Johannesburg, 04 Aug 2005
Strate, the authorised Central Securities Depository (CSD) for the electronic settlement of all financial instruments in SA, has completed a Microsoft Active Directory 2003 roll-out.
Strate is owned by the JSE Securities Exchange, the four major South African banks - Absa Bank, First Rand Bank, Nedbank and Standard Bank - as well as Citibank.
Strate selected IT infrastructure, solutions and services provider, Datacentrix, to implement the project, which was delivered within budget and within four weeks - a third of the allotted project time.
Prior to the project, Strate was running a Microsoft Active Directory 2000 environment with Exchange 2000. According to Ros Penhallrick, divisional director at Datacentrix Services, the upgrade included Active Directory 2003 with Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2004. The company also installed Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003, Exchange 2003 and upgraded to Windows XP Service Pack 2.
"Strate needed the added functionality of Active Directory 2003 and Exchange 2003, as well as the improved management and centralisation," says Penhallrick. "Microsoft ISA Server 2003 will provide the necessary control over Internet access, while SMS 2003 will assist with hardware and software inventories and will roll-out software and patches to workstations when required."
Says Erna Solomon, chief operating officer at Strate: "The chief objective of the upgrade project was to take advantage of the enhanced security features available through Active Directory 2003. Active Directory 2003 has improved the performance and dependability of users` systems, as well as improving the management and maintenance of STRATE`s systems."
The newly installed SMS 2003 package is used to roll-out new packages to users` PCs, while Windows XP Service Pack 2 has been installed on all workstations for additional security.
"Strate has seen an improvement in performance on Exchange 2003, with our users being able to open e-mails 5% to 10% faster than before," adds Solomon. The company also upgraded its Mail Sweeper and Surf Control software for tighter control for Web filtering.
"This marks Strate`s first project partnering with Datacentrix," she says.
"The decision to work with Datacentrix was based on the company`s professional approach from day one. Datacentrix has a very good understanding of the Strate environment and provides a high level of comfort - the company understood what we wanted and made it happen with no impact to our users.
"Not only did the company meet our pricing requirements, but the project roll-out was completed well within the designated time - this including technology knowledge transfer to users of all skill levels."
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