Local industrial solutions specialist company ThyssenKrupp recently identified a need to migrate its ageing messaging platform to the latest available Microsoft technology. They elected to partner with Westcon partner and specialist ICT solutions provider AVeS to help it with the process.
ThyssenKrupp’s operations are separated into five business areas: Components Technology, Elevator Technology, Industrial Solutions, Materials Services and Steel Europe. All of these business areas need to collaborate and integrate when required, making email and messaging a critical business application to the company.
Prior to partnering with AVeS, the company’s platform was still hosted on Microsoft Exchange 2003. At the stage of engagement, this platform was two versions behind the then standard, Exchange 2010. AVeS suggested a staggered progression to Exchange 2010 as the most functional route to introduce the new technology, coupled with a localised server deployment within the region.
Although a full Exchange migration was not budgeted for, the companies still earmarked Exchange 2010 as the preferred solution for the business. Because the upgrade was staggered, and to help conform within the budgetary constraints, the company began running multiple environments to enable a transition, with minimal impact to the majority user base.
“The ThyssenKrupp project allowed us to demonstrate that even if a customer isn’t able to fit an unexpected project into their budget, there is no reason they can’t run projects concurrently and then migrate these over time to meet their long-term goals,” states Charl Ueckermann, MD at AVeS.