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Customer: Steel-Pro
Web Site: www.steelprousa.com
Customer Size: 1-99
Country or Region: United States
Industry: Steel Manufacturing
Partner: Know Technology
Partner Web Site: www.knowtechnology.net
Customer Profile
Steel-Pro is a manufacturer of stainless steel fabricated vessels, piping and complete modules supplying the biopharmaceutical industry.
Software and Services
- Products
- Microsoft Small Business Server 2000
- Windows Server 2003 R2
- Technologies
- Microsoft Terminal Services
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Steel Manufacturer Improves Productivity and Efficiency with Windows Server
Windows Server has allowed us to be productive during times we were previously unable to work.
Craig Wells, Vice President of Engineering, Steel-Pro
Steel-Pro is a custom manufacturer of stainless steel vessels for the biopharmaceutical, chemical and petrochemical industries. The company had an outdated network of marginal servers and software. Steel-Pro worked with Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Know Technology to implement a new network based on Windows Server that has allowed Steel-Pro to open a new location, pursue new market segments and provide remote productivity for its employees.
Business Needs
Steel-Pro is a custom manufacturer of stainless steel fabricated tanks, pressure
vessels and modular skid units for the biopharmaceutical, chemical and petrochemical
industries. As the company sought to position itself against domestic and foreign
competitors, Steel-Pro identified an opportunity to use technology to help differentiate
itself.
The company previously had been operating on an antiquated server system cobbled
together from a network of marginal servers as well as software obtained for free or
at the lowest cost possible. When Steel-Pro Vice President of Engineering Craig Wells
and Manager of Engineering Jason Buck joined the organization, they immediately
recognized the need to overhaul the company's technology infrastructure and bring it up
to date with advanced manufacturing standards. The ability for employees to seamlessly
access e-mail and application data was critical to the functionality of the organization.
After conferring with company leadership, Steel-Pro brought Microsoft Gold Certified
Partner Know Technology on board to help upgrade the company's technology systems. The
new server solution would feature implementation of a Terminal Server solution based on
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and include Microsoft Exchange Server for e-mail management
and Microsoft Small Business Server for data management.
Solution
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Know Technology is a 17-person team focused on delivering
IT solutions and support services to clients in northern New England and beyond. The
partner company has extensive expertise in delivering proven technology solutions to maximize
the value of clients' technology investments.
The staff at Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Know Technology was very familiar with
Steel-Pro's infrastructure having been engaged in various support and upgrade projects
during their years-long affiliation. In addition to upgrading Steel-Pro to Microsoft
Small Business Server and Microsoft Exchange Server, Know Technology implemented Terminal
Services technology to establish an application environment for remote workers. This
implementation was conducted in a staged plan, beginning with the Small Business Server
migration first and then rolling out a new server for Terminal Services.
Development of the solution actually began 1 1/2 years prior to implementation
thanks in part to Steel-Pro's pursuit of growth opportunities in new market segments
that required the opening of a new office. However, resource constraints demanded that
administrative activities such as purchasing and accounts payable still needed to be
conducted from Steel-Pro's headquarters in Rockland, Maine.
Know Technology's evaluation of the situation resulted in a two-pronged project
approach. The first phase transitioned Steel-Pro's old IBM server into a Web server.
A new terminal server was brought in to allow Steel-Pro's new Concord, N.H., location
to access data and applications remotely. After running the terminal server in Concord
for a year, the project was deemed a success, and phase two involved rollout of terminal
services to the entire company. This allowed Steel-Pro employees to transition from
doing work on a desktop to logging into terminal sessions. Upgrading to new terminal
servers across the company has also provided a significant improvement in speed and
functionality on the corporate database over the old server.
Benefits
Upgrading from an improvised network to a Terminal Server solution based on Microsoft
Windows Server has allowed Steel-Pro to open a new location, pursue new market segments
and provide remote productivity for its employees. Says Steel-Pro Vice President of
Engineering Craig Wells, "One cool thing is that it allows me to eat dinner with my
family and then retire to my home office to complete any work that needs to be done. In
the past, I may have just stayed at the office until after 8 p.m. This is a huge upside
in terms of what our people can now do."
- Remote e-mail, data and application access on the Terminal Server has streamlined
development times for both remote and local workers.
- Terminal Server provides the ability to access information on demand and deploy
standard applications for both remote and local users.
- Implementation of the Terminal Server was completed in less than two weeks with
no business interruption.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Document published August 2008
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