needs comfortable with company documents through the internet, using Microsoft Philex Mining required top-grade email residing permanently in the public Web Outlook. They also set up a help capabilities for its highly dispersed cloud—that was precisely what we desk to provide all Philex Mining staff workforce. This included 500 office- wanted to avoid. Also the ability to with ongoing assistance. based employees working at corporate delegate account access posed a risk headquarters in Metro Manila, as well as to document security.” engineers working on-site at the gold- and copper-producing Padcal Mine in Medel also evaluated Microsoft Benefits Exchange 2010, which can be Benguet, and other exploration projects With a private cloud deployment of deployed in a variety of configurations, in Surigao del Norte in Mindanao. Microsoft Exchange, Philex Mining including a private cloud. gains professional, top-grade email, without purchasing expensive servers “Email based on Exchange would be Managers and engineering staff needed or re-tasking IT staff. to share daily mine-development plans, easy to use and maintain, especially as contacts lists synchronise schedules and operational documents Instant corporate email automatically,” he says. “Also, there is quickly and securely. They also needed Both Philex Mining and its staff benefit excellent feature integration with to communicate consistently and from a corporate email identity. continuously with external partners. Microsoft Outlook, which some Head Office staff already used, and with To provide staff with the best “As a business, we look far more Microsoft SharePoint, which we communication tools, Vice President professional because we have a single wanted for improved document and CIO, Brett Medel, reviewed his corporate identity,” says Medel. “It’s as management. options, and established four key if we are all in one physical office. We purchasing criteria. have a greater sense of unity.” To deploy Exchange, Medel approached an IT company, ePLDT, “We wanted corporate email, accessible Easy to use; easy to maintain which already provided data centre via a browser for staff who work Compared with Yahoo, Google and services to Philex and associated remotely on mine and exploration Hotmail, staff find Web Outlook very companies. ePLDT suggested a private sites,” he says. “However, the email easy to use. Additionally, Exchange cloud deployment, hosting Exhange system also needed to be hosted and features improve productivity. maintained externally, because we did on servers in their own datacentre. not want precious IT resources drawn “Staff automatically started sharing “There were two advantages to this into infrastructure or help-desk support. calendars, sending meeting invites and setup,” says Medel. “First, we could be encrypting emails,” says Medel. “Use of sure of good support from ePLDT “Third, our email needed to be corporate email accounts quickly rose technical experts who know how to inherently secure, so confidential to 95 per cent, and staff no longer manage, update and secure email documents stayed within company complain that emails go missing.” control. And lastly, a new email solution servers—all the skills areas where we have limited knowledge. Second we had to be very easy to deploy.” Lower total cost of ownership could be confident our documents Besides saving on the cost of server were secure: we knew where data was hardware, the private cloud and who was responsible for it.” deployment also saves on staffing. Solution Transferring private email accounts to Medel compared two options that “The best thing for me is that my team Exchange accounts was quick and could both be deployed quickly. doesn’t have to worry about email straightforward, with the switchover reliability or email server capacity,” occurring in a single weekend. For the “Google had two major drawbacks,” he says Medel. “With hosted Exchange, following three days, ePLDT posted IT says. “Although we wanted an off- trained technical experts take care of staff onsite at the Padcal Mine to show premises deployment, we did not feel the servers, storage and maintenance. engineers how to access their email

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Document published March 2013 Built-in security provides enterprise- one or two IT staff full time,” he adds. deployment, our total cost of grade protection. Having chosen “I would also have to pay for Exchange ownership is definitely lower.” Microsoft, we are more secure.” training, and arrange weekend support. Instead, my team can focus “To manage an on-premise deployment on other critical IT services and I would have had to employ or redeploy upgrades. Compared to an on-premise

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Document published March 2013