32K users, 7 countries, 145K PST's to EV

[TonySterling]

One of Europe’s leading energy producers embarked on a project to rollout Microsoft Windows 7 on new laptops and workstations company-wide.  With 32,000 users spread across 7 countries it was essential that the project delivered real value and was not simply a like-for-like exchange of technology.

After initial investigation of the options to eliminate PST files the company turned to QUADROtech Solutions. PST FlightDeck was used to scope the project and the QUADROtech consulting team recommended a strategy moving forward. The initial stage of the project identified 145,000 PST files occupying some 64TB of storage located primarily on end-user workstations, laptops and removable devices.

Ultimately the project was run across 4 data-centers involving users in 250 locations. PST FlightDeck cen- tralized the PST files without user disruption and included automatic verification, password removal and corruption repair. The ability to de-duplicate content at an item level resulted in a significant reduction in storage moving forward. In fact a 25% reduction in storage was achieved and user productivity was increased because there were no longer duplicates of emails. 

As part of the implementation they identified the need to address issues with PST files that prevented users from accessing email content using mobile devices and posed significant operational risk with regard to availability and legal discovery. As a result they decided to eliminate user PST files from their environment and move the content into Symantec’s Enterprise Vault email archiving platform.

In addition to the migration of the data, managing the user interaction was a key contribution to success. By keeping users informed, helpdesk calls could be kept to a minimum, and an intuitive dashboard meant that administrators could always see the latest status and progress.

From a compliance perspective PST FlightDeck maintained a full audit trail of actions taken ensuring future legal discovery processes would not be compromised.

The company compared the cost of migration manually with the cost of using PST FlightDeck and the return-on-investment was clear. Over the course of the project over €500,000 would be saved.

Additionally the automation and control presented by PST FlightDeck meant that the overall risks would be minimized and the project could be delivered within a predictable timescale and budget.

HIGHLIGHTS

European Energy Producer

• 32,000 users

• 7 countries

• 250 locations Windows 7 rollout project

• PST Elimination

• 145,000 files

• 64 TB data

• Migrated into Enterprise Vault Automated migration

• Full audit and compliance trail

• Estimated €500k cost savings

• Storage reduced by 25%

• Zero user disruption

ABOUT PST FLIGHTDECK

PST FlightDeck is an enterprise-grade product for the migration of PST files to Microsoft Exchange, Office 365 or email archives. PST FlightDeck discovers, centralizes and processes data rapidly allowing PST files to be eliminated at last. It can discover PST files where ever they are located, even on external drives and USB sticks and includes a process that can see users migrated in less than 24 hours without interruption.

Ownership information is determined automatically using Outlook profiles, NTFS permissions and other mechanisms. The centralization process is fully optimized according to network bandwidth and available resources. PSTs are then processed to remove passwords, identify shared PST files, verify and correct corruption as required, de-duplicate data at a user level and ingest into the target platform. Filtering options are included together with the automatic detection of shared PST files for maximum flexibility.

The overall process is controlled through a management dashboard which includes extensive auditing and logging and a helpdesk interface. Role-based administration ensures the right level of access throughout for administrators, operators and support staff.

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