JSE-listed applied technology solutions provider Square One Solutions Group has gone live with Microsoft's Windows Essential Business Server (EBS) program as the only Microsoft Technology Adopter Program (TAP) partner for EBS in South Africa.
Involved in the pre-release testing of the product, Square One has successfully deployed the MS EBS at RC0 (release candidate 0) level into production, using its engineering staff for the testing and deployment planning.
Windows Essential Business Server 2008 is an all-in-one integrated multi-server solution designed and priced specifically for medium-sized businesses, providing essential technology for the attainment of a highly secure and reliable IT infrastructure.
As a Microsoft Gold Partner, Square One's primary competency is Advanced Infrastructure. "Our engineers were very keen to be involved in the program as it provides them insight into new technologies as yet unreleased to the public," says Square One Microsoft divisional head, Adrian Boyd.
"We have a very competent team of engineers that pride themselves on being proficient with the new technologies released by Microsoft. Powered by Windows Server 2008 technology, EBS combines software for management, messaging, and security features into a single integrated server solution designed to dramatically reduce IT complexity and improve efficiency across the business," adds Boyd.
"It is an integrated and predictable platform designed to transform businesses by helping them save time and money while significantly increasing productivity."
From a Square One viewpoint EBS is providing more management and control of the company's IT environment through additional functionality with a secure and stable platform upon which the business can grow.
Boyd says the complexities of Square One's infrastructure meant that detailed planning was required before the implementation of the RC0 release of EBS. "Working with the team from Microsoft in Redmond, we assessed the requirements and created a plan for the deployment.
"Even as a RC0 release, the product is stable and installs easily and it was only because of our complicated infrastructure that some post-deployment tweaking was required before the system could be fully operational."
The Microsoft EBS TAP team commented that the Square One infrastructure constituted one of the most complicated setups into which EBS has been deployed thus far. Boyd said this gave the Square One team great confidence in the knowledge that its engineers are now well equipped with the experience to assist clients in deploying EBS when the software is released in the fourth quarter. = "EBS is well positioned for the South Africa market as it is aimed directly at medium-sized businesses which make up a large proportion of South African commerce and industry," adds Boyd. "We believe that being an early adopter of the technology gives us excellent insight into and hands-on experience of the product, so we are therefore well placed to be able to deliver professional services around Microsoft EBS later this year."
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