The ProLiant and Windows Partnership

HP and Microsoft continue a long relationship as partners in innovation in the industry standard marketplace moving the Windows and ProLiant server platforms forward. Their partnership has provided continued growth in industry-standard technologies that are driving down cost and increasing overall performance, reliability, and fault tolerance while simplifying management and operations. The benefits of the relationship are obvious as both the Windows and ProLiant server platforms continue to lead the marketplace by providing "bottom line" proof of customer confidence in both platforms.

HP and Microsoft Eat Their Own Cooking

ProLiant and Windows go together like soup and a sandwich. For years , Microsoft Windows Server and HP ProLiant servers have been the platform of choice for many for very good reasons. Microsoft and HP continue driving optimization and productivity forward with their partnership. Windows Server 2003 on ProLiant servers provides a strong combination of features to accelerate innovation, adaptability, and business productivity. Their commitment is demonstrated with both HP and Microsoft using Windows Server technology and ProLiant servers as the primary server and OS in the infrastructure at each company. The integration of both platforms within each company spans their global networks and infrastructure, creating an incredible proof-of-concept environment for the two platforms. Their enterprisewide integration with Windows Server 2003 and ProLiant servers demonstrates a clear and compelling message about the commitment at Microsoft and HP for the two platforms. It also provides undocumented intangible benefits for Windows Server and ProLiant customers.

Each company's commitment to quality assurance and maintenance of each platform is realized in-house. It should also help customers sleep better at night knowing HP and Microsoft are deeply invested in their own products at home.

Customer Case Studies

Giving customers the tools and technology to simplify IT operations while increasing productivity drives their success and has kept customers coming back to Windows Server and ProLiant. The customers' need is the most important aspect of building the Windows and ProLiant tradition. Not all innovations take off to proliferate. Customers tell you what they want, and you work to deliver. The reward is when customers share their success. Their success stories are a tribute to Windows Server 2003 and ProLiant servers. Both Microsoft and HP provide success stories from their customers, which may be reviewed at their Web sites. Throughout many of the chapters of this book, customer case studies from HP and Microsoft customers are used as a reference to illustrate how Windows Server 2003 on ProLiant has been a preferred solution. When planning or considering the transition, it can be helpful to read the cases including the details of the business problem and benefits the solutions delivered.

case study: The HP and Compaq Merger

It makes sense after touting the HP and Microsoft relationship, to provide some insight into HP's implementation of Windows Server 2003 on ProLiant servers and how it has provided a robust solution to challenges faced in merging HP and Compaq.

The HP and Compaq case presented the challenge of combining the IT organizations and infrastructure for one of the largest corporate mergers on record. The merger not only presented a huge challenge, but also an opportunity to gain valuable experience in planning and managing such a large integration. In reviewing case study details, we see the challenge and benefits ProLiant and Windows Server 2003 provided.

Business Challenge

Although the newly merged HP-Compaq company hit the ground running in terms of product roadmaps and organizational structure, the integration of the two corporate entities would take time. One of the first objectives for the newly combined company was to forge a common IT infrastructure and directory architecture, which would help unite the two IT giants. With a combined workforce of more than 140,000 in 160 countries , this internal integration was a huge, but essential, challenge the companies needed to meet quickly and efficiently . HP and Compaq each brought multiple operating environments and divisions to the merger. Fortunately, both companies had a lot of experience in mergers and divestitures with the Digital/Compaq merger and HP/Agilant divestiture, which management leveraged when planning the IT infrastructure integration.

The newly merged HP achieved early momentum at the IT level by developing a common directory services architecture based on AD and Windows 2000. As a strategic partner with Microsoft for more than 20 years, HP always participates in new product development and testing with the software leader. HP joined the Joint Development Program (JDP) for Windows Server 2003 to help test and guide development of the critical new environment. Through its JDP involvement, the HP team realized early that Windows Server 2003 offered many benefits that would help unify and streamline their newly combined company. These benefits included improved security, easier collaboration, faster server deployment, and vastly improved AD services. The fact that Microsoft developed the Windows 2003 operating system (OS) on the HP ProLiant platform made migration even easier than expected.

"The Microsoft Windows Server 2003 platform offers many improvements over Windows 2000," says Wook Lee, design engineer with HP's Managed Services organization. "We already had a significant Windows 2000 environment, which we needed to expand to accommodate the new corporation. The scalability improvements offered by Windows Server 2003 gave us a compelling reason to migrate our environment."

By April 2003, all HP servers running AD worldwide, including GC and DCs, were migrated to Windows Server 2003.

Benefits

By adopting the Windows Server 2003 OS early through JDP participation and an aggressive test-and-implementation process, HP met many of its internal integration goals, plus gained valuable experience that the company can now use to help its customers migrate to the new environment. "We made it a top priority to get involved early to help Microsoft refine Windows Server 2003 for our customers, and for ourselves," notes Bert Quarfordt, HP Manager of Core Computing Solutions. "We needed to test it, break it, fix it, and generally make sure the new operating environment was ready for the real world. We had to be in a position to not only use it ourselves , but to help our customers integrate it and benefit from it."

According to Quarfordt and others at HP, the new Windows Server 2003 offers major improvements in the areas of security, scalability, and manageability. "We are very pleased with the new Microsoft operating system so far," says Quarfordt. "We have essentially built HP on the Windows Server 2003 and HP ProLiant platform. The improvements in AD have been dramatic. Our new directory infrastructure is far more secure, scalable, and flexible than ever before. We can accommodate changes more easily, which is essential in managing a global enterprise such as HP where changes are frequent."

In summary, the benefits are highlighted below with the bulleted points with short descriptions and comments by HP design and implementation team members .

• Improved performance : At almost every level, Windows Server 2003 is faster than its predecessor, particularly in the area of AD support.

• Better manageability : AD allows easier schema changes to accommodate changes in organizational structure. "We can easily rename domains, create links among Active Directory forests, and support multiple company and division names ."

• Enhanced security : "We are better able to parcel our permissions and control access, particularly in Active Directory where that's critical," Lee explains. Windows Server 2003 also makes it easier to encrypt sensitive data and enforce software restrictions to help prevent damage from viruses and other malicious code.

• Faster deployment and integration : New infrastructure components , such as servers, storage, and network hardware, are easier and faster to implement under Windows Server 2003 than ever before. "Changes that used to take an entire weekend or several days to make on a global basis now take just a few hours." That's huge.

Links to HP and Microsoft case study Web sites can be found at http://www.phptr.com/title/0131467581.