Case Study
Sector: Leisure and tourism
Permanently eliminating Microsoft Exchange server storage capacity issues without upgrading
Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines is part of Fred. Olsen Ltd, which was founded by three Norwegian brothers approximately 150 years ago. Today, it is a global network of companies, with a reputation for innovation, service and dependability. Business Benefits
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Reduced backup time Cost tens of thousands of pounds less than an Exchange upgrade Made daily backups feasible and painless Eliminated inbox capacity firefighting Reduced user support requirements Centralised storage and dramatically increased data accessibility Increased system security and resilience.
The Challenge Staff need to retain the information that they gather during each period that they spend working on board one of the company’s four cruise ships. Each shift is normally several months’ long, followed by a similar amount of time ashore, so records need to be detailed, complete and searchable, in preparation for handovers. Each ship had approximately 80 users, all of whom were trying to store the maximum amount of information that they could, including important technical drawings, on the Microsoft Exchange server aboard each vessel. Because this storage capacity was so limited, staff often converted data to pst files and saved them on local hard drives – which was neither safe nor secure, nor was it accessible nor manageable enough. Most of this data needed to be retained for the long term. Upgrading the Microsoft Exchange servers and licences to increase capacity would have cost tens of thousands of pounds and caused too much disruption, without giving satisfactory results.
Email: info@esdebe.com Tel: +44 (0) 845 686 9600 www.esdebe.com
The Solution “Why have a huge Exchange database, when we can have an easy-to-use, lean Symantec system, which has been designed for the job and costs so much less to implement? “It was a ‘no-brainer’”, explained Ross Sutherwood, who heads up Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ maritime IT teams. “The benefits of using Symantec’s Enterprise Vault had already been proven, because we had been using it ashore.” Esdebe were well known to Fred. Olsen. They are also a Symantec Specialist Partner in high availability, archiving, e-discovery, storage management and data protection, and so are ideally placed to install and provide support after new technology has been rolled out. The installations were completed on each ship while at sea near Norway, Spain, Ireland and England – to minimise service disruption and streamline project time windows. The pst files were retrieved from local drives and consolidated centrally, and then a single instance system was incorporated to avoid replication.
The Results Prior to using Enterprise Vault, backing up data could take up to 24 hours. After installation, backing up the same mailbox volume was reduced to just two hours. “When relying on Exchange, onboard IT staff would spend substantial amounts of time firefighting mailbox limits, but now they do not have to spend any time on this at all, because the new system has practically eliminated user complaints. We have also adopted VMware, so we are unlikely to encounter any storage restrictions in the long term. “Even though the installations ran to tight schedules, Esdebe excelled at walking us through how the system worked, so that our own IT team had a sufficient understanding of it. Esdebe is also extremely good at providing timely, effective support on the rare occasions that we need it,” commented Ross. Compared to upgrading Microsoft Exchange and increasing the licence capacity, installing Enterprise Vault was a fraction of the cost and delivered a far more efficient and resilient service, even including built-in database safety measures.
Email: info@esdebe.com Tel: +44 (0) 845 686 9600 www.esdebe.com