Case Studies Saint-Gobain Group Reduces Expected Branch Server Investment by 97% with Nomad

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	Saint-Gobain Group Reduces Expected Branch Server Investment by 97% with Nomad

Saint-Gobain Group Reduces Expected Branch Server Investment by 97% with Nomad

Technology Category	Networks & Connectivity - Network Management & Analysis Software Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Device Management Platforms
Applicable Industries	Construction & Infrastructure Consumer Goods
Applicable Functions	Business Operation Maintenance
Use Cases	Remote Asset Management
Services	Software Design & Engineering Services System Integration
Challenge	Saint-Gobain needed an efficient way to deploy software patches and upgrades to 100,000 desktops across 6000 branch offices. Managing the IT network and architecture for a multinational organization of this magnitude is a sizeable task. The PC Solution Team is responsible for delivering all the tools to manage the company’s 100,000 workstations. In 2008 the team chose to implement Microsoft Systems Management Platform across the group to create better collaboration and improve productivity. The standard architecture for the Microsoft platform is for each geo-location to have a dedicated, or ‘branch’ server. For Saint-Gobain this would have meant investing in, and maintaining at least 6000 servers. The PC team sought an alternative solution that would avoid having to put a server into each branch office. The team decided to research the possibility of using SCCM and Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) GPO and found a considerable reduction of servers would be possible but that they would still require a 1,000-strong server farm. Read More
About Customer	Established in 1665, Saint-Gobain Group is the world leader in the habitat and construction markets. It designs, manufactures and distributes building material and provides innovative solutions to meet the growing demand for energy efficiency and environmental protection. Present in 64 countries around the world, Saint-Gobain has almost 190,000 employees. There are 1700 subsidiaries and it is present in more than 6000 distinct geographical locations. Read More
Solution	Mark Cochrane, an independent consultant, suggested that the team look at Nomad from 1E. Using spare network bandwidth, the tool delivers operating system upgrades, software deployments, and patches safely and securely to thousands of PCs and servers day or night with zero disruption on the network. This solution removes the need for branch servers or desk-side visits – reducing existing server footprint and administrative overheads. The team immediately understood that this solution matched their requirements. During the evaluation period, it soon became apparent that distribution of software, OS upgrades, and deployments was working perfectly. The testing phase was over a period of four to six weeks. Nomad has given Saint-Gobain a new, more efficient way to distribute packages across their network. They quickly realized the positive impact this solution had on their business on a few early occasions when packages were sent in the old way. Without Nomad, significantly more bandwidth is required to push an image over the network. They were getting calls from Saint-Gobain Telecom alerting them to instances of inefficient bandwidth usage and they made the connection when they spotted that the packages in question had not been sent via Nomad. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Networks & Connectivity - Network Management & Analysis Software

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Device Management Platforms

Applicable Industries

Construction & Infrastructure

Consumer Goods

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Maintenance

Use Cases

Remote Asset Management

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services

System Integration

Challenge

Saint-Gobain needed an efficient way to deploy software patches and upgrades to 100,000 desktops across 6000 branch offices. Managing the IT network and architecture for a multinational organization of this magnitude is a sizeable task. The PC Solution Team is responsible for delivering all the tools to manage the company’s 100,000 workstations. In 2008 the team chose to implement Microsoft Systems Management Platform across the group to create better collaboration and improve productivity. The standard architecture for the Microsoft platform is for each geo-location to have a dedicated, or ‘branch’ server. For Saint-Gobain this would have meant investing in, and maintaining at least 6000 servers. The PC team sought an alternative solution that would avoid having to put a server into each branch office. The team decided to research the possibility of using SCCM and Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) GPO and found a considerable reduction of servers would be possible but that they would still require a 1,000-strong server farm.

About Customer

Established in 1665, Saint-Gobain Group is the world leader in the habitat and construction markets. It designs, manufactures and distributes building material and provides innovative solutions to meet the growing demand for energy efficiency and environmental protection. Present in 64 countries around the world, Saint-Gobain has almost 190,000 employees. There are 1700 subsidiaries and it is present in more than 6000 distinct geographical locations.

Solution

Mark Cochrane, an independent consultant, suggested that the team look at Nomad from 1E. Using spare network bandwidth, the tool delivers operating system upgrades, software deployments, and patches safely and securely to thousands of PCs and servers day or night with zero disruption on the network. This solution removes the need for branch servers or desk-side visits – reducing existing server footprint and administrative overheads. The team immediately understood that this solution matched their requirements. During the evaluation period, it soon became apparent that distribution of software, OS upgrades, and deployments was working perfectly. The testing phase was over a period of four to six weeks. Nomad has given Saint-Gobain a new, more efficient way to distribute packages across their network. They quickly realized the positive impact this solution had on their business on a few early occasions when packages were sent in the old way. Without Nomad, significantly more bandwidth is required to push an image over the network. They were getting calls from Saint-Gobain Telecom alerting them to instances of inefficient bandwidth usage and they made the connection when they spotted that the packages in question had not been sent via Nomad.

Impact #1	Having only one peer distributing to multiple PCs is very effective and causes minimal impact on the network as well as reducing the bandwidth requirements.
Impact #2	An additional benefit of Nomad is that it is able to identify and control the connection type and it manages device connections seamlessly as they move between wired and wireless LANs.
Impact #3	Nomad has enabled Saint-Gobain to make significant cost savings, first, by avoiding investment in thousands of servers (and the associated energy, support, and maintenance costs that they would have generated) and second through better systems management and reduced disruption to users’ working day.

Impact #1

Having only one peer distributing to multiple PCs is very effective and causes minimal impact on the network as well as reducing the bandwidth requirements.

Impact #2

An additional benefit of Nomad is that it is able to identify and control the connection type and it manages device connections seamlessly as they move between wired and wireless LANs.

Impact #3

Nomad has enabled Saint-Gobain to make significant cost savings, first, by avoiding investment in thousands of servers (and the associated energy, support, and maintenance costs that they would have generated) and second through better systems management and reduced disruption to users’ working day.

Benefit #1	97% reduction in expected branch server investment
Benefit #2	Saint-Gobain cuts the number of necessary branch servers from 6000 to 200

Benefit #1

97% reduction in expected branch server investment

Benefit #2

Saint-Gobain cuts the number of necessary branch servers from 6000 to 200

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Overview

Saint-Gobain Group Reduces Expected Branch Server Investment by 97% with Nomad

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit