Customer Solution Case Study
/ Vehicle Manufacturer Upgrades Operating System to Help Protect Intellectual Property
“Windows 7 Enterprise gives us confidence that our vehicle designs and other confidential data are well-protected.”
Cüneyt Targotay, Chief Information Officer, BMC
As part of a larger IT transformation project with a goal of safeguarding intellectual property and other confidential information, vehicle manufacturer BMC upgraded to the Windows 7 Enterprise operating system, Windows Internet Explorer 8 browser, and Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system. Now the company enjoys strengthened data security and a security-enhanced browser experience, improved employee productivity, and simplified IT maintenance.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published July 2011
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Business Needs
Founded in 1964, BMC is one of Turkey’s leading commercial vehicle manufacturers, producing 22,000 buses, heavy trucks, and light trucks every year for both public and military use. To support its operations, BMC had an IT infrastructure that included 28 servers running the Windows Server 2003 operating system and 680 client computers running the Windows XP operating system in different images.
Because the company serves customers in the defense industry, data security is a top priority for BMC. It must ensure that confidential customer information, as well as its own intellectual property, is safeguarded from unauthorized access. “Our systems must be secure,” says Cüneyt Targotay, Chief Information Officer at BMC. “As a result, our IT department constantly assesses the latest technologies in order to keep pace with security standards and ensure we are diligent about avoiding security vulnerabilities.”
Specifically, the vehicle manufacturer wanted to enhance security for portable devices, including laptop computers and removable media devices used by the Research and Development (R&D) team at BMC. “The R&D team invests a huge amount of time creating new vehicle designs and other intellectual property,” explains Targotay. “That team travels often and collaborates with external suppliers, which leaves the potential for data leakage. Though we have never had a security incident, protecting this intellectual property against accidental loss or theft is crucial for our business.”
At the same time, BMC wanted to upgrade its server infrastructure in an effort to increase efficiency and simplify IT management. “PC maintenance was costly and time-consuming, and deploying software was a manual, inefficient process,” says Aytekin Düz, System Administrator at BMC. “We wanted to transform our IT environment.”
Solution
In July 2010, BMC started its IT transformation project. For the first phase, the company upgraded to the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system. It also decided to virtualize its server environment and implemented Hyper-V technology, reducing the number of physical servers by one-half—from 28 to 14. BMC also implemented Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 to automate the software deployment process across its server and client computing environment, including its virtual servers.
In November 2010, with its new server infrastructure in place, the company migrated to the Windows 7 Enterprise operating system for the second phase of the project. BMC also upgraded to the Windows Internet Explorer 8 browser. BMC worked with Microsoft partner Probil, which introduced the vehicle manufacturer to the Microsoft Optimized Desktop Proof-of-Concept (POC) Jumpstart program. The program includes a self-contained, self-service POC Jumpstart kit that helps organizations evaluate Microsoft desktop technologies and familiarizes them with Microsoft deployment tools. “We received tremendous support from Microsoft and Probil, which helped speed up the deployment process and help us reach our goals,” says Düz.
Together, BMC and Probil created a single operating system image and used the Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit to validate that all applications used by the vehicle manufacturer were compatible with the operating system and browser. By June 2011, the company had deployed the standard image on almost 500 computers and planned to complete the deployment by August 2011.
BMC uses Group Policy, a feature of Windows Server 2008, for centralized configuration management of the client and server operating systems, as well as the browser. In particular, the company took advantage of new policy settings for managing security enhancements in Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7 Enterprise, and Internet Explorer 8. BMC configured Internet Explorer 8 to enforce SmartScreen Filter, a feature that detects phishing sites and helps prevent employees from downloading malicious software (malware). The company also plans to use Group Policy to configure BitLocker To Go drive encryption technology to encrypt data stored on removable media, such as USB flash drives.
Benefits
As a result of upgrading its operating systems and browser, BMC enhanced desktop security, increased employee productivity, and simplified PC management. Specifically, BMC has:
- Enhanced security. By using features in Windows 7 Enterprise and Internet Explorer 8, BMC enhanced security for its desktop environment to help protect the corporate network and data. “SmartScreen Filter in Internet Explorer 8 is great because it helps prevent users from accessing unsafe sites or downloading malware to our network,” explains Düz. In addition, by using BitLocker To Go, the company will be able to encrypt removable devices to help protect intellectual property from falling into the wrong hands. “Windows 7 Enterprise gives us confidence that our vehicle designs and other confidential data are well-protected,” says Düz.
- Increased employee productivity. Employees at BMC offer praise for productivity enhancements in Windows 7, such as Windows Search. Instead of searching file shares, email software, and folders on their desktop, now, they can search for files, email messages, and folders directly from the Start menu, and get relevant results in a matter of seconds. “The search enhancements in Windows 7 Enterprise have greatly increased our productivity,” says Düz.
- Simplified PC management. BMC not only enhanced security as part of its IT transformation project, but it also can better manage and enforce security rules through Group Policy. “With Group Policy, we can centrally manage security and other policy settings in Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows Server 2008, and Internet Explorer 8,” says Düz. “We simplified PC management so that, now, IT personnel can manage more PCs in less time. By being more efficient, they can reallocate their time to additional IT enhancements that support business operations.”
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published July 2011
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