Articles on the ICT Industry in South Africa

KYOCERA MITA South Africa, a local subsidiary of one of the world’s leading document solutions companies, has successfully migrated to Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, providing a stable virtual environment for the future. Local converged network provider and Microsoft Certified partner, KSS Technologies, provided the solution.

Werner Engelbrecht, KYOCERA MITA South Africa’s senior manager, Shared Service explains: “As our company grew, there was the continuous need for new applications and services to be loaded onto our existing IT infrastructure. Before we realised it, we had had the incorrect mix of applications running on the same server because one couldn’t purchase a new server for every new application.”

KYOCERA MITA had various servers, each running its own independent Operating System with a mix of applications running across them. Furthermore, the Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 environment could not support in excess of 75 Gigabytes of mail storage.

Engelbrecht advises that problems arose when applications or services required continuous maintenance. “Any downtime affected all applications and users. Our IT infrastructure became extremely complex and Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 limited our data size, resulting in services being stopped. The result: people not having access to their emails 24/7 which became a critical factor within our business operations.”

To solve the problem, KYOCERA MITA had two options, either changing Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 to a version that would accommodate more than 75 Gigabytes of data or migrate to Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, with all the additional new functionalities.

“As a global IT company, it is paramount for us to to stay ahead of the game and we therefore decided to migrate to Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. On the virtualisation we had the opportunity to plan our server environment from scratch. We were able to balance the workload more effectively and in the process have a more stable network infrastructure,” explains Engelbrecht.

“We managed to isolate core application and services on separate virtual machines. Even though the cost associated to the IBM Server hosting the virtual environment was substantially more than just another IBM Server, it provided us with much more flexibility. As a result, the available resources on the server are managed more effectively between the virtual machines running on the server.”

Since the implementation, KYOCERA MITA has realised substantial savings across the operation as its downtime has decreased to almost zero, resulting in a much cleaner, well planned and effective server environment. Furthermore, the organisation has experienced energy cost savingsas the two existing physical servers have since been taken out of operation.  This becomes a rather significant outcome considering the fact that KYOCERA MITA continues to make strides in reducing energy costs and meeting the criteria surrounding their ISO14001 targets.

“Since our conversion, feedback from our staff has been highly positive as access to email is readily available on a 24 hour period.  More importantly, we have less down time as result of individual application server down time.”

“We’ve come a long way with KSS Technologies and it has been instrumental in keeping us abreast of the latest technologies. KSS has been our trusted partner in implementing various projects over the last six years. A proper handover was done, including training, to our network administrator to ensure he is able to take care of the new virtual environment and Microsoft Exchange Server 2010,” he concludes.

For more information contact KSS Technologies on (011) 545-6306 or email enquiry@kss.co.za

ENDS

More about KSS Technologies (Pty) Ltd

KSS Technologies (Pty) Ltd specialises in the design, implementation and support of converged networking solutions. The Company’s head office is situated in Midrand with support centres countrywide, providing a national support infrastructure. With a proven track record in the Enterprise, Mid-Market and upper-end Small Medium Enterprise (SME) market segments, KSS provides Information Communication Technology (ICT) solutions that integrate with legacy systems or builds solutions from the ground up through “greenfields” installations. Its approach, methodologies and solutions add unique business value by streamlining processes and eliminating redundant steps for clients within the public and private sectors.

KSS is committed to sustainable human resources and skills development through its continuous investment in highly skilled sales and technical resources thus creating confidence in our business partners, customers and employees alike. KSS has been committed to true black economic empowerment (BEE) since its inception in 2000 and has its BEE shareholding is currently over 50%. BEE executive management represents 67% of the board.

Certification and alignment with strategic vendor solutions empowers KSS to deliver business value to customers. Certification programmes assist to achieve consistently high levels of service and expertise. This commitment to empowering the organisation is reflected in its quest for certification. KSS received Cisco Silver Partner status in March 2000, highlighting an early dedication to delivering converged network solutions – now a key consideration for businesses eager to leverage the considerable efficiencies and returns that this platform delivers. More recently, KSS was awarded Cisco Customer Satisfaction Excellence, the highest distinction a partner can achieve within the Cisco Channel Partner Program.

In addition, KSS has developed its technical strengths by aligning and complying with standards from world-class vendor programmes including: Expand Value Added Reseller & National Support partner; Citrix Silver Partner; Microsoft Certified Partner; IBM Business Partner; HP Preferred Partner (Storage & Networking); AXIS Certified partner; CommVault Gold partner and SLi (representing Lenel).

More about KYOCERA MITA

KYOCERA MITA is a leading manufacturer of document output devices for the business market. From black & white and colour copiers to network-ready multifunctional systems, laser printers and wide-format imaging devices, KYOCERA’s technically advanced and award-winning products offer reliable and efficient office automation. Backed by ECOSYS technology, every KYOCERA machine is designed with long-life components to improve document management processes whilst reducing the effect on the environment. KYOCERA MITA South Africa is fully BEE compliant through a BEE partnership with Nozala Investments.