Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
Customer Solution Case Study
World’s Leading Brewer Implements Microsoft
Technologies and Cuts IT Costs
Overview
Country or region: India
Industry: Manufacturing
Customer Profile
SABMiller is one of the world’s leading
brewers with brewing interests or major
distribution agreements in over 60
countries spread across five continents.
Business Situation
SABMiller wanted to implement an
infrastructure that would increase worker
productivity, and also provide reliability,
security and ease of management.
Solution
SABMiller decided to build its solution on
Microsoft technologies.
Benefits
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Promotes effective collaboration
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Reduces administrative costs
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Improves security
“Using Microsoft Exchange Server gives SABMiller
secure and efficient remote e-mail access. This is a
massive benefit for the business.”
Atul Gupta, Head - Information Technology, SABMiller India
Based out of London, with a global turnover in excess of $15 billion
and a market capitalisation of U.S.$20 billion, SABMiller is among
the top 30 companies in the elite FTSE index of the London Stock
Exchange with a sales revenue of U.S.$ million 15,307 for the year
ended March 31, 2006.
A truly global enterprise, SABMiller is present in over 60 countries
across six continents, while its brands are available in many more
through imports. In the year ending March 2006, it sold 17.6 billion
litres of beer all over the world accounting single-handedly for over
11 percent of the global beer sales. The group’s brands include
premium international beers such as Miller Genuine Draft, Peroni
Nastro Azzurro and Pilsner Urquell. Outside the USA, SABMiller is
also one of the largest bottlers of Coca-Cola products in the world.
In 2003 the company moved its headquarters from Gurgaon, to
Bangalore and wanted to implement an infrastructure that was
completely based on Microsoft technologies.
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Situation
SABMiller started its journey in India in the
year 2000. Today, in just a few years, it has
grown to corner nearly one-third of the Indian
beer market with brands such as Haywards
5000, Royal Challenge, and Knock Out under
its portfolio. With 10 high quality breweries
located strategically across India, SABMiller is
well placed to service the markets quickly
and efficiently with a workforce of over 2500
people. In the year 2003 the company moved
its headquarters from Gurgaon, to Bangalore
and wanted to implement an infrastructure
that was completely based on Microsoft
technologies.
The organization needed to optimise its IT
environment, better integrate the IT systems
and promote employee collaboration.
Atul Gupta, Head IT, SABMiller India
Solution
SABMiller India met all its infrastructure
requirements by implementing a solution
based on Microsoft software.
The complete network at SABMiller India is a
Microsoft Windows 2003 Active Directory,
directory service. Active Directory is a
component of Windows Server 2003 that
provides a central location for managing and
securing user accounts, computers, and
applications. All user authentication and emails use this domain as the platform.
The primary domain controller and Microsoft
Exchange 2000 Server was setup in
September 2003 at a central location. The
complete rollout across 11 locations was
completed by March 2004.
By January 2004, Windows Server 2003
Terminal Services was setup on two separate
servers acting in a Windows Load Balancing
Service (WLBS) mode to provide access to
SABMiller India’s ERP package from all
locations.
A single Internet Security and Acceleration
Server 2000 (ISA) was setup in July 2004 to
act as the firewall and proxy. Outlook Web
Access was also published using ISA Server
2000.
Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access is an
integrated component of Exchange Server
2003 that accesses e-mail, schedules, and
other information stored on the Exchange
Server using only a Web browser and an
Internet or intranet connection.
Then, an additional ISA 2004 server was
deployed in January 2005 as the perimeter
firewall. This was connected in a back-to-back
configuration with the earlier ISA 2000 server
which helped the company to achieve more
security and redundancy in case any one
firewall went down. ISA Server 2004 provided
advanced protection, ease of use, and fast
and secure access for the company’s
network.
All clients across all locations were standard
built with Windows 2000 Professional and
Office XP Professional. Upgrade of all
desktops was initiated in June 2005 and
completed in December 2005.
In August 2004, SABMiller India deployed a
Business Intelligence application – ProClarity.
Upgrade to Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Server Active Directory and Microsoft
Exchange Server 2003 was completed across
all locations by January 2006.
SABMiller completed the acquisition of
Fosters India in September 2006. Fosters
was integrated with its network deployment
including Windows Server Active Director
domain and Exchange Server was completed
in November 2006. This included seamless
deployment of an additional domain
controller at Fosters, Exchange Server 2003
deployment, creation of mailboxes and
standard build of clients with Microsoft
Windows XP Professional and Microsoft Office
2003.
An external penetration test commissioned by
Ernst and Young (EY) India in October 2006
was not able to find any security loopholes
that could be exploited from the external
world.
In January 2007, Microsoft Systems
Management Server (SMS) 2003 was
deployed to automate patch deployment and
inventory management. SMS 2003 is an
enterprise-class software distribution and
asset management solution that provides
inventory analysis, operating system and
application deployment, software usage
tracking, and reporting.
Also, in February 2007, SABMiller India kick
started the process of launching Microsoft
Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003.
Currently the deployment and integration of
Websense (a third party tool for content
filtering) with Microsoft ISA Sever is in
progress. Along with this, SQL Server 2000
database consolidation is also in progress.
Benefits
By deploying Microsoft technologies,
SABMiller India has been able to create a
cost-effective, standardized IT environment.
Promotes Effective Collaboration
SABMiller India is pleased with the
collaboration benefits that the Microsoft
solution has begun to provide. The new
collaboration features in Exchange Server
2003 such as scheduling, contacts, and task
management further help SABMiller India
employees stay on track with routine duties.
Departments are communicating more
efficiently and employees can easily reach
the people they need, using tools that are
familiar and intuitive.
Reduces Administrative Costs
Since implementing Exchange Server 2003,
managers at SABMiller India have noticed a
significant reduction in the amount of time it
takes to administer the company’s
communications system. According to Atul
Gupta, Head IT, SABMiller India, “Integrating
administration of both the network and our
Exchange Server using Active Directory, has
helped us to save even more money annually
in system administration costs.”
Improves Security
Consolidating on Microsoft technologies has
also strengthened system security and made
the system easier to manage. “One of the
biggest benefits for us in going with Exchange
Server 2003 is improving system security,”
says Atul Gupta. “Also, the policies and
permissions that Active Directory supports
are very flexible, so we now have a policydriven approach to granting people’s access
to different parts of the IT environment.”
For More Information
Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
For more information about Microsoft
products and services, call the Microsoft
Sales Information Center at (800) 4269400. In Canada, call the Microsoft
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Microsoft subsidiary. To access information
using the World Wide Web, go to:
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For more information about the Microsoft
server product portfolio, go to:
www.microsoft.com/servers/default.mspx
For more information about SABMiller
products and services, call (91) (080)
22198800 or visit the Web site at:
www.sabmiller.com
Software
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© 2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case
study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO
WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published February, 2007
Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Microsoft Exchange Server 2003
Microsoft SQL Server 2000
Microsoft Internet Security and
Acceleration Server 2000
Internet Security and Acceleration
Server 2004
Microsoft Systems Management
Server 2003
Microsoft Office 2003
Microsoft Office XP Professional
Hardware
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HP ML570 with 8 GB RAM and 400 GB
hard disk
HP ML350 G3 for Exchange Server
2003 with 4 GB RAM and 120 GB hard
disk
Intel Pentium 4 Xeon Processors