Rather than focusing on managing computers, the Windows® 2000 operating system lets
administrators focus on managing the people who use them. The
IntelliMirrorTM management technologies features within the Windows 2000
platform work behind the scenes to manage users’ software,
settings, and data in efficient, time-saving ways. This approach
to business computing helps Windows 2000 users do their
Windows-based work more efficiently while helping
reduce their companies’ computing costs.
IntelliMirror features intelligently
manage Windows 2000-based users' data, settings, and software
through group-level policies set by the network administrator.
Regardless of where a Windows 2000-based user is when they log
on to their organization's network, IntelliMirror features are
able keep track of and regenerate the users' complete
environment. That means that the information and tools that
Windows 2000 platform users need are available to them whenever
and wherever they need them--whether they're connected to the
network or working on a laptop offline. Not only does
IntelliMirror help make desktop and laptop computing easier and
more convenient, but also saves time and money by eliminating
many of the situations that traditionally have required the
assistance of a network administrator. To see what IntelliMirror
can do, follow us into the work life of a Windows 2000 user.
Scene 1: A New Employee Logs On
A new employee, Jack Gode, arrives at
the marketing department of Wide World Importers. He follows the
instructions that the company's network administrator left on
his desk: "Please log on to this computer as JackG. Then
please print and read the employee handbook, which you'll find
in the My Documents folder." Within minutes, Jack is
reading the Wide World Importers employee handbook.
Behind the Scenes: Group Policy and
Windows Installer
In this scene, Jack logged on to a
desktop computer that had been configured with Windows 2000
Professional. Through the Group Policy settings stored for Jack
in the Active DirectoryTM directory service, Windows 2000 recognized Jack's name and
proceeded to load his computer with all the applications,
documents, and settings that he needed to get started in his new
job.
Group Policy defines the computer
resources available to a given group as established by the
organization's network administrator. A group may contain
several dozen users, such as all the member of Jack's
department; several hundred users, such as everyone who works in
Building 6 on the Wide World Importers corporate campus; or
several thousand users, such as all the full-time employees at
Wide World Importers. Jack belongs to three different groups:
the group of full-time employees at Wide World Importers; the
group of employees who work in Building 6; and the group of
marketing employees.
When Jack logged on and opened the
employee handbook document, Group Policy recognized the
association between his name and the policies associated with
the groups he belongs to. For example, since Jack is a member of
the marketing group, he has access to the marketing group's
applications and shared folders. Group Policy instructs the
operating system to install the folders that members of the
marketing group require. When Jack opened the Wide World
Importers employee handbook, a Microsoft Word document, Windows
Installer, checked Jack's computer to be sure that he had all
the correct files necessary to start Microsoft Word. In this
case it did have Word present, and the document opened, all
without Jack's having to know anything about what was going on
behind the scenes. As Jack customizes his computer over the next
few days to suit his needs and preferences, his settings will be
saved to the server. And every time he starts an application,
Windows Installer will check his computer to be sure that it
contains all the files it needs to start the program.
Cost Savings
In this scene, the time and money
savings for Wide World Importers came from what was not necessary. Jack was able to log
on and begin working immediately. No assistance or other
intervention was necessary from the network administrator, the
company help desk, or Jack's colleagues.
Scene 2: Jack Goes Down Under
A month
later, Jack makes a business trip to
Wide World Importers' office in Melbourne, Australia. He has a
hectic last few hours in his office before he rushes to the airport.
He doesn't have to remember to download the documents he'll
need, because his My Documents folder is stored on the
network and can be made available to him in an offline folder.
When he's in his seat on the airplane, he opens his laptop and
refines a couple of points in the marketing plan he will use
during his stay in Melbourne.
As soon as Jack arrives in his hotel
room in Melbourne, he plugs his laptop into the phone
connection, establishes a remote access service (RAS) connection
to the home office, and logs on. Immediately, his updated
version of the marketing plan replaces the older version of the
plan on the server in the home office.
Behind the Scenes: Offline Folders
In this scene, since Jack used his
laptop to work offline, he updated a local version of a document
whose primary home is on the network at the home office. When
Jack established his remote connection to the Wide World
Importers network, the Offline Folders feature of IntelliMirror
recognized that there was a discrepancy between the document on
Jack's laptop and the document on the network. It copied the
newer version of the document to the server. His marketing
colleagues--everyone in the group that has access to that
folder--now have the current version of the document.
Cost Savings
Once again, the time and cost savings in
this scene are realized because of what didn't happen, all because
IntelliMirror manages users and their information. Even though
Jack was thousands of miles away when he did his work,
IntelliMirror retained the integrity of the corporate data as
soon as Jack logged back on to the network. Jack didn't need to
remember to synchronize: It just happens. Therefore, he has the
document that he can work on while travelling
on the plane, and the master version updates
automatically when Jack establishes a RAS connection.
If another member of the marketing group
had changed the marketing plan before Jack logged on from
Melbourne, Jack would have received a prompt that asked him
whether he wanted to save one or both versions of the document.
Since Jack was the only one to have worked on the document
during the time he was working offline, however, the update was
seamless.
Scene 3: Jack Has Jet Lag
It's Jack's
second morning in Melbourne, and he's
feeling the effects of jet lag--he forgot his laptop in his
hotel room. Luckily, Jack is already accustomed to the advantages
of IntelliMirror. Rather than turning around and going
back to his hotel, he goes to Wide World Importers' Melbourne
office, asks if he can use a Windows 2000 Professional
computer that nobody else is using, and logs on. Within a few
moments, he's able to use his own documents, his own
applications, and his own settings.
Behind the Scenes: Group Policy and
Active Directory
Once again, IntelliMirror's management
capabilities made Jack's life easier. He isn't tied down to a
single Windows 2000-based computer. The information about his
data, applications, and settings is retained on the network
server rather than on a specific client computer. When Jack
logged on to the network from Melbourne, the Active Directory
validated his name, his group memberships, and the policies
associated with those groups. Through Group Policy, Windows 2000
then regenerated Jack's computer environment, even though Jack
was working from a computer he'd never used before. Windows 2000
even took Jack's location into account -- rather than accessing
the software Jack needed from the network at Wide World
Importers' home office, it accessed that software from the
server in Melbourne.
Cost Savings
In this scene, Group Policy saved Jack a
trip to his hotel, not to mention consternation. Despite his
forgetfulness, and although he was several thousand miles away
from the home office, Jack was able to get right to work, since
he had access to his company's network.
Conclusion
Windows 2000 simultaneously adds
convenience and protects information. IntelliMirror lets
administrators think in terms of users and their roles, rather
than having to map those roles and requirements to particular
machines. This also makes it easy for users such as Jack to
focus on their work rather than on their computers. And since
Wide World Importers uses Windows 2000-based computers, its
employees are able to travel, or move from one computer to
another, without jeopardizing corporate data.
(The example companies, organizations,
people, and events depicted herein are fictitious. No
association with any real company, organization, person, or
event is intended or should be inferred.)
