Microsoft Systems Management Server is the Rx for pharmaceutical firm

New SMS 2.0 features let Aventis support software distribution, asset management and remotely manage client desktops across the globe.

By Suzanne Gaspar
Network World, 01/31/00

A few years ago, pharmaceutical research firm Hoechst Marion Roussel needed to find a way to provide consistent support to desktop users and ease the administrative burden of managing desktops at its locations around the globe.

While Hoechst Marion Roussel is now known as Aventis, a previous merger had left the company with decentralized budgeting and decision making across the enterprise. Major sites in Asia/Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America each supported multiple locations, requiring a higher level of management and higher degree of control over desktops. IT wanted to implement a single desktop management package to conduct network inventory, distribute applications and updates and remotely manage client desktops.

The first step was to examine what network management tools were already in place at various offices. In addition to Microsoft's Systems Management Server 1.2, the company had various versions of Intel's LANDesk and Symantec's Norton Administrator installed in several locations.

IT found that SMS was the only product scalable enough to support the company's entire enterprise in late 1997, according to Danette Searle, head of global support process and tools for Aventis in ((Location TK from Suzanne.))

The company began rolling out SMS 1.2 across the enterprise in mid-1998, then upgraded to SMS 2.0 last February. Searle expects it will take until mid-year for the deployment to be complete. She says the SMS structure allows for centralized desktop management and administration at the local, regional, and global levels.

Searle says there are many benefits to using one common set of desktop management tools, especially in terms of software distribution and richness of the inventory features. Now there's no need to physically go to each desktop to deploy applications. And since the work can be done remotely, users aren't left sitting idle while IT workers upgrade their PCs.

SMS has already paid for itself in ROI, and the pharmaceutical firm expects to save at least $10 million per year once the worldwide deployment is complete, Searle notes.

With SMS, IT creates one application script at a global level, tests it, and then SMS distributes it locally.

Moreover, SMS's inventory capabilities are helpful for asset management. IT can check the database, determine future hardware and software needs and earmark the required resources. Good inventory records also help make project management more robust, Searle adds. IT can identify desktops that need new patches or upgrades.

The inventory features in SMS 2.0 are much better than previous versions, Searle says. SMS includes Microsoft's implementation of the Web-based Enterprise Management standard via Windows Management Interface (WMI). WMI lets SMS provide a deeper level of asset information. This came in handy for one Aventis office that used a particular hard drive model that was failing. With SMS 1.2, IT would have had to take apart each computer to check the drive, but SMS 2.0 made it easy to identify which computers contained the suspect components.

With SMS, IT can provide compatible technology across-the-board that helps with file sharing, changing products or going to new release. For example, with the Melissa virus, IT was able to distribute signature files to the entire company within 24 hours. "That's when a company realizes the financial and other benefits due to having consistency in standardized applications," says Searle.

Before the SMS rollout, some of the company's offices didn't have the resources to quickly implement an upgrade. Searle says the company now does a better job of keeping versions similar and extending support across the enterprise.

But while the SMS implementation is a success, Searle says Aventis could have done a better job with deployment. Looking back, more upfront planning and communications was needed. IT should have included a larger audience of managers and applications developers earlier in the decision-making process. A larger audience would have helped to clearly define the processes in place and keep users informed.

If you're deploying a desktop management suite, Searle suggests you first gain a clear understanding of the following factors:

The environment and locations to be supported.
Type of WAN connectivity.
Network architecture.
Existing support staff.
Server performance.
Future company plans.

Contact Suzanne Gaspar