Its European business started in the early 1970s. The company now has European operations comprising 20 consolidated companies, around 4,000 personnel located across Europe.

Communication within any successful enterprise is a strategic issue, with email considered the most mission critical application for business. In 2006/7 NEC Europe found that it had reached a crossroads. NEC Europe employed a ‘rock solid’ IBM Lotus Domino and Notes environment, in the words of European Technical Support Manager, Dr. Peter Pang.  Despite this it was felt that the company was not maximising the technology’s productive and collaborative potential for better ways of working. Progress meant taking a strategic decision: upgrade an existing technology or move to a different environment. The key factors that needed to be reviewed included the user experience and the incumbent technical knowledge of Notes, built up over many years. The decision finally rested on the strategic direction of NEC Europe. As Dr. Pang explains, “The decision was made to adopt Microsoft Exchange 2007 to deliver capabilities that matched NEC’s future direction and product offerings, and for strong integration with other systems, such as SAP.” However, the skills and experience of Dr. Pang’s team were predominantly in Notes. Once the decision to move environments to Exchange had been taken NEC Europe wanted to move quickly. The company issued an Invitation to Tender in May 2007, with the first user to be migrated in August.

A partner with strengths in both Notes and Exchange had to be identified. The selection process resulted in business critical managed service provider, Applicable Limited, being engaged to provide consultancy, management and technical skills to ensure the success of the project. One of the factors influencing the choice was Applicable’s speed of response. “Time was of the essence for this project,” explains Dr. Pang. “Getting Exchange up and running quickly was a priority for senior management. But we also recognised the need for a smooth and safe transition. Applicable suggested an interim solution that would achieve the key objective and provide the groundwork for the next stages of the implementation.” A reference visit to Applicable’s offices in Bristol, UK, helped in the decision as it enabled the NEC team to see a live working example of Notes and Exchange co-existing. For NEC the solution represented a pragmatic way to ensure the desired smooth transition and save downtime costs.

“The technical people, without exception, are very good. We worked with a team of five people from Applicable on this project, combining their technical knowledge and experience to develop the right solution for our business.” Dr Peter Pang European Technical Support Manager

 
Applicable also helped NEC engineer a successful Active Directory upgrade from Windows 2000 to Windows 2003, migrating desktops to the new environment to work seamlessly with Exchange 2007. This enables users to benefit from a centralised email system with a single sign-on. Part of the Exchange migration involved using the Microsoft Transporter Suite to pull users across from Domino. At the time of implementation Transporter was relatively new and did not have comprehensive documentation. Dogged investigative work from the Applicable and NEC teams working together enabled them to successfully overcome this hurdle.

The skills and expertise of the Applicable consultants particularly impressed Dr. Pang and his team. “The technical people, without exception, are very good. We worked with a team of five people from Applicable on this project, combining their technical knowledge and experience to develop the right solution for our business.” He continues, “We particularly valued their ability to analyse a problem and bounce ideas off each other, brainstorming different options. This isn’t always possible with technology partners with fewer dedicated experts.”

“That such a major project could be realised within a four month timeframe and ahead of deadlines is testament to the strong skills and professional approach of Applicable’s technical people,”   Dr Peter Pang European Technical Support Manager

The challenging parameters set by NEC at the outset of the project were met by Applicable, with the result that a live environment pilot was achieved within three weeks and the go-live date was brought forward. “That such a major project could be realised within a four month timeframe is testament to the strong skills and professional approach of Applicable’s technical people,” says Peter Pang. “They developed a good understanding of what was practical and possible and gave us the full picture.” NEC Europe now operates within a CCR (Cluster Continuous Replication) clustered environment, which provides the ability to cluster without requiring an expensive shared storage system. Applicable experts implemented this solution, new to Exchange 2007, and provided effective cross-training to enable NEC to continue developing the implementation of the application.

The solution currently deployed by NEC Europe goes beyond Exchange 2007 to include the implementation of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) security measures, secure web-based and secure PDA email access.  Implementing Exchange has also enabled take up of Office 2007, SharePoint 2007 and Office Communications Server 2007. The strength of the infrastructure envisaged and implemented by Applicable bodes well for the future of NEC Europe’s strategic technical direction, as Dr. Pang indicates, “This was a highly strategic implementation. Our Notes system was rock solid, but wasn’t the best fit for our strategic plan in terms of the solutions we develop and sell for telecommunications and computing. Applicable’s exceptional technical talent, approachability and rapid response not only meet our current needs, but give us a stable infrastructure for our future needs.”