Windows Server 2008 R2Customer Solution Case Study

Wine Importer Saves £45,000 and Improves Business Continuity with Virtualisation

OverviewCountry or Region: United KingdomIndustry: Retail and distribution—Beer, wine and liquor retailing

Customer ProfileLiberty Wines, founded in 1997, imports wines to supply to restaurants, supermarkets, and independent retailers from its headquarters in central London.

Business SituationTo provide the customer service its clients expect, Liberty Wines needed to update its existing IT infrastructure to faster, more efficient systems that could grow with the company.

SolutionManaged Networks deployed Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V while upgrading the company’s system to include Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2010.

Benefits Energy use cut by 60 per cent Business continuity improved Productivity increased Costs cut by £45,000 Sales improved

“I can get more done now. The system is easier to administer and, so far, it’s been 100 per cent reliable, with no downtime.”

Tom Brown, IT Manager, Liberty Wines

Wine importer and distributor Liberty Wines wanted to speed up business processes to improve the way it met the needs of customers in the fast-paced world of fine dining. Updating its existing IT infrastructure was an important part of this plan. After consulting with Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Managed Networks, Liberty Wines deployed a virtualised server solution incorporating Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V. The new infrastructure reduced hardware replacement costs by £45,000 and energy consumption by approximately 60 per cent, while enhancing stability. Applications run faster so employees can provide better customer service with improved productivity. Virtual servers can be added quickly and easily, as needed, to meet the future growth of the business.

SituationRecipient of multiple international wine awards—including the International Wine Challenge On Trade Supplier of the Year for two years running—Liberty Wines is one of the United Kingdom’s foremost wine importers and distributors. The wholesale distributor provides wines to top London restaurants, supermarkets, and independent wholesalers and retailers. Founded March 1997 by Master of Wine David Gleave, the business has grown to represent more than 900 lines. The central London-based company specialises in Italian wines, but also buys and sells products from high-profile producers and niche wineries all over the world, as well as producing a number of its own brands. Tom Brown, IT Manager at Liberty Wines, says: “Our search for quality drives our choice of producers. We’ll only carry a wine if it meets our standards.”

To provide the service their customers expect, employees at Liberty Wines need quick and easy access to customer, order, and stock information. In the past, the company relied on 10 physical servers for applications and services, such as order processing, reporting tools, and email.

As the business expanded, the existing servers were unable to cope with increased data volumes, and maintenance of the system put a strain on the IT team of two employees. “The existing systems were beginning to slow down. They couldn’t provide the responsiveness employees expected, so we needed to upgrade our IT infrastructure before it affected sales and customer service,” says Brown.

SolutionBrown initially considered a phased approach to upgrading the servers. But, after consulting with the company’s IT provider and Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Managed Networks, he realised that simply replacing the servers would not provide the performance and scalability for which he was looking.

Grant Weitsz, Client Account Manager at Managed Networks, says: “We suggested virtualisation to reduce costs and make the service more resilient.” Brown researched the benefits of virtualisation and realised this was the logical next step. It could immediately improve performance, while setting out a more flexible, resilient infrastructure that would grow with the company’s needs.

Managed Networks deployed Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V virtualisation technology. The 10 servers were replaced with three physical servers, running 10 virtual servers in a high availability cluster configuration. An additional server is used as part of a backup system, further improving resilience and stability. During implementation, Managed Networks and Brown upgraded the system to include Microsoft SQL Server 2008 data management software, Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. Brown says: “Deployment went smoothly. We wanted a fast deployment with zero downtime, and that’s what we achieved. We’ve had no problems at all.”

The new system runs on a Dell EqualLogic storage area network (SAN). This means

24

“The existing systems were beginning to slow down. They couldn’t provide the responsiveness employees expected, so we needed to upgrade our IT infrastructure before it affected sales and customer service.”

Tom Brown, IT Manager, Liberty Wines

that if a virtualised server fails, its function will be immediately picked up by another server. Brown says: “We reduced the number of physical servers from 10 to four, while increasing performance, resilience, and flexibility.”

Liberty Wines has an on-going support contract with Managed Networks and, so far, no reactive IT support has been needed. Ben Rapp, Chief Executive Officer at Managed Networks, says: “Our IT support model is proactive. This means we routinely monitor the systems and we avoid reactive IT support.” During installation, Managed Networks trained Brown on the system. “The transfer of knowledge left me in a position where I could rebuild a host from the ground up if necessary. I know everything I need to administer the environment,” he says.

BenefitsBy reducing the cost of hardware and energy needed to run and cool it, Liberty Wines experienced immediate benefits from virtualisation. The company’s customers receive an even more reliable service while employees have increased their productivity. Brown says: “I can get more done now. The system is easier to administer and, so far, it’s been 100 per cent reliable, with no downtime. If we’re unable to process orders—or our sales team can’t communicate effectively with customers—we can’t provide the service our customers have come to expect. These are mission-critical aspects of our business.”

Energy Costs Cut by 60 Per CentBy reducing the number of physical servers, power consumption has been reduced by

approximately 60 per cent. “It costs far less to run the servers, plus with only three servers and an additional backup machine, we don’t have to spend money on air conditioning to cool the system,” says Brown. “This helps our bottom line and reduces our carbon footprint, so it’s good for the environment.”

High Availability Improves ContinuityWindows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V provides automated failover for virtual servers, greatly reducing downtime and increasing availability. A third of the staff at Liberty Wines, including sales people, work from home. They are located across the country and need to log on to the system at all hours. With increased system availability, they can serve their customers more effectively.

Brown also needs to access the system at all times. Now, if an IT issue arises out of business hours, he can log on to the system from home and fix any problems quickly. He says: “We were looking for stability, and Microsoft gave it to us in abundance.”

Easier Management Saves Time and Increases ProductivityWith virtualisation, it’s easier and quicker to provision servers. “It's hard to quantify how much time is saved, but everything is much easier to do,” says Brown.

With System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2, server and application management is easier because all Hyper-V and cluster management tools are in one place. “I can monitor the health of the network from one place,” says Brown. Plus, the Live Migration feature of Hyper-V

34

“It costs far less to run the servers, plus…We don’t have to spend money on air conditioning to cool the system. This helps our bottom line and reduces our carbon footprint, so it’s good for the environment.”

Tom Brown, IT Manager, Liberty Wines

means that IT staff can repair and maintain servers with no impact on users.

Scalable Solution Cuts Costs by £45,000 and Allows for Future Growth“Virtualisation improves the longevity of our servers,” says Brown. “We’re licensed for 12 virtual machines, but we can buy more if we need them. By adding memory I can configure our servers for many more virtual machines.” Brown estimates that doubling the number of virtual machines would save £45,000 (U.S.$69,500) compared to using physical servers.

Enhanced Application Performance Improves SalesApplications run noticeably faster and are more available on the virtualised environment, improving employee productivity. “High application performance is important to Liberty Wines, because it allows us to continue to provide industry-leading customer service while both order volumes and the number of customers increase. It’s easier for everyone—office-based and remote—to get to the information they need when they need it. This helps staff use their time more productively. And, as our business grows, this will become increasingly important—already the new system is supporting revenue growth of 15 per cent on last year,” says Brown.

Windows Server 2008 R2The Windows Server 2008 R2 family helps organizations do more with less. Now you can run your IT infrastructure more efficiently, build better applications faster, and deliver the best infrastructure for enhancing user productivity. And you can do all this faster, more securely, and at lower cost.   For more information about Windows Server 2008 R2, please visit: www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008

44

For More InformationFor further information about Microsoft products and services, please visit: www.microsoft.com/uk

or call 0870 60 10 100*

For hearing impaired customers with a Minicom, contact: 0870 50 30 400*

*Lines are open 8am–6pm, Monday to Friday. Please note, numbers prefixed 0870 will be charged at national call rates. For details of national call rate charges, please contact your telecommunications provider.

For more information about Managed Networks products and services, call or visit the website at: www.managednetworks.co.uk

For more information about Liberty Wines products and services, call or visit the website at:www.libertywine.co.uk

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

Document published January 2011

Software and Services Microsoft Server Product Portfolio− Windows Server 2008 R2− Microsoft Exchange Server 2010− Microsoft SQL Server 2008− Microsoft System Center Virtual

Machine Manager 2008 R2

Technologies− Hyper-V