You could call Barry Pascal a family man. Pascal is president of Bell Pascal Financial Services, a nine-employee company that helps family businesses move assets to succeeding generations. That's a tidy explanation for the mission of this financial services firm, which specializes in tax and estate planning for privately held companies, particularly family-owned businesses. Pascal said, "We help companies minimize their tax issues so that they can pass their businesses from one generation to the next."

Bell Pascal is a family owned business in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The company was founded by Pascal�s stepfather William Bell 40 years ago.

Keeping data secure and private

Barry Pascal has been a user of Microsoft products since Windows 286 was released in 1987. So when his company had the chance to participate in the Windows 2000 Small Business Rapid Deployment Program, he decided to grasp the opportunity. Pascal worked with their local computer services provider, CompuQuest Corporate Services , to upgrade one PC with the Windows� 2000 Professional operating system as a test machine. Pascal and CompuQuest have worked together since 1995. CompuQuest, also located in Montreal, provides a full range of information technology services, including network configuration and management, Internet services, and training.

Bell Pascal currently runs Windows 2000 Professional on just one system. But the benefits of the operating system on one machine have encouraged the firm to plan upgrading six additional workstations and one server to Windows 2000 in the near future.

One of the main reasons Pascal is sold on Windows 2000 is because of the operating system�s strong security features. "Secure access to our customer's information is very important to us," said Pascal. "We need to keep important financial and private information confidential and Windows 2000 helps us do that very effectively."

Randal Wark of CompuQuest Corporate Services said, "Security is very important to Bell Pascal Financial Services, especially because of the sensitive nature of their data. Windows 2000 gives us peace of mind, because it has industry-standard security features, such as Kerberos support and file encryption."

On its Windows 2000 Professional-based computer, Pascal uses the Encrypting File System (EFS) to protect important files. Encryption is the process of converting data into another form so that unauthorized users cannot easily understand it. Thus if another user tries to log on to the computer and open an encrypted file, they won�t be able to view the data, because it will be garbled or scrambled. EFS encrypts each file with a randomly generated key, but the encryption and decryption process is transparent to the user. So if Pascal wants to send a file attachment to another employee via e-mail, he can right click on the attachment, select "decrypt" under Properties, and the file will be decrypted.

Windows 2000 supports important industry security standards

Windows 2000 is built on the Microsoft Windows NT� Security model, which permits only authenticated users to access system resources. As Bell Pascal expands the use of Windows 2000 to its network, the firm can take greater advantage of features such as Group Policy, which controls who accesses objects (such as files and shared printers), and the actions an individual can take on an object.

Wark said that he plans to work with Bell Pascal to enable additional Windows 2000 security features and services, such as Group Policy, and IP Security Support (IPSec) when the company upgrades its server to Windows 2000 Server. IPSec helps protect data transmitted across a network, such as virtual private networks (VPNs), which allow organizations to transmit data securely over the Internet.

Windows 2000 also provides Kerberos support, an Internet and industry standard that allows fast, single logon to Windows 2000-based resources.

"I know our data is better protected now, and that�s a good feeling," said Pascal. "Technology is important to us in that it better facilitates our relationship with our customers. The upgrade to Windows 2000 has been virtually invisible to our customers, which is exactly what we wanted."