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Microsoft Server Product PortfolioCustomer Solution Case Study

Stockholm University Cuts Operating Costs by €80,000 with Email Server Upgrade

OverviewCountry or Region: SwedenIndustry: Education—Higher education institutions

Customer ProfileStockholm University, with 28,000 students, is the fourth-oldest university in Sweden and is rated in academic league tables as one of the top 100 universities in the world.

Business SituationThe university lacked a common messaging and collaboration platform for its staff and was finding it expensive and time consuming to manage eight separate communications systems.

SolutionWorking with the HP–Microsoft Frontline Partnership, Stockholm University adopted Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 with Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems running on HP hardware.

Benefits Cuts operating costs by €80,000 Delivers high availability Boosts staff productivity Scales to support future growth Eases burden on systems

administrators

“Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 is giving us an immediate saving of €80,000 and we no longer have to charge the departments per user. Email is the primary service that our colleagues cannot live without.”

Lotta Ungerth, Chief Information Officer, Stockholm University

Stockholm University needed a state-of-the-art collaboration and communications server for its 5,000 staff to replace eight different email systems. Its previous solutions were expensive and time consuming to operate. The university moved to Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 running on HP hardware. It wanted to take advantage of its greater reliability and new features such as support for Microsoft Outlook, which would boost staff productivity through calendar sharing and online bookings. The deployment took place seamlessly over one weekend, after which employees were able to work effectively immediately. The university is now cutting operating costs by €80,000 (U.S.$104,000) compared to the previous systems, while its environmental sustainability targets have been met by reducing space and energy consumption in the data center.

SituationStockholm University has more than 28,000 students and 5,000 staff at four faculties and at research institutes throughout the country, making it one of the largest universities in Scandinavia. The institution is also rated in league tables as one of the top 100 universities in the world. With a reputation for excellence in research, Stockholm University was granted university status in 1960 and is the fourth-oldest university in Sweden.

Despite having a central support team, the university had for many years adopted a decentralized approach to information and communications technology (ICT). Each department had the right to make its own IT offer to staff, including open source solutions. Over the years, this had resulted in eight different email messaging systems—including Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and UNIX—for the four faculties.

The centralized IT service department wanted to move between one and two team members from email support to higher value work. Chief Information Officer Lotta Ungerth, whose previous experience was in the private sector, also believed it was time to give colleagues on campus better communication and collaboration tools to enhance productivity.

Ungerth says: “We were experiencing interoperability and application compatibility challenges with our existing email system. As a result, the operating costs recharged to the various departments in the university were high, and the governing board of the university had asked us to reduce costs. Our aim was zero downtime—we didn’t want to continuously

react when the UNIX email system failed. We also wanted to reduce energy consumption in the data center in line with our environmental sustainability policies that apply in every procurement exercise.”

But, by 2010, the university had two additional challenges. First, the way people were working was changing, and, second, it needed to meet significant cost reduction targets. Ungerth adds: “Our colleagues wanted to collaborate more closely through their Microsoft Outlook personal information manager clients by sharing task lists, calendars, and having the tools to book conference rooms online. Previously, administrators and academic staff had used email messaging mainly for communication rather than the full range of features in Microsoft Outlook.”

SolutionStockholm University originally looked at Dell email management technology, but after a meeting with HP, it chose to work with the HP–Microsoft Frontline Partnership. The decision took just two days and was driven by cost effectiveness and the need for fast deployment.

The university was looking for a solution that was easy to deploy and manage, bringing together robust HP hardware with the latest Microsoft software. To further support the university, the HP–Microsoft Frontline Partnership also engaged with Sweden-based Microsoft Large Account Reseller Caperio.

Under its Microsoft Campus Agreement with the Enterprise Client Access License (CAL) suite, Stockholm University acquired a highly cost-effective solution with the

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“Our colleagues wanted to collaborate more closely through their Microsoft Outlook personal information manager clients by sharing task lists, calendars, and having the tools to book conference rooms online.”

Lotta Ungerth, Chief Information Officer, Stockholm University

latest version of the required software automatically available. HP delivered three HP E5700 messaging systems each with 80 terabytes of storage and capable of supporting up to 6,000 mailboxes. The HP E5700 offers complete business-ready Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 applications simplified for continuous availability. Each user gets a 2.5-gigabyte mailbox, whereas previously there were no limits set, which put pressure on available storage space.

The HP E5700 package includes two Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise operating system licenses. Ungerth says: “We’re also using the spam engine of Microsoft Forefront Online Protection for Exchange.”

Part of the attraction of the HP–Microsoft Frontline Partnership offer was speed of deployment due to the pre-configuration in the HP E5700 solution. The migration took place over a single weekend to avoid disruption to users. Ungerth estimates that it took half the time it would have taken using any other vendor.

During the design and deployment stages, Microsoft, HP, and Caperio worked closely with the university’s in-house team. Ungerth says: “The HP–Microsoft Frontline Partnership has helped broaden our technology base, which is particularly important given that we do everything in-house with no external consultants.”

BenefitsStockholm University is improving the productivity of its staff with the centrally supported messaging and collaboration system using Microsoft Exchange Server

2010 and HP hardware. It has a solid foundation on which to expand communications options for the university, so employees have more choice in the way they work. Operating costs have been cut by €80,000 (U.S.$104,000) compared to the previous email systems, while environmental sustainability targets have been met by reducing space and energy consumption in the data center.

Saving €80,000 Helps Meet University Cost Reduction Targets Most higher education institutions in Europe are under pressure to reduce support costs wherever possible. Stockholm University is no exception, but in moving to a next-generation system for communication and collaboration, the university is also investing in its IT infrastructure, with a view to saving money in the future.

Ungerth says: “The upgrade to Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 is giving us an immediate saving of €80,000 and we no longer have to charge the departments per user. Email is the primary service that our colleagues cannot live without, even for a single day.”

Exchange Server 2010 Delivers High Reliability for UsersThe university is finding that the structure of Exchange Server 2010 makes it possible to maintain multiple copies of a database and associated mailboxes for greater redundancy. With the new environment, the system could lose a server without any interruption in email service because the system corrects itself within 30 seconds.

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“The upgrade to Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 is giving us an immediate saving of €80,000 and we no longer have to charge the departments per user.”

Lotta Ungerth, Chief Information Officer, Stockholm University

Staff Boost Productivity with New Messaging PlatformStockholm University now has a messaging system that provides a high level of reliability with simplified management and support for low-cost storage. These features contribute to increased employee productivity and improved communication across the university.

Faculty, staff, and administrators have new messaging tools—such as voicemail, instant messaging, and unified messaging—at their disposal. And the universal inbox in Exchange Server 2010 delivers these messaging functions across virtually any device. Employees can also work more effectively because of the search feature, including complex term searches, to find related messages quickly.

Platform Scales to Support Future Growth PlansThe university’s messaging infrastructure can also accommodate another 1,000 staff and any increased capacity from the institution’s future growth plans. “Our adoption of Exchange Server 2010 makes us much more energy efficient,” says Ungerth. “Overall, it’s a much greener email system and takes up less space in the data center.”

Simplified Management Helps Ease Burden on Systems AdministratorsThe university’s systems administrators are more productive due to their ability to

manage the solution through a secure web portal. They’re also benefiting from the enhanced tracking, trouble shooting, and automation capabilities they’ve gained from Exchange Server 2010. Identity management has also been simplified. Ungerth says: “The improved and simplified management with Exchange Server 2010 has freed one to two IT staff to work on higher value projects.”

Microsoft Server Product PortfolioFor more information about the Microsoft server product portfolio, go to:www.microsoft.com/servers/default.mspx

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

Document published February 2012

Software and Services Microsoft Server Product Portfolio− Microsoft Exchange Server 2010− Microsoft Forefront Online Protection

for Exchange− Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise

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