Microsoft Exchange Server 2010Customer Solution Case Study

Firm Reduces Voice-Mail Support Costs by 30 Percent with Unified Messaging Solution

OverviewCountry or Region: United StatesIndustry: Professional services—Legal services

Customer ProfileVan Scoyoc is the largest independent lobbying firm in Washington, D.C. The company’s 80 employees specialize in a range of practice areas, including budget and appropriation, international affairs, and taxation.

Business SituationThe hardware for the company’s existing messaging solution was nearing its end of life and would have been expensive to replace. Also, its voice-mail solution was no longer reliable and lacked features.

SolutionVan Scoyoc replaced its messaging solution by deploying Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 with Unified Messaging for email and voice mail.

Benefits Larger mailboxes and reduced costs Improved voice-mail access Better web email access Faster disaster recovery Easier mobile device management

“Moving from Avaya Modular Messaging to Exchange Server 2010 with Unified Messaging reduces our annual voice-mail support costs by almost one-third.”

Brian Leitner, IT Director, Van Scoyoc Associates

Van Scoyoc Associates is a lobbying firm based in Washington, D.C. The company was using a messaging solution based on Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and Avaya Modular Messaging, but its hardware was expensive and users were requesting more advanced email and voice-mail tools. Also, in the event of a disaster, the company’s only option was to restore from backup files, which would have been a two-day process. With help from Enabling Technologies, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, Van Scoyoc deployed Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 with Unified Messaging. As a result, the company has improved redundancy and expanded mailboxes from 500 megabytes to 1 gigabyte while reducing storage costs. Mobile device management is now easier, and users are 50 percent more efficient with new web email and calendar tools. The solution also reduces annual voice-mail support costs by nearly one-third.

SituationVan Scoyoc Associates is the largest independent lobbying firm in Washington, D.C. The company offers government-affairs and lobbying services to businesses, nonprofits, universities, research centers, city governments, and other organizations. It employs about 80 people.

Van Scoyoc was using an email and voice-mail solution based on Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and Avaya Modular Messaging. To meet the company’s availability requirements, the solution used traditional failover clustering and shared storage. In 2010, as this solution’s hardware neared the end of its life, Van Scoyoc analyzed its options. It could upgrade the hardware and leave the rest of the solution in place, but new versions of the high-end clustered server systems that the company used would be expensive. Also, this approach would not resolve several problems that Van Scoyoc was experiencing with its existing solution.

“With about one day of unplanned downtime per year, the Avaya Modular Messaging system was no longer as reliable as we wanted it to be, and there was room for improvement in the user experience,” says Brian Leitner, IT Director for Van Scoyoc Associates. “Avaya Modular Messaging requires a desktop client for access to full functionality, so users weren’t getting the same experience when checking their messages from home as they were in the office. Users were also aware of other technologies that offer voice-to-text conversion of messages, and I was getting requests for that.”

Similarly, some users were asking for expanded capabilities for sending and receiving email over the web. “About a third of our employees use web browsers that aren’t supported by Microsoft Outlook Web Access in Exchange Server 2003, so they couldn’t access many of that application’s timesaving tools,” says Leitner.

Also, Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync in Exchange Server 2003 did not offer all of the security and management tools that Leitner needed. “We want our employees to use Apple iPhones, but we weren’t able to satisfy all of our mobile device requirements with earlier versions of Exchange ActiveSync,” he explains. “Instead, we were relying on BlackBerry phones, but using BlackBerry Enterprise Server incurred licensing costs, monopolized server resources, and complicated administration.”

Administration was further complicated by the use of traditional failover clustering, and using existing management tools to navigate to specific servers could be difficult. Also, the company had no provision for recovering from a data center–level failure other than restoring from backup files, a process that Leitner estimates would take two days. And because of high storage costs, the company kept employees’ mailboxes relatively small, at 500 megabytes (MB) each.

Van Scoyoc wanted to replace Avaya Modular Messaging with a voice-mail solution that would provide a better user experience with additional tools for accessing and managing messages. The company also wanted to simplify the management of its messaging solution,

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reduce associated storage costs, and ease mobile device management. In addition, the new solution needed to help Van Scoyoc improve its disaster-recovery capabilities.

SolutionFor help, Van Scoyoc turned to Enabling Technologies, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner that has long assisted the firm with its communications infrastructure. “Enabling Technologies has a very strong relationship with Microsoft, and its employees offer a great deal of expertise,” Leitner says.

After a presentation by Enabling Technologies in early 2010, Van Scoyoc decided to deploy a new solution based on Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Enterprise. Bill Vollerthum, the President of Enabling Technologies, is enthusiastic about Exchange Server 2010 because of the long history Microsoft has in the messaging market. “Exchange Server 2010 is the latest generation in a line of technologies that have been carefully strengthened and improved over the years,” he says. “Microsoft technology is all we represent, because we know we can confidently tell our customers that it’s the best.”

Leitner says he had always known he would move to Exchange Server 2010—it was just a question of when. “Enabling Technologies helped us understand that, with Exchange Server 2010, the technology was at a point where we could obtain a truly impressive and cost-effective set of functionalities with very little risk of disruptions or other problems during the migration.”

The project began in July 2010. With assistance from Enabling, Van Scoyoc deployed Exchange Server 2010 with Unified Messaging for email and voice mail. Van Scoyoc set up a Database Availability Group with two replicated copies of each email database on two server computers in different locations, for automatic recovery from failures at the disk, server, or data center level. The team also deployed Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. The solution is integrated with the company’s existing Avaya DEFINITY G3 Private Branch Exchange through a Dialogic 1000 Media Gateway. The messaging solution went live companywide in August 2010, but Office Communications Server 2007 has been rolled out to only a pilot group.

With Exchange Server 2010, Van Scoyoc users have access to several new features that make communication easier and more efficient. Voice Mail Preview creates speech-to-text previews of voice-mail messages that can be viewed in users’ unified inboxes. Conversation View groups messages from a single conversation together, even if individual messages are stored in separate folders, and users can manage each group of messages as a whole.

The premium version of Outlook Web App is now available on all major web browsers, so users of previously unsupported browsers have access to features like search and easier management of messages and calendar items. Searches are faster in both Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 and Outlook Web App messaging and collaboration clients, because mailboxes on all of a user’s computers and devices are fully indexed by

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default. And to ease meeting planning, Van Scoyoc employees can share their calendars with colleagues, including free/busy information.

Exchange Server 2010 also offers improved management and flexible configuration options. Van Scoyoc administrators have access to simpler, integrated management and troubleshooting tools in the Exchange Management Console. With Exchange ActiveSync, the company can require users to enter a PIN before connecting to the network with a mobile device, and users or administrators can remotely reset passwords or delete all of the data on lost or stolen devices. And with role-based access control (RBAC) and the Exchange Control Panel, users can perform tasks such as changing their own contact information, tracking message delivery, and managing distribution groups.

The solution runs on HP ProLiant DL380 G7 server computers with internal 2.5-inch Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) disk drives. The databases are on four 300-gigabyte (GB) disks configured for RAID (redundant array of independent disks) 10. The storage configuration is simpler than the previous solution, which used a Fibre Channel connection between Exchange Server and the storage array. In addition, because of the reduced disk input/output (I/O) in Exchange Server 2010, Van Scoyoc has the option of using less expensive Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) disks in the future.

In the first quarter of 2011, the company plans to deploy Exchange Server 2010 archiving features and Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1. With the personal

archive feature, users can store older messages in an easily accessible archive mailbox instead of in Outlook Data Files (PST files) on their computers. Service Pack 1 includes enhancements such as the ability to delegate access to the archive and to import email from existing .PST files into Exchange Server 2010.

BenefitsBy deploying Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Van Scoyoc has increased user mailbox size and reduced costs. Employees have more efficient email and voice-mail tools. The company has also improved its server redundancy and eased mobile device management and other administrative tasks.

Larger Mailboxes and Reduced CostsThe Exchange Server 2010 solution helped Van Scoyoc reduce costs even as it enlarged users’ mailboxes. Because the company no longer needs to rely on the more expensive packaged-cluster server computers that it used previously, it was cheaper for Van Scoyoc to deploy the new solution than it would have been to upgrade the hardware it was using for the old solution. “Keeping Exchange Server 2003 and simply refreshing its hardware would have cost us at least 20 percent more than it cost to deploy the entire Exchange Server 2010 solution,” says Leitner. “Moving to Exchange Server 2010 saved us about $15,000 in hardware costs and gave us more space and functionality than we had before.” Because storage space is no longer as expensive, Van Scoyoc has doubled its users’ mailboxes from 500 MB to 1 GB.

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“Moving to Exchange Server 2010 saved us about $15,000 in hardware costs and gave us more space and functionality than we had before.”

Brian Leitner, IT Director, Van Scoyoc Associates

Additional cost savings result from the new solution’s improved performance. “With the reduced disk I/O in Exchange Server 2010, the solution requires less power,” says Leitner. “I know from looking at our meters that our network room is using much less electricity than it used to.”

Also, by switching from a third-party to an integrated voice-mail solution, Van Scoyoc eliminated the old system’s fixed support costs and unplanned downtime. “Moving from Avaya Modular Messaging to Exchange Server 2010 with Unified Messaging reduces our annual voice-mail support costs by almost one-third,” says Leitner.

Improved Voice-Mail AccessReplacing the previous solution with Exchange Server 2010 has made accessing voice-mail messages easier for users. “With Exchange Server 2010 Unified Messaging, users can see and access their voice-mail messages directly in Outlook 2007 or Outlook Web App without having to install a third-party client,” says Leitner. “As a result, they get the expected experience whether they are at the office or at home.”

Users also appreciate being able to access text previews of voice-mail messages. “Our employees spend a lot of time in government hearings, meetings, and other settings where it’s not acceptable to make phone calls, even to check messages,” says Leitner. “With Voice Mail Preview in Exchange Server 2010, users can check for messages and respond by text or email without putting their phones to their ears.”

Better Web Email Access

The improved Outlook Web App has received an enthusiastic response from Van Scoyoc users. “Users are sending me all-capital-letter email messages telling me how much they love Outlook Web App in Exchange Server 2010,” says Leitner. “That’s not surprising, because the new version has been improved in almost every way I can think of. It’s revolutionary compared to what we were using before.”

Many Van Scoyoc users are excited that the premium version of Outlook Web App is now available on a greater variety of web browsers. “For those users whose browser of choice was not fully supported before, this change makes a huge difference,” Leitner says. “With Outlook Web App in Exchange Server 2010, these users are probably about 50 percent more efficient with web email and calendar tools than they were previously.”

Leitner says that even employees who were using a browser that supported the premium version of Outlook Web App have experienced efficiency improvements with the new version. “With Exchange Server 2010, the ability to view and take action on whole conversations, rather than single messages at a time, makes it easier to keep track of important information and eases inbox overload,” he says. “Searches are faster, and calendar-sharing makes it easier to schedule meetings and share availability information with colleagues.”

Faster Disaster RecoveryVan Scoyoc is using the high-availability architecture of Exchange Server 2010 to improve its failover and disaster recovery capabilities. Previously, in the event of a data center–level failure, Leitner’s only

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option would have been to restore from backup files. “With our Exchange Server 2010 Database Availability Group, I have a primary database in one location and a secondary database in another location,” Leitner explains. “If our primary network room is damaged, I can switch to the secondary database in just a few minutes, as opposed to the two days it would have taken me to restore from a backup.”

Easier Mobile Device ManagementWith the improved security and administration tools in Exchange Server 2010, Leitner is now comfortable relying on this technology as the primary method for Van Scoyoc employees to connect their mobile devices to the company’s network. “Because of the large amount of confidential and proprietary information on our servers, the ability for either the help desk or the user to remotely disable a lost or stolen device is paramount,” says Leitner. “Other important improvements in Exchange ActiveSync include being able to require PINs before connecting and the ability to block specific applications from being installed.”

Because Exchange ActiveSync now meets Van Scoyoc security and administration requirements, Leitner will encourage his users to switch from BlackBerry phones to iPhones, which natively support Exchange Activesync. By eliminating BlackBerry from the Van Scoyoc environment, Leitner can save money and reduce the load on the Exchange Server 2010 deployment. “We pay an annual fee for the licenses for the BlackBerry Enterprise Server,” says Leitner. “More importantly, every BlackBerry Enterprise Server user requires significantly more server resources than a user

connecting to the network through Exchange ActiveSync, so every BlackBerry user I can eliminate frees up a significant amount of server resources.”

Simpler AdministrationVan Scoyoc is finding that Exchange Server 2010 is simpler to administer than its previous solution. “Because the Exchange Management Console offers views of services, as opposed to views of individual machines, Exchange Server 2010 makes it much easier to obtain top-level views,” says Leitner. “Management in Exchange Server 2010 is more logical and efficient and requires a lot less digging around than before.”

Van Scoyoc is also saving time for administrators by expanding users’ permissions. “With RBAC and the Exchange Control Panel in Exchange Server 2010, I can give users the ability to edit their own distribution groups, update their own contact information, and track delivery status,” says Leitner. “Users appreciate not having to ask for help for these simple tasks, and it frees several hours per month for the IT department to work on more important things.”

Leitner says that improvements in Exchange Server 2010 make it the clear choice for any organization seeking a messaging solution. “As I’ve told my counterparts at several other companies already, Microsoft simply knows what it’s doing when it comes to messaging,” says Leitner. “I have experience with UNIX-based and Linux-based messaging platforms, and I can absolutely say that Exchange Server 2010 is the best product out there.”

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“I have experience with UNIX-based and Linux-based messaging platforms, and I can absolutely say that Exchange Server 2010 is the best product out there.”

Brian Leitner, IT Director,Van Scoyoc Associates

Microsoft Exchange Server 2010Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 can help you achieve better business outcomes while controlling the costs of deployment, administration, and compliance. Exchange Server 2010 delivers the widest range of deployment options, integrated information leakage protection, and advanced compliance capabilities, which combine to form the best messaging and collaboration solution available.

For more information about Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, go to:www.microsoft.com/exchange

For more information about Microsoft Unified Communications, go to:www.microsoft.com/uc

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For More InformationFor 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 in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:www.microsoft.com

For more information about Enabling Technologies products and services, call (800) 923-4310 or visit the website at: www.enablingtechcorp.com

For more information about Van Scoyoc Associates services, call (202) 638-1950 or visit the website at: www.vsadc.com

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published January 2011

Software and Services Microsoft Office− Microsoft Office Communications

Server 2007− Microsoft Office Outlook 2007

Microsoft Server Product Portfolio− Microsoft Exchange Server 2010

Enterprise Technologies− Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync− Microsoft Outlook Web App−

Hardware Dialogic 1000 Media Gateway HP ProLiant DL380 G7 server computers

Partner Enabling Technologies