A major domain consolidation project within the Microsoft Active Directory infrastructure of fishing and allied services company, Oceana Group, has been completed by the technology solutions division of Square One Solutions Group, the JSE-listed IT-based business-enabling solutions provider.
Oceana had a number of Windows 2000 domains that made up its Active Directory infrastructure. "These multiple domains required significant administration resources and organisation to ensure they ran effectively," said Square One account manager Oscar Frutuoso. "Over and above the administrative burden, auditing the domains had become complex, difficult and costly."
At the time, the distributed topology of Oceana's Windows 2000 directory was a throwback from its NT4 legacy infrastructure.
The company sought a solution that would consolidate its domains to eliminate the administrative overhead, reduce the cost of infrastructure audits and minimise the security risks associated with multiple distributed domains.
Frutuoso said the project included Windows 2003 infrastructure and an Exchange 2003 upgrade alongside the domain consolidation project. This entailed rebuilding domain controllers to simplify the Windows 2003 upgrade. No additional licensing was required as Oceana had already acquired the necessary Windows 2003 licenses.
Oceana Group IS manager Cesare Castignani said Square One's "highly skilled and qualified pool of resources, particularly for Microsoft solutions, and its track record in Active Directory migration projects, were seen as advantageous to Oceana" for the domain consolidation project.
"The project was executed in several phases, via a standardised model, culminating in the actual migration of multiple domains to a new centralised single domain. During the implementation, Square One created an optimised deployment plan for us, and followed this with a skills and knowledge transfer programme for Oceana staff," added Castignani.
Oceana regularly uses Square One's Microsoft resources to perform tasks of varying complexity. Following the above domain consolidation project, Oceana implemented a more formal method of acquiring ad hoc Microsoft resources by purchasing additional support and service through Square One's NetFlex Service Management Solutions operation.
A unique service initiative, Square One's NetFlex SMS minimises the "grudge" purchase of after-sales services with a value-added package that not only justifies the client's need to pay maintenance revenue, but also provides the additional essential and value-added services.
"The compelling benefit of NetFlex is that it offers the client a comprehensive range of modular services that are both flexible and quantifiable in terms of value, so it is a package that effectively meets customer needs," said Frutuoso.
"The dynamic nature of modern implementations demands support flexibility. We also encourage user participation and input to ensure our ongoing services are always attuned to customer needs."
Square One's relationship with the Oceana Group spans a number of years, during which many IT projects have been successfully implemented.
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