New Business Insights
May 20th 2011 05:53
After more than a year of playing
budgetary defense in a down
economy, small and midsize
businesses (SMBs) are finally
beginning to find opportunities
initiatives. As they examine their
needs and pain points, one top
priority is emerging: the need to
refresh both client and back office
software, particularly Microsoft
SQL Server and Exchange.
refreshing
your servers
The business case for
2 i refres hing your se rvers
Microsoft is scheduled to release major upgrades to both SQL Server and
Exchange early in 2010. Many if not most SMBs are not using even the most
recent versions of these business critical applications. Some of these older versions
are now at or past the deadline for extended support, making any future
support both inconvenient and costly.
But with an upgrade this year, these companies can leapfrog into significant
productivity and features gains in a single bound. However, is installing new
software on aging servers the most operationally efficient or cost-effective way
to upgrade to better software?
The answer is no. For SMBs that want substantial performance improvements
as well as potentially dramatic cost savings, it makes sense to support these
necessary software upgrades by investing in new servers as well. With more
and virtualization, SMBs can achieve a greater return on investment in less
time than it could with a software upgrade alone.
The case for server refresh
As recently as the end of 2009, more companies were still using SQL Server
2000 than all the three subsequent upgrades combined, says Andrew Hargett,
Global Alliance Manager for Database and Business Intelligence at Dell. All of
these companies are missing out on the ability to manage terabytes of data, as
well as data integration, analysis, and reporting functionality so powerful that
even Oracle users are turning to SQL Server as a reporting front end.
Collaboration:
Working
Together Means
Working Smarter
Working together in a
small business means
finding ways to share
your business's vital
information with your
entire team so that everyone
can work more
productively. Your data
is the hub around which
your business revolves, so
your team and the external
clients, customers and
partners you work with
need to be able to connect
to it, work on it, talk
about it and share it.
Any growing business
should store all its information
in one safe,
central and expandable
repository and access
it from there. Installing
a server-based network
storage environment is an
effective way to achieve
“Without exception, we find enormous performance
increases because both the software and the sheer
power of servers have improved so much.”
3 i refres hing your se rvers
By upgrading to the new release of SQL Server, SMBs can implement data
management capabilities that rival those of much larger companies, at an affordable
price point, with full support.
However, companies with much older versions of SQL Server are typically
running it on much older servers which simply may not be able to maximize
the benefits of upgrading, as the architecture of the SQL Server database has
changed significantly, Hargett notes. He advises companies upgrading directly
from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2008 or later to seek out expert support
from a vendor that has done exhaustive migration testing—and can provide
guidance in writing.
Dell chose to replace its own servers that power Dell.com, one of the world’s
largest e-commerce sites, in order to upgrade SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server
2005 and 2008. Migrating in 32-bit mode delivered Dell a 40 percent performance
increase, Hargett says, and upgrading to 64-bit mode a year later
boosted performance another 45 percent.
A midsized restaurant chain that upgraded its servers and SQL Server in 2007
simultaneously achieved even more impressive results. The new servers and
software were so much more efficient than the legacy systems they replaced,
the company was immediately able to process and report on data from its franchisees
75 percent faster.
What’s more, its newfound ability to manage more data in less time enabled
the company to improve data quality and capture more data, allowing it to do
more complex reporting to fine-tune its marketing programs—and achieve full
ROI in less than two months. It is now planning to upgrade yet again, projecting
that the latest version of SQL Server and new servers will improve performance
another 20 to 30 percent.
Make the most from Exchange changes
Exchange users, too, have been slow to upgrade, with roughly two-thirds of
users still relying on Exchange 2003, says Casey Birch, Exchange Solutions
Project Manager for Dell. Yet as individual emails get larger and the volume of
email increases, Exchange 2003 has reached its limits in terms of the number
and size of mailboxes it can support.
By comparison, Exchange 2010 allows for higher availability, more and larger
mailboxes, total redundancy using just two servers, and easier recovery. It adds
up to an upgrade that lets employees focus on work instead of email management.
Furthermore, new productivity features like integrated unified messaging
and native archiving make it easier for SMBs to communicate in multiple
ways—and archive those communications to comply with relevant laws and
regulations without costly, complex third-party solutions.
A recent study by consulting firm Principal Technologies compared a typical
Exchange 2003 implementation, using servers and storage four or five years
old, with an Exchange 2010 implementation on new server and storage hardware.
The upgraded system was more available, user productivity improved,
and the hardware was roughly twice as power-efficient, yielding an estimated
ROI of just one year.
this crucial goal. No matter
what its size, your
business can benefit from
a server, so there's no
need to fear the technological
leap. A serverbased
computing environment
network is easy,
affordable, and a pivotal
step toward getting true
control of your information.
When stored on a server,
the files your employees
work on can become
much more visible to
those who need to access
them. Employees can
work together: communicate
with each other
about them—even when
they're out of the office
—and share information
over the Internet with
clients and customers, as
needed. Think about the
ways your business could
perform better if your
employees were connected
to each other and
to your data. Following
are some typical business
collaboration challenges,
and how servers can help
conquer them.
Easy Access to Files
Challenge: Who has the
spreadsheet with last
month's receivables?
Who's working on the
new presentation? Most
small businesses have
little control over their
4 i refres hing your se rvers
“Without exception, we find enormous performance increases because both
the software and the sheer power of servers have improved so much,” Birch
notes.
A multifaceted ROI
In addition to the benefits of newer, more powerful software, a server refresh
provides ROI in other forms.
Efficiency: Server technology has become so much more powerful and efficient
in just one or two generations that the latest servers can support two to
three times the workload while consuming an average of 40 percent less power.
As a result, investing in new servers benefits your IT budget in two ways. Initially,
virtualization and consolidation lower the up-front cost of buying hardware.
Then, over time, they shrink the total cost of ownership through smaller
power bills, diminished rack space, less hardware for your IT team to manage,
and fewer OS and database licenses.
Stability: Older software is usually installed on older hardware—at least four
or five years old—which is reaching end-of-life and is therefore at high risk of
causing expensive downtime. “You have to replace it at some point, so better
sooner than later,” says Birch. “Having your business systems collapse will cost
you a lot more.”
files because everyone
works on his or her own
PC independently. As
multiple versions of files
are scattered across
many computers, all
those systems can't communicate
easily with each
other. There is no central
storage for critical data,
and no way for people
to work on files together.
Searching for the right
version of the right file is
a time waster.
Solution — A server puts
your files in their place.
It has centralized file
storage that helps you
make sense of your daily
information flow. Imagine
how in control you'll
feel knowing the current
status of every important
document. A server
stores both applications
and files in one secure
location, accessible to all.
You control permissions,
granting file and folder
access rights only to
those people who need
to work with them. It's
easy to set up collaborative
teams that share a
single up-to-date version
of a critical file—be it a
document, an accounting
ledger or a presentation.
You no longer need to
search around the office
for the current version
of a file, so you can save
time. And changes to the
files are easy to track.
“You have to replace it at some point, so better sooner
than later. Having your business systems collapse will
cost you a lot more.”
5 i refres hing your se rvers
You have a complete
record at hand.
Data Sharing
Challenge: Your company
may have 50 hot
sales leads, but if they're
scattered around the
office in the contact lists
of four different employees,
you may not even
know you've got them.
Data that you don't know
about has absolutely no
value to you. Wouldn't
you prefer just one constantly
updated place
to track your customers,
your inventories or any
other rapidly changing
information that's vital to
your operation?
Solution: Servers come
with operating systems
specially designed to
help groups work together
productively in
all sorts of ways. They
provide a single place
where an entire staff can
share constant updates
to databases and task
lists. Microsoft® Windows
® Small Business
Server 2008 facilitates
application and file sharing
so that anyone who
needs to access data in
spreadsheets, databases,
accounting ledgers,
customer relationship
management tools and
other applications can
do so. These kinds of
Support: Microsoft has discontinued extended support for SQL Server 2000 as
well as Exchange 2003. Paying per incident for support adds up. By comparison,
enterprise vendors include support for new applications bundled with new
hardware. In addition, if your business uses other legacy applications for which
there’s no support because the vendor no longer exists, a hardware upgrade offers
a perfect opportunity to introduce high-performance applications that can
provide new business advantages while meeting current standards and integrating
more smoothly with other tools..
Help from a trusted partner
Your company may opt to upgrade its software and hardware at the same time.
Alternatively, you may be able to move old software to a new server until you
have a maintenance window in which to complete the upgrade. Either way,
your company needs to assess its current IT environment and draw up a road
map for a safe, affordable, effective migration. The process is much easier with
the assistance of a technology partner with expertise in both servers and the
applications they support.
Dell is one such partner. According to Microsoft, Dell sells about 10 percent
of all SQL Server software—more than any other distributor or OEM. That
makes Dell the world’s largest single point of contact for the solution, from
hardware and software to services and ongoing support. As Microsoft’s largest
software partner in general, as well as a significant end user of Microsoft
applications, Dell works closely with Microsoft from the beta stage on to share
customer feedback and suggest features and enhancements.
Conclusion
The global economic forecast suggests that a recovery is on the way—but
slowly. Businesses of all sizes will remain under pressure for some time to
maximize their existing resources. Given that reality, it also makes sense to
make wise IT investments that will increase efficiency and productivity both
now and in the future.
Investing in new hardware to support necessary software upgrades is that type
of wise investment. Next-generation servers have the processing power to make
the most of the latest productivity applications. They also address power and
space constraints by supporting virtualization software that consolidates applications
and increases system usage levels. Upgrading today may sacrifice
short-term frugality, but it’s almost certainly a worthwhile tradeoff for long-term
strategic and operational advantage.
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