Customer Solution Case Study
/ / New York City Agencies Reduce IT Costs by 67 Percent with E-Mail System Migration
Overview
Country or Region:United States
Industry:Local government
Customer Profile
The New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) oversees the city’s use of technology in government operations.
Business Situation
Using a range of messaging systems, such as IBM Lotus Notes, Novell GroupWise, and Netscape, city agencies found it difficult to communicate with one another. They also lacked the resources to manage the systems effectively.
Solution
By creating a centralized messaging solution based on Microsoft® Exchange Server 2003 and Windows Server™ 2003, DoITT simplified IT operations, improved productivity, and lowered costs.
Benefits
Reduces IT costs by 67 percent
Simplifies IT management
Reduces time spent on IT issues
Improves employee productivity
Provides high uptime and scales to meetgrowth / “We now have a centralized and cost-effective solution, which is especially important for those agencies that don’t have a lot of IT funds.”
Paul Baity, Server Engineer, New York City Department of Information Technology andTelecommunications
The New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) provides IT services for more than 65 government agencies. The agencies previously used a variety of messaging systems, including IBM Lotus Notes, Novell GroupWise, and Netscape. Employees found it difficult and time-consuming to communicate with workers in other departments. And because many of the agencies lacked the funds and expertise to manage the systems themselves, DoITT spent a lot of time providing support. DoITT decided to migrate the agencies to a centralized system based on Microsoft® Exchange Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003. Twenty-five agencies currently use the solution, which has simplified IT operations and improved productivity. The agencies have also reduced the number of mailbox server computers from 45 to 4 and lowered IT costs by 67 percent.
Situation
The New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) is the central IT agency for New York City government. The department provides technology services for more than 65 city agencies, including the finance, building, and sanitation departments.
Each agency previously used and managed its own messaging system. Those solutions ranged from IBM Lotus Notes and Novell GroupWise to the free Netscape browser suite. Because the agencies used different solutions that did not integrate with one another, it was time-consuming for city workers to communicate with employees in other departments. To schedule a meeting, for instance, an employee needed to make several phone calls to find out when people were available.
Many of the agencies also had difficulty managing the systems themselves, so they sought help from DoITT. For example, some departments experienced virus problems because they did not have the resources to install security and antivirus updates. If a virus incident occurred, it would take two or three DoITT staff members working for a week to resolve the issue—a total of 100 to 150 work hours that could have been used for IT improvement projects.
“We were contacted all the time by agencies whose systems were not up-to-date,” says Shakir al-Saladin, Director of Service Support at DoITT. “We would suddenly get a call and have to rush over to deal with a problem.”
DoITT wanted to improve communication for the agencies it serves and simplify IT operations by migrating the agencies to a single, centralized system and hosting that system.
Solution
DoITT decided that centralizing the messaging systems would reduce the complexity of the agencies’ communications as well as that of their IT systems. “With all the agencies using the same e-mail system, we can have direct lines of communication and that, in turn, speeds up the business processes within each department,” says Paul Baity, Server Engineer at DoITT. “In addition, by consolidating our messaging systems, we can serve users with fewer IT resources, so we can save money.” Moreover, by hosting the solution at DoITT data centers, DoITT can offer agencies better system security and higher uptime.
DoITT chose to switch the agencies from their various systems to Microsoft® Exchange Server 2003, which is part of Microsoft Windows Server System™ integrated server software. The department wanted to use Exchange Server 2003 because it offers a reliable system that canease collaboration and scale to accommodate growth. Other key factors in the decision were the advanced features of the Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003 messaging and collaboration client and Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access (OWA), a component of Exchange Server 2003 that provides Web-based access to messaging information.
Microsoft Services consultants and support professionals have assisted with the migration design and implementation. The project began in 2002 after DoITT moved its own messaging system from Lotus Notes to Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server because ofthat software’slower cost of ownership. The department has migrated the various agencies in phases; currently, 25 agencies and about 13,000 people are using Exchange Server 2003.
The solution includes three data centers with server computers running Exchange Server on the Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 operating system, the foundation of Windows Server System. Four server computers contain the user mailboxes, and three servers provide mailbox access over the Internet for OWA users. Two other servers connect the mailbox and Web-access servers. DoITT also stores messaging data in a Hitachi Data Systems storage area network.
Benefits
With the new Exchange Server–based messaging solution, New York City government agencies have been able to dramatically reduce the number of server computers that they need for their operations. As a result, they have lowered hardware maintenance and software licensing costs. The solution has also helped the agencies simplify IT management and improve employee productivity.
Reduces IT Costs by 67 Percent
By migrating to Exchange Server 2003, the 25 agencies involved so far in the project have achieved a91 percent reduction in the number of mailbox server computers—from 45 to 4. This ratio will grow exponentially when more agencies move to Exchange Server. Some large agencies have up to 30 server computers to support 6,000 users, and the current Exchange Server environment at DoITT could support these users on only two server clusters. As a result, the city has dramatically cut hardware-maintenance and software-licensing costs. The solution also saves the agencies money by centralizing wireless services: Departments no longer need to use expensive third-party server solutions with their BlackBerry devices. Overall, the solution has reduced e-mail system costs by 67 percent.
“We now have a centralized and cost-effective solution, which is especially important for those agencies that don’t have a lot of IT funds,” says Baity. “They can spend less money on maintaining computers and buying software.”
Simplifies IT Management
Exchange Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 have helped DoITT improve IT operational efficiency, a key goal of the Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI). DSI is a Microsoft-led, industry-wide effort to reduce cost and complexity across the IT life cycle by simplifying and automating how businesses design, deploy, and operate their distributed systems.
For example, the Active Directory® service inWindows Server 2003 makes it easy forDoITT to set up multiple agencies in a single domain. The department divides the agencies into organizational units that contain users, groups, and computers managed by Active Directory. “After we created the framework for one organizational unit for an agency, we were able to replicate that framework for other agencies,” Baity says. “Active Directory has helped us implement the solution quickly.”
And with Group Policy in Windows Server 2003, DoITT can quickly customize and apply policies for the access, configuration, and use of IT resources. “Each agency is going to have its own restrictions, and we can meet those requirements with Group Policy, Exchange Server policies, and Active Directory,” says Christian Lawson, Director of Operations and Architecture at DoITT.
OWA in Exchange Server 2003 also simplifies how DoITT deploys and supports e-mail service. Because employees only need a Web browser and an Internet connection to use OWA, they can access their e-mail through a link on the DoITT intranet portal. “Deployments are simple and fast because you can just point users to a single link,” Lawson says.
Reduces Time Spent on IT Issues
The solution has eliminated many minor help-desk calls because users can now resolve the problems themselves. For example, the DoITT support staff used to spend two to four hours a day on calls from users who had mistakenly deleted their e-mail messages. Now, in the Exchange Server 2003 environment, DoITT stores deleted items on the server for 30 days, so users can restore the information without IT staff help.
With centralized server administration, DoITT can provide agencies with better protection against viruses. As a result, the department can make better use of the 100 to 150 hours that it typically spent on a single virus incident, reallocating that time to new IT projects that improve services.
“We have many projects in progress, like upgrading other services and building a lab for our staff,” says al-Saladin. “Now we have more time to focus on those projects.”
Improves Employee Productivity
The solution has helped improve communication among the agencies. Now users can easily schedule meetings by viewing one another’s calendars and sending e-mail meeting requests. In addition, new OWA features, such as the spelling checker and task management, help remote users stay productive while away from the office.
“The agencies are very happy with the solution because it saves them a lot of time,” Lawson says. “They don’t have to make phone calls to set up meetings, and they can access their e-mail from mobile devices.”
Provides High Uptime and Scales to Meet Growth
The Windows® Clusteringfeature in Windows Server 2003 helps provide uptime in accordance with DoITT best practices so that employees can access their messaging information when they need it.
DoITT can also scale the solution to accommodate additional agencies. The department plans to eventually host IT services for 50,000 users, providing not only messaging but also other services with Microsoft Windows Server System software such as Microsoft Host Integration Server 2004, Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005, and Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2004.
“Windows Server 2003 is a solid operating system that provides us with the foundation for hosting many different types of technologies to meet our clients’ business requirements,” Lawson says.
Microsoft Windows Server System
Microsoft Windows Server System integrated server infrastructure software is designed to support end-to-end solutions built on the Windows Server operating system. Windows Server System creates an infrastructure based on integrated innovation, Microsoft’s holistic approach to building products and solutions that are intrinsically designed to work together and interact seamlessly with other data and applications across your IT environment. This helps you reduce the costs of ongoing operations, deliver a more secure and reliable IT infrastructure, and drive valuable new capabilities for the future growth of your business.
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