THE Information Systems Division of the Isle of Man Government has featured as a case study for Microsoft.
In the study, published on the Microsoft website, it details how the government division reduced energy costs by £64,000 annually by upgrading its operating system to Windows 7 Enterprise.
Peter Clarke, the chief technology officer for the division, said: "We have meters on all of our computing devices to measure power consumption and by upgrading to Windows 7 we are saving £64,000 annually in energy costs. The Isle of Man is a small community so that is a tremendous saving for us."
As part of its approach to IT the division upgrades its operating system with every major operating and service pack release.
Peter explained: "Skipping versions of operating systems and other software is a false economy. It is ultimately less expensive from an operational perspective to approach an always up to date IT portfolio as 'business as usual'. When it is part of your normal activities there are no additional costs, no additional labour, and no additional resources needed for the transition between software versions.
"If we skip a major release of an operating system to then upgrade would cost upwards of six million. By staying current the costs of IT projects continue to shrink. Upgrading to Windows 7 cost less than two million - a two-thirds saving compared to previous upgrades."
When considering the upgrade the division was keen to improve remote access for mobile employees and enhance IT security.
Peter continued: "Being on an island forces us to think about our remote access strategy—not everyone who we do business with can easily travel to the Island to access our network. We need to provide remote access but it has to be secure and these were areas where we identified an opportunity for improvement when we evaluated Windows 7.
"We have provided 35 percent of our employees with the tools for working remotely and we're starting to promote that philosophy even more. Many government employees - healthcare workers, educators, police officers - are very mobile and our remote access policy needs to support a highly mobile workforce and still be secure.
"With Windows 7 Enterprise we get reliable remote access coupled with encryption technologies that we need to enable employees to do their job wherever they are in the Island. Whether it is for an ambulance en route to a hospital or a police or fire officer responding to a call, Windows 7 is there for us to take advantage of."
The Information Systems Division upgraded the operating system and security without investing in special capital projects or using additional resources.
Peter said: "It was just business as usual to replace the desktop and upgrade the entire organization to Windows 7. For us that's a key success."
The update started in February last year. By December one third of its 4,500 computers had been upgraded. The rest of the upgrade is expected to be completed by June.
To see the full case study click here.
