Initial situation
The IT infrastructure which had developed over the years at Wick Machinery with a central Windows 2003 server was beginning to show its age and needed to be completely overhauled. A replacement was required for the client applications Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Windows 7 with Microsoft Office packages and Microsoft Outlook as well as for the virus protection, which was realised with different stand-alone programs.
There was no central administration or central security management system and the backup system was no longer up to the job.
Objective: Increased flexibility and user friendliness
The new solution was implemented with Univention Corporate Server, which includes domain services with Samba 4, a central identity management system (openLDAP) and central network and virtualization services (KVM). The data were taken over from the Windows 2003 server without any problems and the hardware joined in the new Windows/Linux domain.
Zarafa Collaboration Suite was installed from the Univention App Center as the mail server. The existing Outlook pst files were taken over in Zarafa and stored on the server. The users can continue to use Outlook as usual. In addition to Outlook, the Zarafa WebApp can also be used to access the PIM data (e-mails, appointments and contact) externally. The use of shared appointments calendars is possible, as is the connection of smartphones and tablets.
The data and databases were saved with SEP Sesam. In addition to a central identity management system, a new ZyXEL USG firewall with VPN access for field staff and employees working from home and Kaspersky Endpoint Security software were also employed to improve IT security. The combination of these three components and the Linux server infrastructure made it possible to achieve a high level of security, which is centrally controlled and monitored via a program.
Summary
Andreas Wick, CEO of Wick Machinery said about the project: “For me as a user, it is simply important that the IT is available to me reliably and quickly and that I receive rapid, competent support if problems occur – which is definitely the case with Siedl Networks. I can rely on the experts at Siedl Networks when it comes to security matters.”
“The migration of the Windows servers to Univention and the e-mails to Zarafa was as neat and smooth as expected,” said Robert Siedl, CEO of Siedl Networks.
About Wick Machinery
WICK Machinery is an Austrian company which has been producing sophisticated filling and closing machines for over 40 years, from simple, manually operated dosing pumps to filling stations and tablet presses right up to fully automated, high-performance filling machines. Further information
About Siedl Networks
Founded in 2002, Siedl Networks is a family business located in Krems an der Donau (Lower Austria) offering IT solutions for companies, schools and non-profit organisations. Siedl Networks is a long-term premium partner of Univention GmbH.
The changeover of the servers at Wick Machinery to UCS is a classic example of migration away from Windows as the customer requires a more flexible, more secure and more cost-efficient IT infrastructure which can be easily expanded with additional applications such as groupware and backup solutions. – Robert Siedl, CEO Siedl Networks
