Situation

Our client, one of Central Scotland's largest Criminal Law Firms, handles huge volumes of data from e-mail, Internet downloads, and productivity tools such as Microsoft® Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Access. Most of the firm's legal research is performed on the Internet and requires that complex forms be completed, updated, and organized. Security, privacy, reliability, and accessibility issues are key business concerns that cannot be compromised.

To maintain the levels of productivity and quality that their valued clients expect, the firm wanted to upgrade its previous client-server environment to one that could take advantage of the advanced security, reliability, mobility, home working, and time-saving capabilities of the latest Microsoft technologies.

Solution

Ty-com Business Systems, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, upgraded their server estate to one based on Microsoft Windows Server 2003® tycom implemented the e-mail, group scheduling, and Microsoft Outlook® Web Access 2003 capabilities of Microsoft Exchange® Server 2003 technology, to provide the firm with quicker, easier remote e-mail access compared to its previous system. Windows mobile devices were configured to ensure the firms key decision makers always have visibility of their e-mail.

Microsoft Internet and Acceleration Server (ISA Server) was deployed to provide a software firewall to prevent unauthorized network access while staff members are connected to the Internet.

Citrix XenApp was deployed to enable the firms lawyers and branch office staff to access files safely and securely whenever they travel, visit clients, or are otherwise away form the office compared with their previous remote access system, which was neither unfixable and unreliable.

Tycom worked with one of their preferred ISPs to design a highly resilient, efficient Wide Area Network, based upon Cisco hardware and Internet Leased Lines across all 6 of the firms office locations.

Tycom consultants worked to the Prince two methodology to ensure the project was delivered, on time, on budget with zero down time.

CommVault Galaxy was deployed to ensure the firm had complete confidence in the backup and recovery of their Microsoft Windows Servers, Microsoft Exchange Organisation and their core Microsoft SQL systems.

Benefits

Updating the firm's client-server network with integrated server software will enable all the staff members to work more productively and interact more effectively with their clients.

Work smarter and faster. The firm has risen to its current status as a highly regarded law firm due in part to its high level of client service and dedication to detail. With volumes of information to process and track on a daily basis, the ability to use Outlook Mobile Access to access e-mail from remote locations was especially appealing to the firm's lawyers . The firm expects to access e-mail remotely about 20 percent more quickly than using its previous system.

The use of Citrix XenApp to replace an ite previous inefficient sytems was equally important. The firm will use this capability of the Citrix XenApp Farm to provide quick, secure access to the firms files and core business applications in the head office from remote locations.

Improved reliability and accessibility.

Securing a company's intellectual assets is important for all businesses, but for a law firm, it is mission-critical. The firm now uses Citrix Xenapp' s advanced security mechanisms provide secure access to corporate information while staff members are connected remotely to the firm's IT estate.

The increased reliability and stability of Microsoft Windows Server^TM 2003 operating system technology,, will provide another important capability to enable the firm to continue working without costly and time-consuming interruptions caused by server downtime.

Tycom have configured the server to provide themselves with daily e-mail server performance reports. If anything goes wrong, Tycom will know about it in advance and respond proactively by accessing the server remotely with secure connections to resolve the issue, often before it becomes a problem. It is estimated that this proactive system support will save the firm approximately 20 percent of its annual IT support costs.

More Information

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