Delivering Business Value with Windows

February 2007

Ganesh Bhat, Infosys & Omer Qureshi, Microsoft

Secure. Empowered. Connected. IT executives worldwide are under constant pressure to identify and advise methods to enhance employee productivity, achieve operational agility and reduce costs. This mandate has software industry leaders, IT architects and decision makers pushing the envelope to devise ways to increase operational efficiencies and cut total cost of ownership. This must be accomplished while dealing with regulatory and security concerns and maintaining consistently high levels of customer satisfaction and stringent SLAs. Microsofts Windows Vista can help achieve these objectives. Windows Vista delivers significant value to companies by addressing critical business scenarios in several ways. It empowers people by making it easy for them to find, share, and use information. With its enhanced connectivity features, it enables mobile and remote workers to stay connected and productive anywhere, anytime. Windows Vista also addresses growing security threats by helping protect data in and out of office, securing the environment and making it easier to achieve compliance with government regulations and internal policies. Finally, it makes it easier to deploy, manage, and support integrated desktop environment by helping optimize the desktop infrastructure. Windows Vista provides enhanced productivity, mobility and security benefits at a far lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

Introduction
In a flat world, competitive threats no longer come only from the same industry segment of a local economy. New competition today comes from dozens of other industries and economies across geographies that offer significant advantages in cost and quality of talent. In order to achieve growth in the face of competitive threats and business risks, IT departments across the globe face new and daunting challenges. The onslaught of security threats, breaches and data theft, the rising cost of data center management, creeping application support, and deployment cost are some of these concerns. Industry and IT decision makers, meanwhile, continue to push the limits of existing technologies like never before, with end users demanding more in terms of productivity, quality and delivery of service. Microsofts vision of Dynamic Systems and the prescriptive guidelines of Infrastructure Optimization equip organizations to deal with these challenges head on.

Overview - Infrastructure Optimization (IO)

Microsofts Infrastructure Optimization initiative arms IT decision makers in their efforts to win the war on total cost of ownership (TCO) of IT infrastructure. IT Infrastructure is a strategic asset and the critical foundation upon which software can deliver services and user applications for businesses to operate effectively and successfully. For many organizations, growth and rapid development of new technologies have resulted in highly complex, inflexible and difficult to manage data centers and desktop infrastructure. In addition, the costs involved are not only high but also fixed regardless of changing business requirements. The Infrastructure Optimization Model from Microsoft has been developed using industry best practices, Microsofts experience with its enterprise customers, and analyst work. A key goal for Microsoft in creating the Infrastructure Optimization Model was to develop a simple way to use a flexible maturity framework that can easily be used as the benchmark for technical capability and business value. The model has four stages Basic, Standardized, Rationalized, and Dynamic. Each stage has specific workloads or capabilities. The Infrastructure Optimization Model from Microsoft helps customers understand and improve the current state of their IT infrastructure in terms of cost, security risk and operational agility. Significant cost savings can be realized by moving from an unmanaged environment toward a dynamic environment. Security improves from highly vulnerable with Basic infrastructure, to dynamically proactive with a more optimized infrastructure. IT Infrastructure Management changes from being highly manual and reactive to highly automated and proactive. Microsoft and its partners can provide the technologies, processes and methodologies to help customers move ahead on their infrastructure optimization journey. The process moves from a fragmented or nonexistent state to being optimized and repeatable. The ability of organizations to use technology to improve their business agility and deliver business value increases as they evolve from the Basic state to a Dynamic state empowering information workers, managers and supporting new business opportunities.

Working with Microsoft and leveraging this model as a framework, an enterprise can quickly understand the strategic value and business benefits to the organization in moving from a Basic level of maturity (where the IT infrastructure is generally considered a cost center) toward a Dynamic state. At this stage, the organization gets a clear picture of the business value of the IT infrastructure and sees it as a strategic business asset and business enabler.

TCO Benefits and Business Agility

Infrastructure Optimization provides prescriptive guidelines that are technology and vendor-neutral. It enables IT decision-makers to curb the cost of manageability while raising service levels and enhancing the business agility of the organization. According to a recent study1 , organizations that follow IO guidelines and certain best practices of infrastructure deployment and management have achieved significant agility and lower TCO. There is also correlation between an organizations ability to standardize Core Infrastructure components and TCO savings2 . Table 1 shows that IT labor costs can be driven down by adopting best practices with PCs running current versions of the Windows client OS and systems management software 3 . Key focus areas for standardization are desktop and server deployment, security directories, application distribution and user provisioning as well as entitlement framework such as Group Policies for management and security. While the desktop operating system plays a role in reducing TCO, the primary source of savings are IT process improvements. An operating systems contribution to this comes from features that make it easier to adopt new best practices. Key features of Windows Vista along with advanced Group Policy make it easy to adapt these best practices. Infosys has designed and developed tools and process which compliments operating systems features and helps in adapting and automating these best practices. Infosys one stop Accelerated Deployment Solution, part of Catalytic IT suite, enables cost effective, predictable and customized transition to new Windows technologies like Windows Vista. In addition, Infosys uses proven toolsets and methodologies which will help in adapting best practices, resulting in reduced TCO. Tools include: - Automated discovery of inventory components across multiple platforms - Defined methodology and tools to accelerate application rationalization and packaging and distribution process - Scanning tools for Microsoft Office files to assess effort required for remediation and tools to accelerate remediation - Workflow-enabled dashboard to track complete deployment status - Desktop Migration Tool

IT Best Practices
Standard desktop strategy Single system management tool

4, 5, 6

Potential Cost Savings per year

$110 $110 $190 $70 $120 $130 $120 $50 $120 $90

Centrally managed PC settings and configurations Centrally managed PC applications PCs managed by Group Policy Objects Comprehensive PC security Use of packaging tools with automated software distribution Automated user provisioning Comprehensive directory solution Reduction of third-party application directories Table 1: IT best practices and potential cost savings.

Windows Vista for lower TCO

Table 2 1, describes distribution of costs for an organization spending $4,500 per PC per year. IT labor is a logical place to reduce costs because it directly affects the IT budget and can be reduced by improving IT processes and adopting best practices. An organizations IT labor costs are determined by its:

Level of IT infrastructure optimization, which contributes 54% of IT costs Industry, which contributes 34% of IT costs Size, which contributes 12% of IT costs

Category

Costs includes1

Annual Cost Per PC

$1418

Annual TCO

Direct Costs (Within IT Budget)

Hardware and Software

PC hardware, Operating Systems and applications Hardware and Software costs are amortized over a period of 3 years.

30%

IT labor

IT labor utilized to manage desktop either by direct interaction with end users or through management servers and software.

$630

15%

Indirect Costs (Outside of IT Budget)

User labor

User self support and time spent learning to use IT systems. Microsoft research shows that typical user spends between 60 and 120 hours per year in self support activities.

$2357

50%

Downtime

Lost productivity caused by an IT system failure. Because user can be productive even without PC, this metrics is discounted by 80 percent.

$95

5%

Table 2: IT Labor Potential Savings with Infrastructure Optimization.

Business Value with Windows Vista

Optimizing Desktop Infrastructure
Windows Vista empowers IT managers to effectively operate and manage their desktop infrastructure. Using new imaging technologies and tools to engineer and customize images, platform image engineering is much easier with Windows Vista vis--vis Microsoft Windows XP. The Single Image capability of Windows Vista allows organizations to save real dollars in managing and deploying their PCs. Organizations are well aware that managing desktops today can be tremendously expensive with IT departments having to maintain and test separate OS images for each language and computer hardware type in their company. With Windows Vistas new imaging technology, companies can deploy a single OS image to different types of computer hardware and machines with different language requirements resulting in lower IT costs. Other major features in Windows Vista that help drive costs down: OS is self-healing and offers better supportability to reduce helpdesk calls, applications compatibility tools and support for legacy applications, non-destructive wipe and load deployment, easier desktop management, and investments in a cost-efficient networking infrastructure.

Source: Barna, William, Microsoft. Infrastructure Optimization: Driving Down Costs of the Business Desktop, 2006

Windows Vista provides flexible support for a variety of deployment scenarios including remote installations and in-place upgrades like light touch installation using WDS, Zero touch installation using SMS and BDD 2007. Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK): A new set of deployment tools, WAIK helps create, manage and automate deployment of Windows Vista images. Windows Imaging Format (WIM): A file-based imaging format, WIM enables a single image to be deployed to different types of computer hardware with different language requirements. Modularization: Windows Vista is built with separate but inter-dependent components, which makes it easier to customize Windows Vista to a certain degree for user and organizational needs. It also simplifies adding optional components such as device drivers, testing and installing updates, and adding languages.

Security and Compliance

Windows Vista helps keep systems secure and organizations compliant with internal policies and government regulations. Advancements in managing user accounts in Windows Vista can help dramatically with improving security. Companies today face a difficult trade-off: Do they deploy their PC users as administrators and accept the high security risk, or do they limit the privileges of their users but deal with impact on productivity when users need to connect to a printer or install a new application? Windows Vista User Account Control capability helps reduce the attack surface area of corporate PCs without impacting user productivity. Some of the other critical advancements in Windows Vista to help with security and compliance: Enhanced online security with the Windows Vista Browser Protected Mode and anti-phishing features that help protect end user data; Windows Services Hardening to make the OS more resilient to attacks. Additionally, granular event logging, auditing and tracking for security events in Windows Vista make it easier for companies to achieve compliance with both internal policies as well as government regulations. BitLocker Drive Encryption protects confidential corporate information on mobile PCs. BitLocker not only helps protect the data on local laptops and desktops but also lowers the cost of refurbishing a PC.

Empowered Professional
With corporate data growing exponentially, Windows Vista allows users to find, use and share data and ramp up productivity with smart tools to organize information. Search, organize and information visualization tools in Windows Vista help users get to critical data faster. Powerful integrated search capabilities in Vista can save companies precious man-hours by helping employees find just about anything on their PC or Intranet quickly and easily. New live

icons give users ability to clearly preview documents and go directly to the item they need resulting in time savings and increased user productivity. Other features of Windows Vista that improve user productivity include user interface, Windows Aero, new ways to navigate the windows on the desktop helping users quickly find what they are looking, SuperFetch and ReadyBoost technologies for high-performance systems, and browser enhancements that make users more productive online.

Enable Mobile Workforce

People can be more productive if they can work in different places and with other people without physical boundaries. It is this driver that is taking mobile computing mainstream. Industry research has concluded that mobile computers can improve employee productivity and generate positive ROI. To help address the security risks of mobile computing, Windows Vista includes the latest wireless security protocols enabling users to connect to WiFi networks more securely. Network Access Protection used with Longhorn Server infrastructure ensures that computers are in a secure state before they are allowed to reconnect to the network, preventing them from spreading a virus inside the organizational network perimeter. BitLocker Drive Encryption in Windows Vista Enterprise protects confidential company data on lost or stolen laptops because the contents of the hard drive will be protected even if it falls into the wrong hands. Windows Vista is optimized to work especially well on mobile hardware. The new Windows Mobility Center puts all of the most commonly used controls all in one place such as battery, brightness and presentation settings. Improved power management helps the battery last longer and the PC revive quicker from sleep mode.

The Infosys approach to Vista Deployment

The best technologies and tools are not enough to ensure a successful end state. It requires investing in best practices and guidance to standardize and produce repeatable and scalable deployment solutions. Infosys leverages new technologies and tools to provide customers a consistent methodology and prescriptive guidance across all phases of deployment based on Microsoft MOF/MSF and BDD. Infosys Accelerate solution delivers seamless end-to-end Microsoft Solutions for enterprise needs from envisioning, readiness assessment, design of the integrated environment, application rationalization, and distribution to global remote touch deployments. It also provides effective support by monito ring the health of connected business desktop systems. It helps enhance the utility of business desktops through better collaboration, search capabilities and improved business efficiency. While reducing TCO, it helps enhance manageability through refinement in processes, IT systems management and supporting infrastructure like AD, distribution, etc. The solution also proposes Windows Vista Application Compatibility Factory (ACF) to provide a comprehensive and accelerated compatibility testing methodology for migrating applications

to Windows Vista. All programs are equipped with a deployment dashboard to monitor and track deployments and provide a central repository for program artifacts.

Solution Highlights:
Infosys Accelerate solution provides a cost-effective, predictable and customized transition to Windows Vista. Accelerate enables customers to move their desktop and associated infrastructure from a basic level of optimization where the infrastructure is considered a cost center to a rationalize d and dynamic level of optimization where it becomes a business growth enabler and a strategic business asset. The Infosys GADC ensures effective and efficient utilization of resources. This coupled with effective planning and best practices in design enables a lower overall cost of operations. The Accelerate solution has won credibility from Microsoft which has endorsed Infosys as one of its five worldwide partners in this space. The solution provides: A proven end-to-end approach addressing migration challenges from vision to handover ensuring effective utilization of business desktop systems and leading to enhanced efficiency Utilization of unique Infosys methodologies and tool-sets to reduce program complexity and automate the migration process resulting in accelerated deployment and lower TCO

An elaborate planning phase to capture business / user requirements and develop a strategy for automated deployment and a standardized operating environment Seamless delivery of planning and execution, including remote deployment and rigorous testing, with minimal disruption to end-users and the business Advantages of mature Global Delivery Model, Global Accelerated Deployment Center (GADC) and extensive experience in deploying Microsoft technologies in complex environments An approach that is based on international best practices and frameworks including IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF), Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) and Microsoft Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) Methodology An approach to quick and fail-safe desktop migrations, client image engineering, application packaging, office migration, infrastructure design and deployment, and desktop deployment

Solution Benefits
Comprehensive Solution addresses the integrated desktop environment Desktop infrastructure readiness and refresh; AD infrastructure design and deployment; Operations infrastructure integration of SMS/MOM and related products; Application infrastructure packaging/sequencing and deployment. Accelerated The solution incorporates a mature methodology and automation to ensure comprehensive coverage and reduce rework and manual efforts enhancing productivity. Through the unique GADC model, Infosys global team across geographies enables accelerated deployment. Managing Complexity Infosys best practices methodology based on ITIL, and its Project Management body of knowledge along with a successful record in managing large deployment programs, minimizes disruptions to critical support systems and user downtimes. The impacted areas are analyzed, planned and managed through deployment. This ensures that organizations have a smooth and predictable deployment experience. Lower TCO The Infosys GADC ensures effective and efficient utilization of resources. Coupled with effective planning and best practices in design, it achieves lower overall cost of operations. Extended Operational Support Infosys Service Level Agreement (SLA) based approach from the GADC ensures that customers receive complete support during as well as after deployment.

The Infosys Advantage

Tools and Methodologies In addition to Microsoft toolkits, customers can leverage Infosys proven toolsets and methodologies like: Automated discovery of inventory components across multiple platforms including Windows 9x machines Defined methodology and tools to accelerate application rationalization and packaging process

Scanning tools for Microsoft office files for remediation to assess efforts required for remediati on and employ tools to accelerate remediation Workflow enabled dashboard to track the deployment status. The dashboard also serves as a program repository for all artifacts

Vista CoE Infosys has established a Windows Vista Center of Excellence to concentrate on customizing and building appropriate frameworks and tools to ease Vista deployment challenges for organizations Application Compatibility Factory (ACF) Application compatibility is one the most important challenges faced by organizations deploying new operating systems. Infosys ACF is designed to provide the necessary expertise and reduce the pain points for compatibility and remediation of applications For Global 2000 corporations planning to migrate to Windows Vista, Infosys Vista Application Compatibility Factory provides a comprehensive, cost-effective and accelerated approach to application compatibility testing and remediation with minimal business disruption. The solution leverages proven tools, techniques and best practices developed by Infosys Vista Center of Excellence (CoE). The Vista CoE has created award winning deployment solutions on the Microsoft platform adopted by customers across the world. Infosys services provide end-to-end solutions for the corporate desktop application landscape from application inventory to deployment/ support:

Assessment Through Infosys Organization Maturity Level Assessment, the maturity level of the customers infrastructure and the compatibility testing entry point is determined. A planned approach to application compatibility assessment provides clarity on deployment timelines and cost.

Application Rationalization An inventory of applications across the enterprise is built using Infosys proven tools, recommendation of application rationalization based on various parameters. Rationalizing of applications will significantly reduce the number of applications to be tested and remedied. Application Testing Infrastructure This entails developing test cases, designing and installing test beds based on real-time scenarios. Infosys has designed and developed robust and real-time based test case scenarios which can be customized for each organizations environment. Compatibility Testing This involves performing various types of testing for application compatibility like baseline testing, target environment testing, Install/Uninstall testing, GUI and functional testing. Remediation solutions Application mitigation recommendations and solutions are provided for application implementation in new target environment. Defect tracking mechanisms ensure a reduction in time taken for mitigation solutions Lower cost and an accelerated testing time cycle are achieved by using shared application compatibility database. Application Packaging Applications tested for compatibility are sent for application packaging. Interoperability of test environment and packaging infrastructure ensures cost benefits. Deployment/Support Windows Vista Competency Center is based on the Infosys Global Delivery Model, leveraging geographical and time-zone differences for an accelerated deployment. Infosys also supports application upgrades.

Conclusion
A move to Windows Vista clearly provides definitive business value and operational efficiencies to reduce TCO and labor cost for organizations. The new features of Windows Vista equips IT organizations worldwide with the essential tools to meet ever-increasing business challenges and transform IT from a cost center to business enabler. Organizations choosing the right migration strategy and tools can reduce operational costs associated with such a move. In line with organizational needs, the right level of infrastructure optimization can provide enhanced benefits, cost reductions, and business agility. Windows Vista enables companies to empower employees, optimize desktop infrastructure, help the mobile workforce function effectively, and increase security and compliance. Windows Vista technology combined with Infosys Accelerate solution can help organizations move to a higher level of infrastructure optimization with a better managed environment for easier and faster adoption.

About the Authors:

Ganesh Bhat is a Senior Consultant and is part of the platform solutions team within the System Integration practice at Infosys. He has over 14 years of experience in systems and network operations, implementation, strategic system design and integration, technical consulting and pre-sales activities.

Omer Qureshi is a Technology Development Manager (TDM) with the Microsoft Enterprise Partne r Group (EPG). He is responsible for core infrastructure optimization technical strategy and solutions development for global systems integrators. Omer has over 12 years of experience in the field of IT infrastructure, network and security management. He holds several advance industry certifications such as MCP, MCSA, MCSE, CCDA, PMP, BEA & Security+.

Bibliography
1 2 3

Barna, William, Microsoft. Infrastructure Optimization: Driving Down Costs of the Business Desktop, 2006 Infrastructure Optimization: Driving Down Costs of the Business Desktop. Microsoft Corporation, April 2006 Current Windows software is defined as any version of the Windows client OS released before Windows Vista. Systems management software profiled in Microsoft and IDC studies inclu des the Active Directory service of Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003. IDC White Paper sponsored by Microsoft, Optimizing Infrastructure: The Relationship Between IT Labor Costs and Best Practices for Identity and Access Management with Active Directory, Doc #204221, November 2006 IDC White Paper sponsored by Microsoft, Optimizing Infrastructure: The Relationship Between IT Labor Costs and Best Practices for Managing the Windows Desktop Doc #203482, October 2006 IDC White Paper sponsored by Microsoft, Optimizing Infrastructure: The Relationship Between IT Labor Costs and Best Practices for Systems Management Server Doc #205110, January 2007 Source: Barna, William, Microsoft. Infrastructure Optimization: Driving Do wn Costs of the Business Desktop, 2006