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| Phoenix Technologies develops firmware and applications that enable, protect, and recover computers and devices on a network. The company's marketing department relied on IT staff to publish Web content from Microsoft Content Management Server 2001 to a Linux-based Web server. The process was time-consuming and costly, requiring at least one employee with specialized skills to manage integration. Seeking a streamlined approach to publishing, executives evaluated end-to-end systems and chose an all-Microsoft solution because it cost less and was easier to maintain. Phoenix migrated from Linux to Microsoft Windows Server 2003, upgraded its content management software, and installed Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 to deploy software updates. The company simplified its publishing procedure, automated the update process, and saved U.S.$100,000 per year in total costs compared with a Linux solution.
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Phoenix Technologies helped launch the PC industry nearly 25 years ago by creating the basic input/output system (BIOS) for computers. A BIOS is a set of essential software routines that tests hardware at startup, starts the operating system, and supports the transfer of data among hardware devices, including the date and time. Today, a Phoenix BIOS, now called Core System Software, ships in more than 100 million new computer systems each year.
Phoenix Technologies is headquartered in Milpitas, California, and has offices in China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Each office has its own Web site, and each international office translates the English content on the U.S. Web site into its local language. All Web sites are hosted in California.
To publish to its public Web site, the company's marketing department in the United States first created content by using Microsoft® Content Management Server 2001, a tool that enables companies to quickly and efficiently build, deploy, and maintain mission-critical, content-rich Web sites. Once a day, the IT department ran an automated custom script that exported the content from Content Management Server 2001 to a Linux-based Apache server using a Microsoft .NET connection software script. However, because of emergency content updates such as news announcements or content errors, the marketing department often had to ask the IT department to publish content outside its regularly scheduled publishing.
Because managing the integration between Content Management Server and the Linux-based server computer required at least one individual with specialized skills, the process of producing content was not only time-consuming but also expensive. In addition, IT personnel had to maintain updates for two technologies, detracting from the department's job of building new productivity tools and applications.
"Managing the integration between Content Management Server 2001 and the Linux server required at least half of a full-time employee's time, and this person had to have expert knowledge of Linux software," says Cliff Bell, Chief Information Officer of Phoenix Technologies.
As the twenty-fifth anniversary of Phoenix Technologies drew near, the company decided to redesign its Web site. Executives reviewed the content publishing process and determined that it could be simplified by moving to an all-Microsoft or all-Linux solution. The goal was to gain an integrated solution that would publish content efficiently, remove the IT department from the publishing process, and help IT distribute software updates easily and efficiently. Finally, the company wanted to keep costs down by not having to hire any new employees to manage the solution.
Phoenix Technologies evaluated both Microsoft and Linux operating systems as part of an end-to-end solution. Company executives discovered that the open source solution was more expensive because it required more staff to maintain compared with the solely Microsoft-based solution. "When we evaluated both Linux and Microsoft-based solutions from a total-cost of ownership standpoint, Microsoft was clearly the better choice," says Bell.
With the help of Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Allin Consulting, Phoenix Technologies migrated its Web server computer from Linux to the Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 operating system, the foundation of Microsoft Windows Server System™ integrated server software.
Along with migrating from Apache to Internet Information Services (IIS) version 6.0 (the Web server in Windows Server 2003), the company upgraded to Microsoft Content Management Server 2002. Next, project members placed all desktop and server computers within the Active Directory® service—a virtual, central location to manage users, computers, and applications. To deploy updates, Phoenix Technologies implemented Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003. Finally, Phoenix Technologies upgraded to the Microsoft Windows® XP Professional operating system to help improve security.
In 10 weeks, Phoenix Technologies standardized its Web publishing infrastructure on Microsoft Windows Server System, upgraded its content management software, gained an automated update management solution by using Systems Management Server 2003, and redesigned and refreshed the content on its five Web sites. Today, IT resources no longer are tied up in publishing, and each office can publish content at any time of day from Content Management Server 2002 to Internet Information Services 6.0. To achieve this, all employees of the marketing departments at each Phoenix location received training on Content Management Server.
"The biggest benefit of standardizing our infrastructure on Microsoft Windows Server System is that it truly is an integrated, seamless solution—from content creation to the user viewing the content online," says Bell.
Streamlined Process Reduces Publishing Time by 80 Percent
Phoenix Technologies no longer needs someone to manage the process of exporting content from Content Management Server to the Linux-based server. In the past, it required at least one staff member with expert knowledge in Linux software and the custom interface. Now, content automatically publishes in real time to the IIS server computer, thus avoiding the scheduling delays of having to involve the IT department. Since moving to Windows Server 2003, the company has reduced the time that it takes to publish Web content by 80 percent.
Update Automation Improves Security
Phoenix Technologies added a new level of desktop management and automation to its infrastructure by placing desktop computers within Active Directory and deploying software updates by using Systems Management Server. IT employees no longer have to manually manage the process of installing updates because Systems Management Server deploys the updates automatically. This leaves more time for IT employees to focus on new projects.
Business Saves Money by Not Increasing Staff
Phoenix Technologies has one staff member that is well-versed in Linux; however, if that individual left the company, Bell believes it would be a challenge to hire someone else with the same expert knowledge. "It would probably cost me $100,000 a year more if we went with a Linux solution, because I would have had to hire at least one other person," says Bell. "The IT department can provide more services to the business for less money."
Training Increases Productivity, Removes IT from Publishing Process
Publishing to the international Web sites now is done at each office, instead of being done in the United States by the IT department. The employees of each office received training on Content Management Server 2002. This saves Phoenix Technologies money and time, because the IT department no longer has to be involved in the publishing and staff members can update content whenever they need to. "We can send content to our international offices, and they translate it and post it directly to their own Web sites," says Bell.
"My decision to go with Microsoft really comes down to total cost of ownership," Bell concludes. "If you look at just the price of Linux software, it seems cheap. But if you factor in the price of extra staff to maintain the system, it very quickly gets expensive."
Microsoft Windows Server System integrated server infrastructure software is designed to support end-to-end solutions built on the Windows Server operating system. Windows Server System creates an infrastructure based on integrated innovation, Microsoft's holistic approach to building products and solutions that are intrinsically designed to work together and interact seamlessly with other data and applications across your IT environment. This helps you reduce the costs of ongoing operations, deliver a more secure and reliable IT infrastructure, and drive valuable new capabilities for the future growth of your business.
For more information about Windows Server System, go to:
www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:
http://www.microsoft.com/
For more information about Phoenix Technologies products and services, call (408) 570-1000 or visit the Web site at: www.phoenix.com
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