COMPANY

A conscious choice to reduce costs and optimise management

Edegem, 7th May 2010 -  Cheops Technology, specialist in pro-active IT network management, is joining forces with Gosselin Group, a major player in the international moving and logistics sector. Cheops conducted a thorough analysis of Gosselin’s IT problems, which resulted in an urgently needed infrastructure update. 

Risk: high

Gosselin Group had high direct costs per workstation and high indirect costs (such as costs related to incidents). It was also aware of the tremendous risks and far-reaching consequences associated with server unavailability. After conducting an extensive market survey, Gosselin decided to team up with Cheops, an Antwerp-based company specialising in IT networks and their management. As Toine Eggenhuizen, ICT Director for Gosselin Support Services, recalled, “The Gosselin Group started to introduce computers 24 years ago. And as the company grew and grew, an up-to-date IT environment became essential.” By 2010, Gosselin was fully conscious of the need to continue to optimise the management of its IT infrastructure and to reduce the associated operating costs.

From problem to solution

The entire IT optimisation process consisted of several stages and took six months to complete. Solutions were provided in five areas:

1-Blade servers and VMware virtualisation

Gosselin, which used to have 26 traditional servers supporting its business, decided to switch to a setup based on six compact, centrally managed blade servers in combination with a cutting-edge VMware virtualisation platform.

2-Optimal e-mail systems

Spam accounts for over 90% of all e-mails. The Cheops Managed E-mail Security service provides Gosselin with an effective form of defence against spam and viruses. Unwanted messages are quarantined on a per-user mailbox level, while only acceptable e-mails are delivered safely. Gosselin receives a monthly summary of filtered messages. In addition, Cheops also optimised Gosselin’s MS Exchange environment by migrating three MS Exchange 2000 servers to an Exchange 2007 environment so that maximum benefit could be obtained from extra functionalities such as Outlook Anywhere, extended Outlook web access and mail store redundancy. Large-scale e-mail archiving for the group is now handled using Symantec Enterprise Vault, a software package that provides an archiving solution for managing and storing large volumes of e-mails and files.

3- Licences

On the advice of Cheops, Gosselin decided to switch from mixed OEM and OLP licences to an Open Value Subscription agreement for licensing. This has simplified the management of software licences, which now consist of a single licensing agreement that includes volume discounts and upgrade rights. As a result of this, the group’s software costs have been reduced, have become much more predictable and are now easier to budget for.

4-Data centralisation

Gosselin urgently needed to increase its storage capacity substantially, which is why it decided to upgrade its HP StorageWorks EVA. The advantage of this is that all data can be managed centrally, and the storage released by consolidation can be used in the new VMware environment.

5-Pro-active management

Now that the changeover is complete, and given that prevention is better than cure, Gosselin and Cheops will continue to work together under a Cheops Support IT contract. This pro-active, modular system enables businesses to cut IT costs by 30% on average. Gosselin opted to take out the Gold Service Level Agreement (available to deal with incidents 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) along with several additional services selected from the Support IT package (Remote Server Monitoring, Periodical Server and Network Management, Back-up Mail Service, and Service Delivery Management).

Close partnership

Toine Eggenhuizen was asked why Gosselin chose Cheops. “Gosselin was looking for a competent IT services provider which was easy to contact and offered a personal service, and which didn’t make it feel like just a number," he explained.  “We could have outsourced the entire changeover of the IT infrastructure, but we weren't looking for an IT company to assist us in that way. Instead, we wanted a close partnership in which specialists from Cheops and our own technical crew would work together as a team. This did mean a great deal of brainstorming and planning, of course, but I have to say everything went very smoothly.”

“We worked with Cheops on creating a growth path,” Toine Eggenhuizen added. ”We are able to benefit fully from the advantages offered by the current system, such as servers that are easier to manage, a reliable environment for our server park and e-mail correspondence, and the possibility of working more quickly and efficiently. Functionality was raised to a whole new level while operating costs were reduced, partly as a result of better licence management and lower energy consumption due to the changeover to blade servers. Thanks to our brand-new IT infrastructure, it can safely be said that Gosselin can look to the future with confidence!”

About the Gosselin Group
The Gosselin Group can look back on a long history. Having started out as a Belgian family firm in 1930, the business grew to become a major player in the international moving and logistics business. The company underwent a major evolutionary transition over the years, adding more and more sidelines to its overall offering, resulting in three divisions reflecting the company’s core competencies – Gosselin Moving, Gosselin Logistics and Gosselin Support - which together employ 700 people in 48 offices spread over 32 countries.
For more information, visit www.gosselingroup.eu

About Cheops
Cheops is an independent IT services provider that offers top-quality total solutions for complex IT infrastructures, covering advice, design, installation and proactive management. The mission of Cheops is to help enable its clients achieve operational excellence. The services offered by Cheops can be grouped into four activities: System Integration, Managed Services, Managed Hosting, and Consulting. Cheops has received recognition of its competencies, and is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, HP Gold Preferred Partner, VMware Enterprise Partner, Cisco Premier Partner and Citrix Gold Solution Advisor.
For more information, visit www.cheops.be