Compaq’s new network, called GlobalNet, includes the rebuilding of its global wide-area network (WAN). Beginning with the Class-A address acquired with Digital, Compaq is re-addressing the entire company and connecting it to a worldwide dual asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) backbone. At the same time, it is reducing drastically the number of servers required to maintain the new network. In the Americas, the company now has three machine clusters (based on ProLiant® CL1850R servers) to provide Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) services throughout the region. In production for over a year without incident, this six-machine setup has replaced the 68 servers that previously performed this task. Similarly, the European sector will see a reduction from 58 servers to 8, and the Asia-Pacific region, from 72 to 5. In other network areas worldwide, Compaq is reducing the number of Master User Domains from 13 to 4 and the number of Resource Domains from 1,700 to fewer than 50.
Reducing TCO
The reduction in the number of servers and domains is a huge win for Compaq, in terms of both cost and management. Harmon explains, "With Windows NT Server 4.0, it was difficult to manage a domain with more than 50,000 users; with Windows 2000 and the Active DirectoryTM service, we can easily have millions or tens of millions of users in a single domain. This means we can support our infrastructure with radically fewer domains and create our domains based on logical divisions within the company. We are not constrained by the technology."
In the example of DHCP server reduction, the work of 200 machines will now be done by 19, a reduction of 90 percent. But the Compaq network is more than just DHCP services. The company’s current Windows NT 4.0-based infrastructure numbers about 1,400 machines. This includes Domain Controllers and DHCP, Domain Name Server, Windows Internet Naming Service, file/print servers, and servers running Microsoft Exchange Server, but not application servers. In implementing Windows 2000, Compaq expects that the entire network, excluding application servers, can be supported with fewer than 300 ProLiant servers. Harman explains the enormous potential for savings, "Reductions in the space necessary to house the machines, the support staff necessary to deal with hardware failures, and the huge sum of money necessary to keep spare parts on hand at each location all indicate that the new Windows 2000–based network, with its staggering reduction in overall hardware requirements, is a very big win."
Streamlining Support
As important as the savings in hardware and hardware support is the savings from a new kind of IT support made possible by Windows 2000. Compaq’s existing Windows NT 4.0-based network requires 24/7 support at seven locations throughout the world. Further, because of the number of domains spread throughout the world, the network requires a Windows NT domain expert at each domain location. With Windows 2000, on the other hand, Compaq expects that the 24/7 support could be replaced with three eight-hour shifts matching the time zones of its corporate centers.
The reduction in the number of domains relieves the need to have a Windows NT operating system expert in every place where a domain existed. The reduced number of centralized domains lets Compaq place highly valuable IT resources only in those centralized locations where they are necessary. The company’s Windows NT–based network required 400 domain administrators with full and absolute power. Because Windows 2000 allows the granular assignment of privileges, Compaq expects to reduce the number of full domain administrators to 50 and create "partial" domain administrators to fill out its contingent of support technicians to 200. The potential for savings is obvious. Compaq will be able to maintain its network with fewer administrators in fewer places, and realize the potential of the remaining technicians in other areas. Because of this new distribution of administration, Compaq has also achieved much greater security, with the "keys to the kingdom" accessible by far fewer hands.
A Better Desktop with Windows 2000 Professional
In addition to using Windows 2000 Server for all of its ProLiant servers, Compaq has decided to migrate the vast majority of its 200,000 workstations to Windows 2000 Professional. According to Harman, "Windows 2000 Professional gives Compaq substantial benefits. Based on the 18,000 desktops we have deployed up to now, the user experience is much better than it was with our mixture of Windows 9x and Windows NT Workstation. Our desktops will be much more reliable, and manageability is fantastic. We will definitely save money. Additionally, we expect to be able to provide much more integration with our users who to date have lived exclusively in a UNIX world, through common file shares, cross-platform Kerberos certification, and the use of Terminal Services."
Saving Money with Remote Support
Compaq expects to further streamline its support services by implementing the remote administration features built into Windows 2000. Currently, approximately 80 percent of the calls to the corporate help desk for anything other than resetting a password require a technician to be dispatched to resolve the issue. And with an average of 3.2 machines per user, that kind of technical assistance is expensive.
With Windows 2000’s built-in Terminal Service for remote administration and the ability to update the operating system across the Internet, Compaq can concentrate its high-level technical resources at the seven central support centers, where they will be able to accomplish the most, rather than diffuse those resources throughout the corporation. The company expects to reverse the current percentage of technician dispatches, remotely handling all but 20 percent of help-desk calls. Says Harman, "With Compaq Insight Manager to remotely control hardware and the powerful remote administration features of Windows 2000, we will come very close to our goal of 99.5 percent remote management of our Windows 2000 Professional-based desktops."
Improving Compaq.com
Compaq will explore using the Active Directory service in Windows 2000 to manage its fast-growing public user database at Compaq.com. According to Harman, Active Directory could easily handle the 20 million user accounts that Compaq expects it will have in two years.
Conclusion
Compaq is realizing immediate savings from its implementation of Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2000 Professional. On the server side, the radically reduced number of servers lowers the company’s TCO and reduces the number of administrators required for management by half. It also means that Compaq needs fewer replacement parts and can reassign valuable IT resources where they will be most effective. Finally, fewer domain administrators means more efficient, more secure management.
Compaq is close to completing its infrastructure implementation, and already more than 18,000 users are running Windows 2000 Professional. Having come out of its Y2K freeze in mid-January, Compaq is moving very quickly to migrate its entire network over to Windows 2000. According to Harman, by the end of this year 80 percent of users will be running Windows 2000 Professional.
"Ultimately," says Harman, "Compaq is driven by the same reasoning that drives every corporate IT department. We must do more for less. We must do everything more easily, more powerfully, and less expensively. Windows 2000 lets us do that."
Software and Services
Windows 2000 Server, including Terminal Service
Windows 2000 Professional
