Download Centralized Management of IT Infrastructure Gives Bank

Microsoft Windows Server System
Customer Solution Case Study
Centralized Management of IT Infrastructure
Gives Bank Freedom to Grow
Overview
Country or Region: Romania
Industry: Utilities
Customer Profile
Romgaz is a government-owned utility that
researches and produces natural gas, and
provides storage for reserves.
Business Situation
Romgaz SA requires continuous
information exchange with its regional
subsidiaries and workstations located at
various locations for proper operation of
the company.
Solution
To resolve these problems, Romgaz SA
implemented a Microsoft® Windows
Server™ 2003–based infrastructure, which
ensures a secure and flexible IT
environment as well as easy management
of workstations, remote user security
controls, and remote installation of
applications.
Benefits
 Infrastructure centralized management
 Securing the infrastructure
 Easy management based on object
groups using Group Policy
 Reduction of management costs
 Subsequent application can benefit from
security through Active Directory
"Although during the implementation of the IT
infrastructure centralized management project, other
open-source platforms were assessed, a Windows
Server 2003 and Active Directory–based solution was
preferred for efficiency reasons."
Dorel Tarnu, IT Manager
SNGN Romgaz (Romgaz SA) is a Romanian state-owned company
that produces and stores natural gas. The main activities carried
out by the national company are geological investigation for new
gas reserves, production and provision of natural gas, and
underground storage.
Currently, natural gas accounts for 40 percent of all energy
resources consumed by Romania, due to the many economic,
social, and ecological benefits that using its own natural resources
offers the country.
Situation
SNGN Romgaz SA (Romgaz SA) is a
Romanian state -owned company of national
interest, its main business being natural gas
production and storage. The central office of
Romgaz SA is located in Mediaş, Sibiu
County, and consists of five subsidiaries
distributed throughout the country: three for
production and two for auxiliary services.
The main activities carried out by the national
company are geological investigation for new
gas reserves, production and provision of
natural gas, and underground storage.
Natural gas production started in
Transylvania once natural gas was discovered
for the first time in Europe, in Sărmăşel in
1909. Until the 1960's, the gas production
and transport development network did not
have a significant economic impact; however,
they have developed since 1960, once
significant reserves of natural gas were
discovered, with a maximum production of 30
billion cubic meters in 1976.
Currently, natural gas accounts for 40
percent of all energy resources consumed by
Romania, due to the many economic, social,
and ecological benefits that using its own
natural resources offers the country.
Romgaz SA uses an information technology
(IT) infrastructure for data exchange between
the central office and its five subsidiaries, as
well as with other locations equipped with
computers that collect and process data on
gas production.
To facilitate this information exchange among
various locations, Romgaz SA decided to
implement a modern IT infrastructure that
provides the centralized management of the
existing database, as well as to strengthen
information security and provide for the
remote installation of business applications.
In addition to the implementation of these upto-date capabilities, Romgaz SA has also
started the implementation of a management
information system that collects in a single
database all information related to current
gas production and provides comprehensive
reports to corporate management.
A new information system for Romgaz SA was
sought to provide centralized IT management,
secure and controlled access for users to
stored information, and facilitate
communication between various locations of
the company. The new solution also had to
scale in size as the number of Romgaz SA
users and locations grew.
Solution
In order to meet these needs, Romgaz SA
decided to implement an infrastructure
based on the Microsoft® Windows Server™
2003 operating system (part of Microsoft
Windows Server System™ integrated server
software) and Active Directory® service, which
can define a unique corporate user security
policy and provide centralized management
of workstations.
The implementation project was carried out
by Microsoft Romania together with its
partners and consisted of several steps.
Experts from the Romgaz SA IT department
were involved in each step of its
implementation, providing an information
exchange between the Microsoft Romania
team and the IT management team.
The project implementation team consisted
of consultants from Microsoft Services and
the account team: Noni Zota, Account
Manager, and Ionuţ Lopătan, Account
Technology Specialist. This team was joined
by professionals from partner companies Net
Consulting and Gama Computers and
professionals from the Romgaz SA IT
department.
The main activities carried out were:
 Analysis of existing infrastructure
 Active Directory design
 Designing security policies
 Defining the procedures of server
installation
 Defining the maintenance procedures for
Active Directory
 Defining backup and restore operations
 Defining the procedures of workstation
installation
 Installing and setting up servers and
workstations as part of a pilot project
Benefits
Although during the implementation of this
project, other open-source platforms were
assessed, a Windows Server 2003 and Active
Directory–based solution was preferred for
efficiency reasons. Other reasons were
facilities provided by the Windows Server
platform and reduced costs:
 Simple and flexible access to information
and sharing information with subsidiaries.
 Secure access to information through
Active Directory infrastructure and access
rights established by the network manager.
 Infrastructure providing global access, from
any location, to services provided by the
information system and checking access
rights.
 The Romgaz SA management can make
better decisions based upon accurate and
up-to-date information.
 Simple and affordable centralized
management of workstations as well as
their automatic software updates.
 Subsequent implementation of the
applications available, which benefit from
the built-in security of Windows Server
2003.
For More Information
Microsoft Windows Server System
For more information about Microsoft
products and services, call the Microsoft
Sales Information Center at (800) 4269400. In Canada, call the Microsoft
Canada Information Centre at (877) 5682495. Customers who are deaf or hard-ofhearing can reach Microsoft text telephone
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Canada. 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
Microsoft Windows Server System integrated
server infrastructure software is designed to
support end-to-end solutions built on the
Windows Server operating system. Windows
Server System creates an infrastructure
based on integrated innovation, Microsoft's
holistic approach to building products and
solutions that are intrinsically designed to
work together and interact seamlessly with
other data and applications across your IT
environment. This helps you reduce the costs
of ongoing operations, deliver a more secure
and reliable IT infrastructure, and drive
valuable new capabilities for the future
growth of your business.
For more information about Romgaz SA
products and services, call
+04/0269/201020 or visit the Web site
at:
www.romgaz.ro
For more information about Windows Server
System, go to:
www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem
Software and Services

© 2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case
study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO
WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Microsoft, Active Directory, Windows, the Windows logo,
Windows Server, and Windows Server System are either
registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in
the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks
may be property of their respective owners.
Document published August 2005
Products
− Microsoft Office 2000 Professional
− Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Enterprise Edition
− Microsoft Windows XP Professional
 Technologies
− Active Directory