Introducing Windows 2000 Deployment Planning

Case Study 4: International Software Development Company

A leading developer of computer-based operating system and applications software for consumer and business use has its main headquarters in the Western United States. The sales, support, and software development offices are located in 180 worldwide locations. The Information Technology (IT) division has two primary areas of responsibility:

Providing and maintaining IT systems and solutions that help employees work efficiently and effectively.
Working with product development groups to test and deploy beta products in an enterprise environment.

Existing IT Environment

The company's current IT environment is a homogenous Windows NT Server 4.0 environment with a broad mix of Windows NT 4.0, Windows 95, and Microsoft® Windows® 98 clients, including multiple computers in user offices that often run beta software. IT provides centralized:

Directory services.
Mail and collaboration services.
Management of Windows NT Server 4.0 security services, network accounts, Web services, and networking.

Users are geographically scattered throughout the globe. Eighty to 90 percent of employees troubleshoot their own client desktops. A large number of users access the network remotely, requiring stable remote access services. IT also supports off-site telecommuters and employees who require international access to the corporate network.

Goals for Deploying Windows 2000

The major goal of this company is to upgrade all of the servers and users to Windows 2000 within 12 months. During migration, the IT group must maintain services of critical applications and at the same time collapse resource domains into geographically-based master user domains. Eliminating many of the resource domains should reduce the number of servers on the network and streamline administration, as well as reduce hardware and software support costs.

The IT department must also keep user attribute information synchronized between Active Directory directory service, Exchange Server 5.5 directory service, and additional systems in use across the company. Everything that is brought online that uses Active Directory must work together. Finally, they want to create a common console tree and create a common directory.

Table 1.5 summarizes the IT goals of this organization and includes the reasons why this organization chose Windows 2000 to meet their goals.

Table 1.5 IT Goals for International Software Development Company

Goals	What Windows 2000 Offers
Consolidate global servers to improve manageability and decrease support costs.	Server consolidation is enabled by the high-performance memory management and multiprocessing capability of Advanced Server. These features improve the scalability of the platform making it an appropriate base for server consolidation efforts.
Purchase new state-of-the-art hardware to create a new high-speed corporate network.	New technologies in Windows 2000 Server are designed to integrate with advances in computer architecture and microchip design, including Advanced Power Management, USB devices, FireWire, smart card readers, and infrared support.
Standardize to one client for better administrative control and authority delegation, and more options for remote installation and management.	Achieve improved desktop management through Group Policy and organizational units enabled by Active Directory, IntelliMirror, and other Change and Configuration Management technologies.
Obtain 50% improvement in performance and reliability over Windows NT 4.0 Server on all Advanced servers.	Baseline improvements at the kernel level of the core operating system enable improvement in memory management, caching, and preemptive multitasking.
Move from a moderately complex Windows NT Server 4.0 environment to a highly simplified Windows 2000 environment.	Active Directory provides increased object storage, more granular management of servers and clients, and improvements in simplified domain design through use of Domain Name System and DNS dynamic update protocol.
Change Windows NT Server 4.0 domain structure to Active Directory model with domains and forests.	Active Directory provides a more flexible domain structure to accommodate current and future organizational needs.
Improve security, information sharing, and transaction capability within the company as well as with other businesses and customers.	Enable a virtual private network using the advanced networking and security features of Windows 2000 Advanced Server.
Improve e-mail security.	Use PKI and certificates.
Maintain a fully functioning corporate network throughout the transition period.	Simultaneous administration and auditing of servers running Windows NT Server 4.0 and Windows 2000 Advanced Server, including all corporate printers, file servers, remote access servers, proxy servers, and internal Web servers. Interoperability with Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT 4.0 clients.